You know the guy, right? He's the conservative old goat who has been a thorn in the side of Democrats for decades as a right-wing columnist and as curmudgeon-in-chief on the old CNN show, Crossfire. Novak is however an oldstyle conservative, you remember them -- able to exhibit a degree of intelligence and sometimes even respect for the Constitution?
Anyway, Ol' Bob got a preview of the new Jonathan Demme film about Jimmy Carter. Here's a little of what he wrote about it:
In the film, Carter repeatedly and unequivocally states what Palestinian and Israeli peace advocates view as undeniable: to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace, with all its benefits for the world, Israel must end its illegal and oppressive occupation of the West Bank. That is a prerequisite that neither President Bush nor congressional leaders of both parties can approach for fear of being labeled anti-Israeli or even anti-Semitic (as Carter has been).The right wing extremists -- now including, I regret to say, a coalition of Christian evangelical TV preachers -- have gone off the deep end in such uncritical support of the Israeli government that they even turn a blind eye when Israel oppresses its Christian minority. And they have absolutely no use for those who look for actual solutions to the Palestinian dilemma that take into consideration the rights of (Oh my!) Palestinians as well as Israelis.
As I think President Carter has pointed out, there is actually less frank debate about Palestine in America than there is in Israel. Maybe this film and columns like Novak's will change that.
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