Comments on: Apparently Israeli voters are bigger idiots than Bush-voting Americans

By: sergey

sergey — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:02:45 +0000

jews can’t be idiots.

By: matjew

matjew — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:23:44 +0000

when the right is in power, however, the arabs fear us more, there’s more quiet, and we’re pressured to make more concessions and give up land… when the left is in power, the arabs think we’re weak and attack, and we fight back and kill and/or conquer a bunch…

Thus, the problem with Kadima was exactly their half-assed hybridity. They’re right-leaning enough that they seem to be ready to give away land, AND weak enough that they encourage war against Israel; THEN, when they actually go to war, they’re not scared enough to really finish the job (which the true left actually IS, because they’re scared of being perceived as weak!) SO the theory is that if it actually had been a Labor/Meretz gov’t, they’d have finished off Hezbollah in 2006 and Hamas in 2008/9.

Israel without true leadership is like a boat without a rudder; lean one way, you’ll GO the other way.

By: mushroom

mushroom — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:36:53 +0000

There are problems with having too few political parties, as well With only two viable parties in America, we are one away from a one-party monopoly. Sometimes I think that’s already the case. For example, this time I voted for McCain, but I seriously doubt that I would be any happier with him than I am with Obama and the Slightly More Socialist Party — aka, Democrats.

Still, the AP is making it sound like Netanyahu may still be allowed to form a government. It depends on Perez, as to who gets the first shot, right?

By: yoseph leib

yoseph leib — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:02:57 +0000

There’s a very popular herding instinct in Israel, where alot of the smarterati will intentionally try to vote, not for who is closest to their ideologies and priorities, but for who is likely to do will, and still relatively close to at least one of their central interests. It seems like a big lie to me, the idea that this is a good idea, but from what i’ve heard, that’s who’s voting for Kadima: people who just don’t want Likud in power, people who really want to disengage from the whole West Bank, no matter what, and are willing to put aside whatever else they thionk and value to make the Big Push to make this possible. Funny, huh? you’d think the great hope of a parlimentary democracy would be to avoid that kind of outsmarting of the process, no?

But apparently, the diversity of represented parties is viewed as something of an problem by alot of Israelis, because of the inability to “get things done” that happens when many different groups and priorities are demanded to cooperate on a project. This was part of the goal of separating the prime-ministerial election from the knesset election some years back, and the fact that it backfired, giving people more of a will to vote for small parties, no longer fearing The Wrong Party in power, was treated as a profound failure, not to be repeated.

Start a political party, I dare you. We’ll call it “Smart American!” guaranteed at least a seat, if only because American Olim haven’t nessesarily caught on to this voting-for-parties-you-don’t like thing yet… or have they?

By: mushroom

mushroom — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:47:02 +0000

Bush was a poor communicator but a basically good man. I voted for him as governor of Texas when I lived down there, and for president twice, though I disagreed with many of his social policies. I’m much more of a Christian libertarian.

I was rooting for Netanyahu, as were most Christians. He seems like the real deal — a man who will stand up for Israel no matter what it costs him.