05 January 2009 - Joe Klein attacks "Jewish neoconservatives"

I'm puzzled by Joe Klein's descent into antisemitic conspiracy theory-land as he responds to Bill Kristol of the NYT. Klein says:

...Kristol is a cagey guy. He benefits from the delusion of Iranian potency. The more menacing and evil Iran seems, the stronger the arguments for the war that Kristol and many other Jewish neoconservatives really want: a U.S. attack on Iran to make the world safe for Israel (as if such a war could or would accomplish that). He comes very close to endorsing that in his last paragraph.

I'll leave, for the moment, Klein's silly belief that Obama will be able to unite the world against Iran more easily because America will suddenly become more likable. I'll even disregard his total distortion of Kristol's position on Iran.

But his reference to Kristol's Jewishness is disgusting, no less so for having been done by a fellow Jew. There simply is no cabal of "neoconservatives," Jewish or otherwise, manipulating American power for Israel's benefit. Klein's comment is the stuff of extremist hate sites, not reasoned analysis.

Perhaps this is a sign of how far gone the American media establishment really is.