Indiana governor Mitch Daniels sometimes sees his name thrown about when lists of possible 2012 Republican contenders are mentioned. Michael Barone has already endorsed him, and he’s maintaining an active website, despite his proclamation that he will never be a candidate for public office “ever again.”
Domestically, Governor Daniels comes from the reformist wing of the party. In March, he correctly told the GOP to “stop whining” about President Obama’s agenda and forward positive ideas of our own instead. In Indiana, he has balanced the budget, trimmed the size of government, touted environmental issues at a time when most Republicans seem scared to death of them, and won an impressive 20% of the black vote in his 2008 re-election bid. Moreover, he is an Arab-American, a not-unimpressive ethnic quality in a time when the GOP direly needs a shot in the arm on the “diversity” front.
Quite frankly, he seems like my kind of candidate (and there’s no reason for religious conservatives to dislike the man, who says that “saving souls” is more important than politics), and a fairly obvious center-right choice for the next presidential race — especially now that Jon Huntsman is tied up and Charlie Crist shot himself in the foot by cheerleading the stimulus package.
And yet, Daniels, like most governors who did not come from the Senate, remains somewhat of a blank slate on the foreign policy front. But there are some upsetting signs on the outfront.
We know that he has both been honored by (in the late 1980′s) and addressed the Arab American Institute, a leading ethnic grievance lobby in the United States. Its endorsement was rejected by Mike Dukakis in 1988 and, in 2008, politicians like Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, and Howard Dean gave pro-victimology speeches to the Institute, proclaiming, essentially, that the United States engages in racism against Arabs and that the Republican Party attempts to make people afraid of Arabs. The head of the Arab-American Institute, James Zogby, is a notorious Israel-basher and Islamist sympathizer:
On the Oslo Accords…It is difficult to see what has changed. If there is peace, someone forgot to tell the Israelis at the checkpoints or their Palestinian victims. This is a classic portrait of power vs. Powerlessness. The daily humiliation of the checkpoint can’t help but create hatred…
[There is] significant leverage which [the Arabs] can use to check Likud’s [this means "the Jews'"...] policy and force the U.S. to use pressure.
As reported by Yehudit Barsky,
Specifically, he suggested that Arab states revert to using the secondary Arab boycott, that is, not doing business with firms doing business in Israel…
…
Zogby has come to the defense of extremist Muslim groups such as the Muslim [Brotherhood], Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, arguing that these groups are merely “politically” or “religiously” opposed to the peace process. He defends the American Muslim Council (AMC), a Muslim American organization based in Washington that forwards the cause of extremist Islamic organizations such as Hamas, as well as Islamic radical movements in Algeria, Sudan, and other countries. He also has the temerity to call upon Jewish organizations to follow his lead on these issues.
The Arab-American Institute also devotes itself to the creation of a “viable” Palestinian state. That means, for those of you who are unfamiliar with euphemistic anti-Israel sloganeering, that Israel either needs to give up Jerusalem or else much of its land — certainly moreso than just the West Bank and Gaza. (How do we know this for certain? Because Yasser Arafat already rejected, in 2000, an offer which would have offered all three to the Palestinians.)
This is the man whose institute Mitch Daniels addressed and, further back, accepted an award from.
This could be completely innocuous, of course: Governor Daniels may be unfamiliar with Mr. Zogby or his outrageous statements. Perhaps, despite this disturbing link, Daniels is a staunch supporter of the state of Israel and the war against militant Islam.
Or perhaps he’s not.
If he runs in 2012, security-minded conservatives ought to dog him until we get some straight answers.
Regardless, he has some explaining to do.
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Alex Knepper can be contacted at apkkib@aol.com
May 17th, 2009 at 7:28 am
No Alex this is YOU “investigating” and starting to believe your own press and thinking you are far more important than you are.
If this is a serious post you’d better have a lot more to back up your claims.
May 17th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Just as I have a serious problem with the fact that Todd Palin was a member of the AIP, whose founder gave an anti-American speech at the UN sponsored by Iran, I have a gravely serious problem with Daniels’ affiliation, here.
I just took a couple of hours to research Daniels, to see what I’d find out. That’s what I found out.
If your best reply to this is to attack me over something completely and utterly unrelated, then it’s time to head back to the drawing board.
May 17th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I’m not attacking you (and even if I was it would be over this article not about something “unrelated”?).
Yehudit Barsky’s article you quote for starters dates back to 1998. Anything more recent? We have more important people to worry about than James (& John) Zogby. And even if he is such a badie you have hardly made out a case for a meaningful link between the Governor and him.
NEED I REMIND YOU THAT WE (YOU) ELECTED SOMEONE THAT WAS MATES WITH A DOMESTIC TERRIORIST!
Somehow I can’t see that the public will take any interest in this “RACE42012 investigation”.
This is baseless and meaningless is all I’m saying. You write some good stuff but this was amateur hour.
May 17th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Breathtaking! Sarah surely told Todd to instruct the AIP’s founder to speak before the UN — and arranged for Iran to sponsor it.
Can this be a wise approach? It is far better to presume guilt. Especially when the crime is that of association, punishable in all jurisdictions.
When we get those hate crime laws passed, that’s when we’ll fix ‘em!
May 17th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Yehudit Barsky’s article you quote for starters dates back to 1998. Anything more recent? We have more important people to worry about than James (& John) Zogby. And even if he is such a badie you have hardly made out a case for a meaningful link between the Governor and him.
I’m asking why the governor affiliates himself with an organization headed by a man who sympathizes with Hamas…especially when it’s clearly ethnically-based, and Mitch himself is Arab. Does Mitch share Zogby’s views? Do we know? We need to..!
Breathtaking! Sarah surely told Todd to instruct the AIP’s founder to speak before the UN — and arranged for Iran to sponsor it.
Why the hell does it not bother you that Todd Palin was a member of an organization headed by an anti-American secessionist? You can bet that if Obama had such a history, you’d cry bloody murder — oh, wait! You did! Everyone — INCLUDING ME — was up in arms about Bill Ayers!
May 17th, 2009 at 8:07 am
In my opinion, these disturbing allegations, if true, disqualify Daniels from national office.
May 17th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Because I make a distinction between basic philosophies that take opposing directions.
May 17th, 2009 at 9:17 am
http://www.indy.com/posts/daniels-addresses-holocaust-event
May 17th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Here we are, poised precariously on the brink of becoming California nationwide, and we’re supposed to get apoplectic because of where potential candidates might have given speeches, or what memberships their spouses once held?
Otherwise, I think Matthew E. Miller pegged it: Alex wants to drive everyone from the party who doesn’t adhere slavishly to his own priorities, and nevertheless complains that the party is facing ruin by ardent purists. Square that circle.
May 17th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Alex, what did Daniels say in his address? Do you think that’s important?
May 17th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Daniels must answer these allegations immediately and if he does not sufficiently explain these ties then I have no problem with the threat of expulsion from the Party but he should be given the opportunity to defend himself and presumed innocent until proven guilty.
May 17th, 2009 at 10:31 am
#11, what allegations?
Mitch Daniels spoke at the Arab American Leadership Forum in 2006. It was hosted in the State Department.
He received a Public Official of the Year award from an Arab-American group in the 1980′s.
You may want clarification on Daniel’s foreign policy views but this is taking on the tone of a witch hunt.
May 17th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I’d say that this is a big load of nothing, except that Alex has the prestigious backing of JA Pruce.
May 17th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Personally I don’t know to much about the guy (on either fiscal or social issues), but I don’t see him speaking to a group like this as a disqualification. Do you know what he said?
May 17th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Thank you Alex, for posting this. I tend to agree with JA; this is very troubling and we certainly need to know a lot more about this before we would ever even think about entertaining the thought of embracing this guy.
May 17th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Mitch Daniels spoke at the Arab American Leadership Forum in 2006. It was hosted in the State Department.
What, you think that the State Department is incapable of doing anything wrong?
The topic of the speech was completely benign; it involved anecdotes of him growing up as an Arab.
I would certainly hope that Daniels had no idea that the group was headed by an anti-Israel terrorist sympathizer.
8 – Well, gosh, that’s the end of that, then!
May 17th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Otherwise, I think Matthew E. Miller pegged it: Alex wants to drive everyone from the party who doesn’t adhere slavishly to his own priorities, and nevertheless complains that the party is facing ruin by ardent purists. Square that circle.
I don’t want to drive him from the party.
I’d just like an explanation, here…
May 17th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Most members of AIP are for States Right, they are not outright secessionists. Take a chill, AIP is not Canada’s version of the PQ, BQ or WIP.
May 17th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
I think Daniels, as a presidential candidate, could have a more difficult time explaining away his gross miscalculations concerning the cost of the Iraq War.
With that said, I do remember one of the other presenters at that Arab-American Leadership Forum, David Satterfield, once defending Hezbollah’s terrorist acts against Israel.
Here it is…
ZOA Condemns U.S. Ambassador Vincent Battle For Saying Some Hezbollah Terrorism “Is Not Terrorism”
Why is the State Dept Soft on Those Who Attack Israel?
May 17th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Pruce and Knepper are quite the combo, hahaha.
May 17th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
JA Pruce, I am not in the Daniels camp for a few reasons, but I am not looking to kick him out of the party. He has done nothing to warrant it as far as I can see.
May 17th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Ohio, don’t get me wrong – we need to presume innocence and this could be completely innocuous, as Alex said. But we need answers and we cannot have the impression of an anti-Israeli governor in the Party or one that is supportive of any way of Hezbollah. The Jewish vote remains a very important voting demographic for Republicans and the GOP is trying to build on this vote for the future.
May 17th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
22 – Norman Podhoretz is coming out with a book later this year: “Why Are Jews Liberals?”
May 18th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I am sure the Weekly Standard and the WSJ eagerly wait your report.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:09 am
I completely forgot about this post, so I’ll just take a moment here. You’re talking about my governor and this tarring him with his ancestry is frankly outrageous. My man Mitch is a multi term governor of what is and remains a pretty solidly red state. I actually asked several people if they had any awareness that Mitch was an Arab American and to a one, people responded that it was news to them. I’ll bet you a dollar you’d be pressed to find 100 people on the streets of Indianapolis, Muncie or Kokomo who would not be surprised to hear you call Mitch an Arab American. Its the first time I’ve heard that and I live here and voted for the man.
This is a tenuous string of stuff that is more guilt by association smear than a factual critique of the man’s views.