Divide And Conquer

Divide and conquer is the latest dirty trick being employed by the plutocratic media to derail Pat Buchanan's dynamic campaign. Reporter Thomas Edsall, writing in The Washington Post on July 23, painted the Reform Party as a once-innocent "centrist" and "secular organization" under siege by evil extremists such as the likes of Liberty Lobby, the populist institution that publishes The SPOTLIGHT.

The article told readers that the Reform Party is now a "magnet" for "leaders and activists" of a variety of so-called "extreme right organizations," Liberty Lobby among them.

The comments about Liberty Lobby were standard boilerplate lifted from press releases of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) -- a leading voice for the Israeli lobby -- and no real surprise. Quoting the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which is also a leading critic of Buchanan, the Post focused on the fact The SPOTLIGHT has been critical of the influence of the Israeli lobby.

However, in that The SPOTLIGHT is not alone. The list of Israel's critics in America is a glowing (and growing) lineup of luminaries not exclusively populated by "right wing extremists."

Some prominent critics of Israel have been liberals, among the most influential being former Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-Ark.), political mentor of Bill Clinton. Other liberal critics of Israel include former Sen. James Abour ezk (D-S.D.) and two former senators from Illinois, Charles Percy, a Republican, and Adlai Stevenson, a Demo crat.

Two former "liberal" presidential candidates, George McGovern, the Demo crat ic candidate in 1972, and John Anderson, an independent in 1980, are critics of the Israeli lobby. Anderson is even a member of the board of the Council for the National Interest, which questions the viability of the U.S. relationship with Israel.

So contrary to what the Post is suggesting, criticism of Israeli influence on U.S. policy has little to do with political ideology, whether "right wing" or "left wing." It does, however, have a lot to do with American sovereignty and whether or not Americans will fight and die in yet another Middle East conflict revolving around Israel and its aggressive policies.

The point is that the Post is playing games with its readers and trying to suggest that only "right wing nuts" are critics of Israel. Nothing could be further from the truth. That's why the Post (and Buchanan's enemies) are scared. They realize that The SPOTLIGHT's position (and Buchanan's position) on this issue resonates with a large majority of American voters of all political parties and all political ideologies.

Criticism Of Israel is coming from not just the "right" but from the "left" and from everybody in between -- anybody, that is, who takes an honest look at the manipulation of U.S. foreign policy by the Israelis and what Pat Buchanan called their "Amen Cor ner" in America.

What is interesting about the Post article is that several of the so-called "extreme right leaders" cited as supposedly backing Buchanan are known agents provocateur operating inside the "extreme right" although for the Post to mention that fact would ruin all the fun.

At least two of the so-called "groups" cited are actually one-man operations headed by informants for government agencies which have worked closely with the ADL in monitoring political dissidents. The media promotes these "groups" in order to steer people into their fold so the ADL (and its allies in the FBI, the CIA and the BATF) have a "handle" on their names and activities.

Another of the organizations (which does have some grass-roots membership support) is dominated at the top by a veteran CIA operative who maintained a cozy long-time relationship with Irwin Suall of the ADL, and by a Republican direct mail promoter who is a known informant for Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

So it was no surprise to learn from the Post that these "groups" are going out of their way to identify themselves with Buchanan. That plays right into the hands of the covert manipulators who use such "links" and "associations" to smear Buchanan with whatever label is convenient at the time.

Back when Pat still had his tactical alliance with left-wing Black activist Dr. Lenora Fulani, the Post had little to say about the fact that many of the very same persons it is now "linking" to Buchanan were actually criticizing Buchanan (just as the Post was doing) for his association with Fulani and thereby alienating many "right wingers" from the Buchanan campaign.

In any case, now that Fulani has left the Buchanan campaign, the Post has done an about-face. Rather than suggesting that Buchanan is somehow going off to the extreme left, the Post is saying Buchanan has gone off to the extreme right. If you're confused, it's because you are supposed to be. That's the game that the Post and other Buchanan critics are playing.

In our May 1 issue of The SPOTLIGHT we cited a number of dirty tricks operations aimed at Buchanan, and warned that well-financed Buchanan haters were beginning an effort to divide and conquer the Buchanan campaign. So, again, none of this is any surprise.

Unfortunately, a few Buchanan supporters fell right into the trap laid by the Post. Most notable among them is Justin Raimando, one of Buchanan's most articulate supporters.

Raimando did just what the ADL and the Post wanted him to do: denounce the good patriots among SPOTLIGHT readers who have rallied behind Buchanan's campaign. And so he did. Raimando responded to the Post in Buchanan's de fense by attacking The SPOTLIGHT and bragged how he has been critical of the support of SPOTLIGHT readers for the Buchanan campaign.

What is particularly pathetic is that he is actually quite a good writer and most of his commentary echoes The SPOTLIGHT down the line. We don't want to get Justin in trouble with the Anti-Defamation League, but the fact is Justin's views are hardly different from The SPOTLIGHT.

Yet, Justin is so fearful of being la beled as anti-something-or-another by the ADL that he quickly obliged both the Post and the ADL by grinding out a hurriedly-written and sloppy ad hominem attack on The SPOTLIGHT and its supporters. This column wasn't up to Justin's usual standards and the reason is obvious: Justin wasn't writing from his usual position of self-confidence and commitment to principle.

Instead, he was writing what he felt others wanted him to say. He wanted to protect himself from being subjected to the smears that the ADL has leveled at other Buchanan supporters. He wants to be a Buchanan supporter, on the one hand, but he wants to be able to decide which people are "nice" Buchanan supporters and which aren't.

Pat himself knows he will never neutralize long-standing hostility from the ADL. So it's fruitless for people like Justin Raimando to think that they are doing Pat a favor by denouncing Liberty Lobby in the same kind of terminology used by the ADL. It's unbecoming. It's foolish. It's naive. It just doesn't make good political sense. And it's just the latest example of dirty tricks used by the elite to drive a wedge between Buchanan and his supporters in order to divide and conquer.