Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Soros-Axelrod Axis? The J-Street Gang


Ed Lasky
American Thinker
24 September 09

(This article turned out to be quite a surprise. It details the formation and threat of J-Street and its creators, potential model for the creation of other front groups by the Soros clique in the U.S.)

George Soros is one of the big sugar daddies of the Democratic Party. He also is the ruler of an archipelago of so-called 527 groups that pose as non-partisan activists groups, but in fact are often hyper-partisan (such as MoveOn.Org), and are often employed by Democrats to influence elections. Soros, for years, has been the top funder of such groups. His influence among Democrats is widespread and enduring (and was well-documented by David Horowitz and Richard Poe in their book, The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party). His pet think-tank, the Center for American Progress, has been the idea factory and employment agency (think Van Jones, among others) for President Obama.

There is no proof, but there certainly is reason to suspect that Soros also has been working in cahoots with David Axelrod, Obama's former campaign strategist and now his numero uno domestic policy adviser. Soros has expertise in influencing our nation's foreign policy by forming faux astroturf groups that operate under the guise of being independent. Soros, the hedge fund billionaire, is one of the world's most astute investors. He has mastered the art and science of politics and invests in a panoply of think tanks, 527 groups, politicians, astroturf groups, and the Democratic Party to provide himself with the tools to influence our nation's policies. In this administration , he may have reached the pinnacle of his power. Now many of his groups are starting to look like tools the White House is using to drive policy.

A little background might help to tease out the possibility that Soros may have established an early working relationship with Axelrod. Soros was an early and ardent supporter of Barack Obama, even using a loophole in federal campaign laws to funnel outsized donations to him for his Senate campaign. The various think tanks and 527 groups that Soros funds have provided advisers and de facto campaign help for Barack Obama. Naturally, Soros and Axelrod would have crossed paths.

Soros and Axelrod are natural allies. For years, Axelrod ran not just a political consultancy firm (AKP & D Message and Media) but also had a lucrative business operating under the rubric of ASK Public Strategies. The latter firm specialized in creating so called astroturf groups: well-funded activist groups that have the façade of being grassroots phenomena, but are merely tools of moneyed interests. Astroturf groups are a mirror image of 527 groups, of which, to repeat, Soros is the nation's top donor. Is it possible that Soros has worked hand in hand with Axelrod to create such an astroturf group -- this time not to win elections, but to carry out Barack Obama's policies?

A model for this type of strategy might be J Street, a recently-formed lobbying group that bills itself as being a pro-Israel group but whose policies and principles belie this claim. J Street has been run in ways that resemble a political campaign -- one that Axelrod himself might appreciate. J Street has an arm that raises campaign money for candidates, is skilled at public relations and using the internet to generate support, chants the change mantra, and even uses such campaign tactics as phony push-polls to promote its views. But J Street is not just promoting its views, it is promoting President Obama's as well, and is working within the Jewish community to peel away support for the American-Israel relationship. They may well be "protecting the Quarterback in the White House" as Lenny Ben-David writes in the Jerusalem Post.

In fact, it can be seen as having "Obama's back" when it comes to the pressure he is exerting on Israel.

Others concur with Ben-David's views.

James Kirchick , assistant editor of The New Republic, characterized J Street as all but being Obama's Lobby to the Jewish community.
And who better to counter the influence of the so-called "Israel Lobby" than other Jews? J Street and the constellation of far-left "pro-Israel" organizations put a kosher stamp of approval on Obama's bizarre hectoring and moral equivalence. By casting Israel as the obstructionist, as the "drunk" driver whose car keys need to be taken away (as Ben-Ami put it in one of his more candid moments), Obama will have a free hand to compel the parties to the peace table. And once gathered there, another Oslo accord can be forced upon a recalcitrant Israel (whereupon the disastrous consequences of that agreement -- the erection of terrorist infrastructure, a deterioration of the Palestinian economy, deepening mutual distrust -- will be repeated).

The New York Times agrees that "J Street shares the Obama administration's agenda" including opposition to settlements and sanctions on Iran. Is this a coincidence? Very few things are coincidences when it comes to politics -- especially as practiced by George Soros and David Axelrod.


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