A quick fisking of Amy Goodman

Veet in the comments wanted me to fisk Amy Goodman, a popular left-wing host of "Democracy Now!" which runs on many radio stations across the country, including many college stations.

From what I could tell from a quick look, she is just another moonbat, without much original or interesting to say, pretty much sticking to the party line.

Yesterday, she had a special guest, the tiredly predictable Juan Cole.

Here are some of the lies I caught from the transcript:

AMY: In Israel and the Occupied Territories, the Obama administration has continued the US government’s unwavering support for Israel.

Well, except for trying to open dialogue with Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah, telling Israel not to attack Iran, trying to appoint officials with anti-Israel views, and Obama saying that he is anti-Likud - sure, he is "unwavering."

The administration recently announced it will withdraw its entire $900 million aid pledge if the pending Palestinian unity government does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. No such conditions have been imposed on Israel.

Um, perhaps because Israel already has recognized the Palestinian Arabs' right to exist at Oslo, 16 years ago?

Notice also that she doesn't say a word about the other precondition - that Hamas renounce terror. Apparently, Goodman believes that this is also an unacceptable restriction on her heroes in Hamas.

She also doesn't seem to find it strange to force Israel to negotiate with people who wish it to disappear. Perhaps she is not familiar with what "negotiations" mean - one does not negotiate their own demise, as much as Goodman might desire that to happen.

This comes in the wake of Israel’s brutal three-week assault on Gaza that left over 1,400 Palestinians dead, more than 900 of them civilians.

Actually, even according to PCHR, the 900 were "noncombatants," which is a very different thing. Israel has determined that no more than one third of the dead were civilians. You might argue over which is correct, but you do not accept the words of one biased party as fact and reject the other based on nothing but your own biases.

COLE: You know, there is a ban on politicians in the United States being critical of Israeli policy. And if you have anything serious to do with the US Congress, in particular, it’s not allowed to be critical, and you’ll have a lot of enemies who will try to shoot you down, try to get you unelected if you’re elected, try to get you unappointed if you’re appointed. And it’s a concerted effort on the part of a whole range of people. They include evangelical Christians on the right. They include right-wing Zionists in the Jewish community. It’s a very odd set of alliances, but it’s very effective.

A ban? There is no question that the Israel lobby is effective in...lobbying, just as the NRA and AARP are at least as effective in their own efforts to influence Congress. Saudi Arabia has an effective lobby as well. And there are even politicians - a minority, to be sure - who built their careers on being anti-Israel.

AMY: In our headlines today, reading that Netanyahu has formed a pact with the far-right politician Avigdor Lieberman, an attempt to form a right-wing government in which Lieberman would become Israel’s foreign minister. He’s called for laws to require Palestinians living in Israel to swear loyalty to the Jewish state.

JUAN COLE: He’s called for laws for Israelis, Israeli citizens, to have a loyalty test. These are—

AMY GOODMAN: Not singling out Israeli Arabs?

JUAN COLE: They’re singling out Israeli Arabs.

This is simply a lie. The loyalty oath that makes everyone so upset is for all Israeli citizens.