That same sentiment and language is being used by President Barack Obama on healthcare reform. Giving a speech at Arcadia University on Monday, the President said, “If not now, when? If not us, who?” He went on to explain that healthcare has been debated for nearly a century since the time of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency.

He criticized the current private insurance system as unsustainable:

[Private insurance companies] will keep doing this for as long as they can get away with it. How much higher do premiums have to rise until we do something about it? How many more Americans have to lose their health insurance? How many more businesses have to drop coverage?

As a result, President Obama is pushing healthcare forward despite the gridlock in Congress. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday that he, along with other Congressional Democrats, are working to take steps forward on healthcare reform before Congress breaks for Easter on March 27th.

Before Biden’s meeting with Peres, Biden declared:

”... there’s absolutely no space between the United States and Israel in terms of Israel’s security and our mutual security—none, none at all.”

Biden also stated before his meeting with Peres that, in addition to standing with Israel on Iran—  which Peres declared “we have trust in President Obama” on—  the United States stands against efforts to “isolate Israel” in the global community.

During his press conference with Netanyahu, Biden told the Prime Minister:

”... the cornerstone of the [US-Israel] relationship—the cornerstone of the relationship is our absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel’s security. Bibi, you heard me say before, progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the United States and Israel. There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel’s security. And for that reason, and many others, addressing Iran’s nuclear program has been of—one of our administration’s priorities.

“We’re determined—we’re determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. And we’re working with many countries around the world to convince Tehran to meet its international obligations and cease and desist. Iran must also curb its other destabilizing actions in the region, well beyond their desire to acquire nuclear weapons. And that is their continued support for terrorist groups that threaten Israel, and I might add, our interests as well.”

Biden also affirmed America’s support for the peace process and the recently announced proximity talks:

“Mr. Prime Minister, the United States will always stand with those who take risks for peace.  And you’re prepared to do that.  And I am hopeful.  And I’ll be having discussions with Palestinian leaders.  It is my hope and expectation that they will be prepared, as well.’”

Netanyahu praised Biden and echoed Peres’ comments when he stated:

“I very much appreciate the efforts of President Obama and the American government to lead the international community to place tough sanctions on Iran. ...

“The stronger those sanctions are, the more likely it will be that the Iranian regime will have to chose between advancing its nuclear program and advancing the future of its own permanence.”

Tomorrow Biden will meet with Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, The Quartet’s Envoy on the Middle East, and then travel to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the peace process.  

... ranking member Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) raised the specter of reducing American support for Israel and the Palestinian Authority if they don’t comply with US demands on the peace process. Both parties receive generous American aid packages, though Lugar did not mention these monies in his comments.

‘The consequences might be that you really don’t receive our support - for a while you’re on your own. Take it or leave it,’ he suggested as one possible scenario ...

Thankfully, this is one area where President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden completely disagree with Lugar. Today in Israel, Biden said in an interview:

’[The Obama administration] gives Israel annual military aid worth $3 billion. We revived defense consultations between the two countries, doubled our efforts to ensure Israel preserves its qualitative military edge in the region, expanded our joint exercises and cooperation on missile-defense systems.’

Ehud Barak, Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman, stated:

[Biden is] coming here to make sure the political process gets back on track…I hope it will be a productive week and that it starts practical, if preliminary steps of the political process.

Tzipi Livni, the current opposition leader and head of the Kadima Party, agreed.  She stated that Biden’s visit to Israel denotes the important relationship between the two countries:

There is a mutual interest between Israel and the United States of America. It is more than friendship - it is friendship plus mutual interest, and it is bipartisan. The understanding that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, plus the need to solve the conflict with the Palestinians according to the idea of two states for two peoples is something that represents the Israeli interest and the American interest.

The importance of the vice presidential visit depends on the reason for the trip - whether it’s to represent the US at a ceremony or conduct defined diplomatic business - as well as the strength of the vice president.

As such, on the scale of past vice presidential visits, the scheduled arrival Monday of Vice President Joe Biden is one of the more significant ones. First, he is not coming merely to represent the US at some ceremony, and second, he is a strong vice president.

Many have speculated that Biden’s trip will serve a number of purposes including increasing US-Israel cooperation vis-a-vis Iran, affirming the strong bonds between Americans and Israelis, and jumpstarting the peace process. Today, Biden’s public statements focused primarily on Iran. Ha’Aretz, citing and interview with Yediot Ahronot, quoted Biden as saying:

’... I can promise the Israeli people that we will confront, as allies, any security challenge [Israel] will face. A nuclear-armed Iran would constitute a threat not only to Israel—it would also constitute a threat to the United States.’

And on military cooperation with Israel, Biden said:

’[The Obama administration] gives Israel annual military aid worth $3 billion. We revived defense consultations between the two countries, doubled our efforts to ensure Israel preserves its qualitative military edge in the region, expanded our joint exercises and cooperation on missile-defense systems.’

At the same time as Biden’s arrival, Former Senator George Mitchell, America’s Middle East Peace envoy, announced today that indirect negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority will resume next week. The New York Times, The Hill, and The Guardian all speculated today in their headlines that Biden’s presence in Israel is connected to Mitchell’s announcement. Regardless of whether or not this is the case, Mitchell’s progress remains indicative of the commitment to achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace by of President Barack Obama and his administration.

Rosenthal also spoke about the use of double standards, which she said often implicate Israel and cross into anti-Semitism.

‘Anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment often overlap. It is important to note that criticism of Israel is not necessarily anti-Semitic, but it crosses the line when that criticism applies a double standard comparing the current policy of Israel to that of the Nazis, [or] holding all Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the sovereign state of Israel,’ she said.

The special envoy was scathing of the UN, questioning its seeming double standards.

‘Looking at UN statistics over the last six years, where there have been negative remarks against a country, 170 have been against Israel. Compare that to North Korea that had eight… Israel has had 50 resolutions condemning alleged human rights abuses. Compare that to the Sudan which has had five. Clearly Israel is being held to a different standard and that means it has crossed the line from anti-Israel policy to profound anti-Semitism,’ she said to enthusiastic applause.

‘We will continue to see that Israel is treated fairly at the UN and in other international bodies,’ Rosenthal said.

Once again, another one of President Barack Obama’s allegedly “anti-Israel” appointees turns out to be the exact opposite. Ed Lasky and his ilk at The American Thinker, who originally smeared Rosenthal as being “pro-Hamas”, owe Rosenthal and the Obama Administration an apology—albeit one that is unlikely to be forthcoming.

As March Madness begins, The American Thinker’s staff should probably focus on their basketball brackets because they’ll probably have better luck with their predictions in the sports realm than in the policy world.

The National Jewish Democratic Council is grateful and excited that Vice President Joe Biden will be traveling to Israel for a three-day return trip next week to talk to the Israeli people and their leaders face-to-face - and to share just how profoundly committed this Administration is to the security of the Israeli people. This visit - one of Vice President Biden’s many visits - arrives after more than a year of sweeping economic and growing strategic cooperation, and it comes fast on the heels of a long list of crucially important high-level visits to Israel by American security officials. In just the past month, Israel has been visited by National Security Advisor General James Jones, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and CIA Director Leon Panetta, among others. On the eve of the Vice President’s trip, it’s safe to say that the state of US-Israel strategic cooperation has never been so close.

Such cooperation is essential in the face of looming threats such as that posed by Iran; here, President Barack Obama and Vice President Biden have been clear time and time again regarding their complete and tireless commitment to preventing a nuclear-armed Iran. As Israel’s Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Ambassador to the United States have all publicly stated in recent months, this Administration and Israel’s leadership are on the same page on this critical security issue. We are confident that the Vice President’s extended stay in Israel will provide him with another excellent opportunity to discuss this essential issue - and so many others - with Israel’s leaders.

The NJDC continues to be deeply thankful for the ongoing unprecedented levels of economic and strategic cooperation between Israel and the United States under this Administration. That the Vice President would spend three days in Israel is emblematic of the high priority placed on the US-Israel relationship by this Administration. We know that the Vice President’s message will be warmly received as he reaches out to the Israeli people next week.

• Republican Ohio Senate Candidate Rob Portman consciously chose to raise money for the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) which, among its other inappropriate statements, instructs its activists to fight “the Nazis” in the Ohio Legislature. In response, NJDC joined with Democratic Ohio Representatives Steve Slesnik, Mike Foley, Ronald Gerberry, and Kevin Yuko in calling for Portman to back out of the event. Unfortunately Portman disregarded the criticism and opted to lend his presence to COAST’s fundraising efforts, allowing them to profit in spite of their Holocaust rhetoric.

• Rush Limbaugh compared Obama’s health care reform speech to “being in the Nuremberg Trials.” Limbaugh made it very clear during his tantrum that he felt Obama’s speech was a “waste of time.” Does he think the same about the Nuremberg Trials?

• Glenn Beck continued his efforts to rewrite history and political science textbooks by trying to link progressivism with Nazism, Communism, and all sorts of other negative “isms”. He also branded the concept and pursuit of social justice as an extension of Nazism. Unfortunately, trying to summarize Beck’s argument remains dubious because, as with the majority of segments from his show that involve a chalkboard, he’s all over the place. 

• Beck also agreed with a caller who declared that Hitler and Mussolini were examples of democracy in action. Anyone who took high school history should know that Mussolini came to power through a coup and that Hitler and his party rose to power through intimidation and subversion of the Weimar Republic’s laws. They did not achieve power through American-style elections, which the caller implied. Callers such as this one make it very clear that Beck’s historical manipulation is —at the very least—having a negative impact on our country’s collective intelligence and on the sanity of the conservative movement.

• Michael Savage compared diversity training to Nazi indoctrination during an ambiguously bigoted rant.  

Among the slides of the presentation was one in particular that insisted that fear could be a motivating factor in garnering donations. (The slide preceded one that warned of socialism and another that dubbed President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) ”The Evil Empire”)

Based on the right-wing’s scare tactics during the 2008 election and last summer’s health care debate, this should come as no surprise. If anything, this confirms what many quietly speculated all along: that the GOP is trying to scare its way back into power by raising money to bombard voters with incorrect information.

All Americans should be outraged that the Republican Party thinks so little of their intelligence. It would be one thing if the GOP was raising money through the merits of its ideas. But their recent conduct demonstrates that they have very few, if any, marketable ideas to the American public which, sadly, leaves fear-mongering as their prime fundraising tool.

The Jewish community should pay particular attention to this because of the targeted fear-mongering campaign that was perpetrated in 2008 aimed at exploiting our community’s legitimate concerns.

It is not inconceivable that GOP activists will continue to baselessly paint President Barack Obama and Democrats as hostile towards Israel, attack our party as being soft on terrorism and Iran, and possibly even continue the whisper campaign that questions Obama’s religion. If lies about death panels, pulling the plug on bubbe and zadie, and the direct comparisons of Obama to various dictators get thrown in, then members of our community in swing states and key congressional districts will be swamped with misinformation.

We cannot let this happen. Jewish Democrats must make sure that our community has accurate information about what is really going on. Otherwise we will allow Republican candidates in Florida, Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to profit from fear-mongering about our community’s concerns.

The official GOP fundraising documents revealed Wednesday by POLITICO paint a portrait of a Republican Party reverting to form: when all else fails, turn to fear-mongering.

Based on the right wing’s scare tactics during the 2008 election and last summer’s health care debate, this should come as no surprise. If anything, this confirms what many quietly speculated all along: that the GOP is trying to scare its way back into power by raising money to bombard voters with incorrect information.

All Americans should be outraged that the Republican Party thinks so little of their intelligence. It would be one thing if the GOP was raising money through the merits of its ideas. But their recent conduct demonstrates that they have very few, if any, marketable ideas and real policy alternative for the American public which leaves fear-mongering as their prime fundraising tool.

Time and time again, we see that today’s GOP is committed to catering to its new Tea Party base. That this is as true in fundraising as it is in policy matters should come as no surprise.