Democratic identity crisis
(and progressives on the Middle East)

As some John Kerry supporters ask him to be more like Howard Dean, the Democratic Leadership Council urges voters to dump Dean because his antiwar views represent the party's far left-wing (Why is opposition to America's first preemptive--and therefore likely illegal--war considered far left-wing?). Me, I wish Dean might act a bit more like Dennis Kucinich.

A key difference between the Dems' most progressive candidates, as one reader points out, is their attitudes toward Israel and Palestine. While Dean aligns himself with the conservative pro-Sharon America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)--which supports Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and refuses to negotiate with the Palestinians (who, while guilty of their own violence against Israelis, have lost some 2400 people in Israeli attacks), Kucinich's more balanced approach actually includes the welfare of the Palestinians in the peace equation:

If we seek to require the Palestinians, who do not have their own state, to adhere to a higher standard of conduct, should we not also ask Israel, with over a half century experience with statehood, to adhere to the basic standard of conduct, including meeting the requirements of international law?

(Thanks, Heather.)