From: ziad@eng.umd.edu (Ziad K. Cheiban)
Subject: Re: pro-Israeli Lobby
Date: Mon, 09 Nov 92 20:20:04 GMT
Organization: Project GLUE, University of Maryland, College Park

In article <1dil9qINNe5v@haven.umd.edu> spinoza@next06wor.wam.umd.edu (Yon Bonnie Laird of Cairn Robbing) writes:
>In article <1992Nov04.164015.9839@eng.umd.edu> news@eng.umd.edu (C-News)  
>writes:
>> 2- If you're interested in this subject you might
>> want to read :
>> They Dare to Speak Out: people and institutions
>> confront Israel's Lobby
>> by: Paul Findley
>> Publisher: Lawrence Hill, 1985
>> Westport Conn.
>> Paul Findley is an ex-senator who lost his reelection
>> campaign because the Israeli Lobby targeted him.
>> His is an interesting book, it should be available
>> at your library.
>Hmmmmm. Verry interesting, but one important fact should be noted:
>Mr. Findley lost the election because he received less votes than his  
>opponent, not because of the intervention of some mythical "Israeli  
>Lobby". Granted,  pro-Israel people had a vested interest in his premature  
>retirement, but it was the people of his state who failed to vote for him  
>(or, as the case might have been , voted in large numbersa for his  
>opponents. Mr. Finley was a Representative, as in, he was elected to serve  
>the interests of his constituents. If his constituency dislikes his  
>stands, they ought to have the right to remove him from office. This is  
>the basis of American government, BTW, government with the consent of the  
>governed, and like that). Paul Findley's persecution complex  
>notwithstanding, the Israel Lobby (tm) did not "steal" the election, they  
>merely informed the people of his state about his record, whereupon they  
>threw the ex-rep out - one of the wonderful things about representative  
>democracy, BTW. If you get elected and fail to vote and  in a manner  
>consistent with the wishes of the majority of your constituents, you stand  
>a good chance of failing in subsequent attempts at re-election.
>This   concept is evidently too difficult for Mr. Findley to grasp, but   
>not beyond the abilities of those on the net.
>
Thank you for enlightening us about the subtelties of democracy.
We all thought that the Iraeli lobby had called on the Iraqi
Republican Guards to oust Findley!
We are (all of us) also in awe in front of your intimate knowledge 
of Findley's personality and of his persecution complex.
Now if you don't mind enlightening us about your own personality
is it stupidity, naievete, delusion, denial, or dismissal that
cause you to post such nonsense?
Everybody knows that the media plays an essential role in any election
and that the candidate with more money gets more air-time, as in
paying to get on TV, as in ads, as in negative campaign.
Everybody also knows that lobby groups a.k.a special interest
contribute handsomely to the electoral campaigns, as in money
as in dollars, as in sheckels.
So much so, in fact, that the majority of the US electorate feels
disenfranchised  and powerless. Which causes someone like Perot
to get somewhere in the vicinity of 20% of the popular vote because
people feel he isn't an insider and he doesn't cater to the
special interest groups.
The same political system brought us the expression: 
to "Willie-Hortonize" someone.
In other words one can manipulate the electorate. Let us recall
that Adolf Hitler, no less, got elected democratically.
Ah the miracles of propaganda!
I do not know as much as you do about Findley's "persecution
complex" (Imagine that! And he isn't even Jewish!) but I can say
that his book is carefully researched and documented unlike your
allegations. Furthermore he wrote about problems faced by other
representatives for opposing the Israeli lobby's wishes.
So, I guess, he must have a group "persecution complex". 
Interestingly enough he also mentions that he had trouble publishing
his book because large publishers were not willing to take the risk
of a boycott or such similar measures. The same publishers who have
no problem with publishing unfounded and ill documented allegations
about famous people (i.e. such famous oeuvres including masterpieces
written by the likes of Kitty Kelly, Geraldo,...) seem to have found
it unethical to publish a well documented book by an ex-senator.
>shalom
>
>jeff
>
Ahlan!
Ziad
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon