Dean & Kucinich 1st To Confirm To Appear At Arab Amer. Conference

Addressing Arab Americans: Dean and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich are the first Democratic presidential hopefuls to confirm that they will attend the Arab American Institute's national leadership conference, "VOTE 2004: An Agenda for Peace and Justice." The conference is to take place in Dearborn, Mich., the weekend of October 17 through 19. Institute head James Zogby told the Forward that he expects that all the candidates will eventually agree to attend. He said he thought Kucinich and Dean had responded first because Kucinich is familiar with Arab audiences because he represents a large Arab population in his district, and Dean because many of his Jewish staffers are former Clinton administration officials. "Bill Clinton showed you can be good for the Jewish community and good for the Arab community," Zogby said. "It's not an either/or proposition." Zogby said he is sure Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman would get a warm reception at the conference, although he said he knew he might not be able to come because of the Jewish holidays. "The first meeting Joe Lieberman had after the Democratic convention of 2000 was a meeting in Michigan, a sit-down with the Arab-American community. It was an incredible exchange."

more......................

http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.08.22/news.extra.campaigncon.html

(other bits of political news left over. I'm stretching things by posting two threads from one source as it is.)

Bill Press, co-host of MSNBC's "Buchanan and Press"

Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist

Georgetown University law professor David Cole

Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland/College Park

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It looks to me like they are going up against straw men. It will not be difficult to appear pro-Arab next to Grover Norquist.

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No opinion wins again!

Kerry: 14.5%
Dean: 14.2%
Gephardt: 10.5%
Lieberman: 5.3%
Kucinich: 4.1%
Edwards 2.5 %
Graham: 1.2%
Sharpton: 1.1%
Moseley-Braun: .4%
Other: 10.7%
No Opinion: 35.3%

with this audience.

Accentuate the positive and all. That way no one will notice you are not as "straight-shooting" as you'd like them to think.

The basic framework for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians is a two state solution - a Jewish state of Israel living side by side in peace and security with an independent, demilitarized Palestinian state. The best approach to achieving lasting peace is a comprehensive one, providing for fully normalized relations, peace, and security as part of an overall negotiated settlement between Israel and the Arab states.

To get there, the Palestinian Authority will have to fight terrorism and violence on a consistent basis to create the conditions necessary for a viable peace process. The Israeli government will have to work to improve the living conditions of the Palestinian people and ultimately will have to remove a number of existing settlements. These issues and others will all be elements of a final agreement negotiated by the parties.- Howard Dean

According to Gary Hart, Dean HAS no policy. In fact, you could accurately call him Howard "Gary, what do I do?" Dean.

one of his advisors is Steve Grossman

Go to link
http://dean2004.blogspot.com/2003_07_20_dean2004_archive.html and scroll down til you see title phase II: Steve Grossman and Howard Dean

During his four years as AIPAC's president, Grossman remained on excellent terms with both Clinton and Rabin. In 1993, after Rabin signed the Oslo peace accords and shook hands with Yasir Arafat in the White House Rose Garden, Grossman coaxed from his board a unanimous declaration of support.

Not all AIPAC members are or were rabid right wing Sharon-men.

Why is it bad to seek advice from Gary Hart?

Other than the fact that he may bad-mouth you later for seeking out his opinion of course. Why would Hart want to discourage people from conferring with him on policy matters?

Why I'm Supporting Howard Dean (The View of an American Muslim)
by Aziz H. Poonawalla
August 8, 2003
(Originally posted at alt.muslim)

Recently, Muslim Wake Up posted an indictment of Howard Dean as "Sharon's Man" based on initial clues on his position towards the Middle East conflict.

It is undeniable that Dean has said that his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are "in line with AIPAC's". And it is true that Dean considers resolution of the conflict to start with the cessation of terrorism, which in my view is mistaken because it puts cart before horse. Others have noted with alarm that Dean has named Steven Grossman (former head of AIPAC) as his chief fundraiser.

However, this does not mean that Dean is "Sharon's man." In fact the naming of Grossman is a clear indicator of Dean's inherent balance and affinity for moderation. In 1993, Grossman persuaded AIPAC to issue a unanimous declaration of support for the Oslo accords. Grossman supported Bill Clinton in 1991 after Tsongas dropped out, and left AIPAC in 1997 as a more bipartisan and balanced organization than ever before (or since).

Look, if resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle with a Palestinian bias was my single issue, then I may as well vote for Bush again. Bush's ties to Saudi Arabia, and his need for regional stability in Iraq and the Arab world, make him far more Abu Mazen's man than Sharon's. Note that the loan-guarantees pressure on Israel due to the Apartheid Wall. Did we ever see that kind of tough attitude during the Clinton Administration? In fact, Clinton explicitly encouraged the blatantly false perception that Barak was "generous" at Camp David - even though the offer to the Palestinians was the equivalent of prison-state cantons.

More: http://deandefense.org/archives/000662.html

Of innuendo and guilt by association! That's all the dean bashers have left!