Doubting Thomas

Friedman is the last refuge of Nader

In a column six months ago, titled "A Rude Awakening", Friedman wrote:

That is, Mr. Sharon has the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat under house arrest in his office in Ramallah, and he's had George Bush under house arrest in the Oval Office. Mr. Sharon has Mr. Arafat surrounded by tanks, and Mr. Bush surrounded by Jewish and Christian pro-Israel lobbyists, by a vice president, Dick Cheney, who's ready to do whatever Mr. Sharon dictates, and by political handlers telling the president not to put any pressure on Israel in an election year — all conspiring to make sure the president does nothing.

I noted at the time that this was quite offensive.
Two weeks ago, the Washington Post noted some recent antisemitic comments by Ralph Nader and commented:

The problem, rather, is the language he deploys in doing so. In the radio interview he called John Kerry a "puppet politician who does not think in the best interests of the American people and the Israeli and Palestinian people." And in his letter he writes, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, of "AIPAC's ditto machine on Capitol Hill" and the awed members of Congress "who, against their private judgment, resign themselves to sign on the dotted line."

This is poisonous stuff. And if Mr. Nader doesn't understand what such words actually mean, the less savory elements of American society certainly know how to read such code. But Mr. Nader, as always, is not backing down: "As for the metaphors -- puppeteer and puppets -- the Romans had a phrase for the obvious -- res ipsa loquitor," which means the thing speaks for itself. Indeed it does.

(note: I don't agree with everything in the editorial.)
How does Nader defend himself against the charge of antisemitism? Why it's:

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman used stronger words than "puppet" when on Feb. 5 he wrote: "Mr. Sharon has the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat under house arrest in his office in Ramallah, and he's had George Bush under house arrest in the Oval Office. Mr. Sharon has Mr. Arafat surrounded by tanks, and Mr. Bush surrounded by Jewish and Christian pro-Israel lobbyists, by a vice president, Dick Cheney, who's ready to do whatever Mr. Sharon dictates . . . all conspiring to make sure the president does nothing."

Indeed Nader is right. Friedman's language is stronger. But that doesn't mean that Nader doesn't employ the rhetoric of the Israel and Jew haters. It just mean that Thomas Friedman employs it too.
Crossposted on Israpundit and Doubting Thomas.