Grand Illusion

++Josh Marshall ends the night with a tour de force. Writing as an American Jew and a Zionist, Josh picks up on Jeffrey Goldberg's piece and believes as Goldberg did that any way you look at the Boehner/Bibi ploy,it ends in disaster--except for, maybe, Bibi's electoral fortunes. Marshall thinks Goldberg's focus on Bibi's Iranian focus doesn't put enough emphasis on his domestic electoral policy. 

++Marshall feels the tremors of an earthquake in the bipartisan consensus on Israel and the reactions from the American audiences. He quotes Bibi saying he has had enough with President Obama as if he is the one managing the relationship. Marshall points to Bibi dismissing any of the United States' marginal efforts on the settlements and the Palestinian issue as evidence that since the Israel-United States relationship grew so large that this went to Bibi's head and he fails to realize anymore that America is the anchor for Israel's defense. He blames some of this on the language coming from the extreme right parties, who want to find another superpower patron.  

++Marshall also believes Bibi's Iran obsession is totally off base since it is at odds with Israel's military establishment. He notes that Bibi really doesn't have military experience except for a short time in an elite IDS unit. As Goldberg pointed out, at least he didn't attack Iran. 

++Read Josh's piece at TalkingPointsMemo because all week he has been trying to grabble with the Bibi ploy.

++Now for a counter to this Jennifer Rubin goes off the rails tonight with her call for the end of the Benghazi Oversight Committee. But not for the right reasons. She wants a Oversight Committee on the issue of the failure of the Obama Administration to deal with the Iranian nuclear program and its failure to develop a strategy to defeat Islamic Jihadist Terrorism. IJT is the new GOP talking point since President Obama has not used the phrase. If the Democrats won't agree to the new Oversight Committee then their should be a special commission headed by Leon Panetta and General Murphy with full subpoena powers to get to the bottom of it. 

++ (Note: the new chairman of intelligence oversight is Senator Burr from North Carolina. He wants to return the Panetta Report of the CIA Torture Program back to the Administration because the Senate really shouldn't poke in the Agency's business. It was the Panetta report that my Williams classmate Mark Udall exposed on the Senate floor as the CIA's own proof that its torture program not only went beyond limits but yielded no actionable intelligence. So Leon is now Jennifer's hero. Go figure.)

++And lastly this evening, you mention, Jews, Israel, the Holocaust and wars in the Middle East, then you know who will appear--the lovable anti-Semite Pat Buchanan. Pat rips the new narrative in Washington that the Iranians are on the march and only Bibi--a foreign leader can tell Americans what to do. Pat backs off his Israel tirades this time for an evisceration of the current Shiite Crescent theory. He says that commentators are saying Iran has won the major capitals in Beirut,Damascus, Baghdad, and Sana'a. He rips on the role the United States played in creating the disasters across the region. And says shi'ites have temporarily gained control in Sunni majority countries, which regard these people as heretics. He scoffs at John McCain and Ralph Peters crying the "Persians are coming" and says if war with Iran is where the GOP is going for 2016 then he wants off. 

++He almost has lost his taste for his usually vile rhetoric about Israel. He gets a few slams at AIPAC in and his litany about Washington being led around the nose by Israel. 

++He chides Bibi for coming to Washington to lecture us about the dangers of Iran's nuclear program. He recalls Bibi's speech in San Francisco that this was 1938 and that Israel can deal with the first nuclear exchange with Iran but then tehran will be going after the Great Satan. He notes--quite correctly--that the National Intelligence Assessment in 2011 said Iran had no nuclear bomb program and that assessment has not been changed.

++Buchanan points out the degree of intrusive monitoring going on and the fact that Iran has not enriched uranium to bomb levels yet. He says they have not exploded one. But he does mention that Israel has between 100-300 nuclear weapons and that  Pakistan has lots. Iran has none.

++The elderly Buchanan seems more fed up with the United States screwing up with our wars than Israel at this stage.

++But if the center-left goes after Boehner/Bibi and Buchanan chimes in, you have problems.

--P.S. All the emails from conservative military types are totally pro-Bibi,anti-Obama, Obama has failed against Islamic Jihadism and Iran both. If you can tell me how you think you are going to fight everyone at the same time or even in a tag-team match, let me know. These same types believe Obama's trips to China and India are junkets. It's not like he rounded up half the population of the world on his side to combat climate change--which is a hoax anyway.  It is clear from Boehner's invite was from his hatred for the President , the same reflected in my e-mails. The military types for all their bravado tend to stand down when I ask about how much war with Iran would cost, what's the final end game or the casualties they would accept.

Boehner Admits To Stumbles

++John Boehner admits his new House hasn't got off to the smooth start he wanted. Today the House couldn't figure out their own border security bill, which even Jeff Sessions admitted got too confusing. Senate Democrats are united in telling Mitch McConnell to just fund Homeland Security and not even thinks about bringing the House bill to the floor.

++John Boehner said that he is about ready to sue President Obama over immigration. The litigation strategy has just been reviewed. We are still waiting for his suit on Obama delaying the employer mandate.

++But Good news for fans of the Boehner/ Bibi show. John Boehner insisted he had the absolute right to invite Bibi because the House is a co-equal branch of Government. Even his math fails him. 1/6th or forget it. And by gum, he's going to stick by his decision.

++Dave Weigel reports that the Boehner invite was the brain child of Louie Gohmert and that Boehner made his dream real.

++Ed Kilgore , who isn't a very persistent Israel watcher, writes today "Bibi's Reckless Gamble". In sum, he writes that Bibi has alienated Obama's White House,congressional Democrats and American Jews, who overwhelmingly voted for Obama. He's receiving mixed reviews at home and earned a new bond with Republicans who have nothing whatsoever to do with foreign policy. Other than that,his plan is working brilliantly. 

++More seriously he gives the floor to Jeffrey Goldberg, who has been a fan of Bibi, but who writes "The Netanyahu Disaster" in the Atlantic. Goldberg thinks that Bibi's management of his relationship with President Obama has been a disaster and perhaps beyond repair. He's suspicious of the timing from the point of view of the Israeli elections. He's relieved Bibi hasn't attacked Iran--yet--which he agrees would be a real disaster. He's concerned that a bipartisan support for Israel may be threatened and he hopes it is not irreparable. That's heavy coming from Goldberg.

++So far,Jennifer Rubin has backed Bibi and Marc Thiessen. Marc as you know supports Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, which really did come from Gestapo handbooks. 

++Perhaps in honor of the occasion, they should invite Dick Cheney to be honorary President of the Senate so that the optics are complete.