Job already taken

Are gays the new Jews? Jonah Goldberg doesn't think so.

Marx wrote at length about the Jewish Problem. Where is the equivalent on the right, complaining about the Gay Prooblem? Anti-Semitism's historical roots are ancient and enormous. Five minutes ago, Andrew was arguing that gays were the new blacks, now they're the Jews. Which is it?

Some other problems: Central to the anti-Semitic narrative is the Jews' longevity as an intact people. There's no enduring gay tribe, is there? Can you simply swap out the stereotype of Jews as financiers and predators of capital in favor of the stereotype of gays as interior decorators and hair-dressers and have anything similar to anti-Semitism? Is there a gay diaspora? I've heard the argument that homosexuality behaves like a religion, does this mean that Yglesias and Sullivan buy into it? Or do they want to claim all the benefits of playing this particularly powerful bigotry card without carrying any of the burdens of the analogy?

Besides the Jews are still hard at work being today's Jews.

Ray McGovern, a former intelligence analyst, declared that the United States went to war in Iraq for oil, Israel and military bases craved by administration "neocons" so "the United States and Israel could dominate that part of the world." He said that Israel should not be considered an ally and that Bush was doing the bidding of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"Israel is not allowed to be brought up in polite conversation," McGovern said. "The last time I did this, the previous director of Central Intelligence called me anti-Semitic."

Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), who prompted the question by wondering whether the true war motive was Iraq's threat to Israel, thanked McGovern for his "candid answer."