Another brave politician (in this case “political hopeful”) publicly calls for an end to the blockade of Gaza. Jonathan Tasini, Democratic candidate for US Senate in New York makes a unabashed statement about the moral, strategic and humanitarian costs of the siege.
(H/T to Jennifer Bing-Canar for sending this one along.)
Shalom Rav 
How to kill your budding political career in less than five minutes.
To Shirin:
More and more Americans are waking up to the fact that the United States is funding and standing behind an apartheid state – the state of Israel.
Thank goodness for the brave and honest Mr. Tasini. We support and applaud his courage!
A most, most beautiful statement. Possibly not “political” but definitely “statesmanlike”. My thanks to Jennifer Bing-Canar whose name I have not seen for 20 years or more and to whom I send thoughts of my dear, departed Sibyl.
I admire Jonathan Tassini for his courage and honesty. He probably knows that’s the end of his political career (just like Cynthia McKinney in the State of Georgia or anyone who speaks for justice and against the terrorist and inhumane occupation of Palestine by Israel). The corporate media and AIPAC are going to tear up his career like wild dogs or hyenas will kill and eat up a full-grown bull in few minutes. That’s why lobbying, which is nothing but legalized corruption at high level, must be banned. The AIPAC, a foreign agent, with many spying scandals is hurting America, Palestine and Israel… and the universal peace.
Thank you again Mr. Tassini for speaking up against inhumanity and state terrorism.
Mr. Tasini has some of the credit like the veterans against the war. as a former resident of israel, he cannot be told he doesnt know what it is all about. by sharing his personal experience losing friends and/or family in israel he gives weight to his thoughtful assessment of what needs to happen to improve the situation for more of the folks n that part of the world. Another thank you Mr. Tasins, more of us need to hear your voice.
Tasini’s political campaign (or “career”) may, indeed, be destroyed as Chickasaw Chief suggests, but it also offers NY voters a chance to see this destructive process and to evaluate it. Tasini seems a very thoughtful man, and not only on I/P, and may find a good audience and enough small donors and speaking venues to make his case.
The anticipated AIPAC attack may well be over-reaching and may call attention to the I/P issue and to both factual and ethical aspects which the MSM hide from NYers. Even if the only people interested in his candidacy were Jewish, which I greatly doubt, there is enough Jewish opinion opposed to AIPAC’s monolithic totalitarianism to support him if his name “gets out”.
This will, in its turn, create opportunities for NYers to evaluate the coverage and opinion provisions of the NYT (which hid the Holocaust during WWII just as it hides I/P today) and of other MSM.
Action Alert
NYT Erases Progressive Senate Candidate
Tasini campaign not ‘fit to print’?
FAIR.org
4/7/10
[Full alert at http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4056 ]
[Excerpt] “Over the course of the past year, the New York Times has provided ample coverage to a series of potential U.S. Senate candidates from New York–none of whom are actually running for office. Meanwhile, a candidate who is in fact challenging incumbent Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand in the September 2010 primary has been all but erased from the picture. . . . why are they neglecting a candidate who, after all, garnered 17 percent of the primary vote in 2006 against Hillary Clinton–a much better known incumbent than Gillibrand? It’s worth noting that Tasini once successfully sued the Times (and other publications) as head of the National Writers Union to ensure that freelancers be paid for electronic rights to their work. That relationship ought to make the paper wary of appearing to hold a grudge.(We should note, on the topic of disclosure, that Tasini wrote for FAIR’s magazine Extra! in the 1990s.) But a more potent factor in the Times’ cold shoulder for Tasini is likely the candidate’s political views. . . . .
ACTION:
Contact New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt and ask him to investigate why the Times is giving so little space to an actual candidate in this year’s Senate race, while giving unusually broad coverage to non-candidates.
CONTACT:
New York Times
Clark Hoyt, Public Editor
public@nytimes.com
Phone: (212) 556-7652