The Creepy Lunatic Fringe

As a self-styled “progressive” publication, The Nation seemingly drips with virtue. Typical Nation columns contain all sorts of moral preening. Sometimes, in fact, it appears as if the Nationistas don’t so much argue as hector.

Naturally, much of this left-wing virtue-mongering pertains to the supposedly anti-racist bona fides of the “progressive” community. The political Right and center, think the Nationistas, are chock-a-block with closet racists; the far Left is entirely free from such dubious associations.

We, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” have a hard time believing that the folks at The Nation actually take this nonsense at face value. After all, they blithely grant column space to Alexander Cockburn, a Stalinoid kook who edits the malignant “website” Counterpunch.

Perhaps you know of Counterpunch. It’s a bizarre fringe publication of the far, far Left, which harbors a creepy and dubious obsession with Israel and Zionism. Nary a day goes by without some myopic denunciation of the lone Jewish state. The loveable scamps at Counterpunch routinely deny that they are in any way anti-Semitic in between offering fevered rants opposed to all things Israeli, Zionist, and Jewish.

Ah, but recently Counterpunch has outdone itself. On its main “webpage,” the publication highlights the following message:

Exclusive to CounterPunch Newsletter Subscribers!

WHAT DID ISRAEL KNOW IN ADVANCE OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS?

* Those Celebrating "Movers" and Art Student Spies
* Who were the Israelis living next to Mohammed Atta?
* What was in that Moving Van on the New Jersey shore?
* Was the Mossad Tracking the 9/11 Hijackers in the US?
* How did two hijackers end up on the Watch List weeks before 9/11?

At last, the answers. Read Christopher Ketcham's exclusive expose in CounterPunch special double-issue February newsletter. Plus, Cockburn and St. Clair on how this story was suppressed and ultimately found its home in CounterPunch.

Well, gee: That’s sure a peculiar example of the Left’s anti-racism. What sort of anti-Semitic lunatic would take seriously the notion that Israel was in on 9/11?

If the staff of The Nation were truly dedicated to anti-racism, they would fire Alexander Cockburn posthaste.

We won’t hold our collective breath.