#Swiftboating of #GreenParty Veep Ajamu Baraka — who opened himself to it

Corey Pein, who I'd never heard of before, posted last Friday a two minute clip from a one-hour interview that Baraka had with 9-11 Truther and alleged Holocaust denialist Kevin Barrett, claiming it proved Baraka was also at a minimum flirting with Holocaust denialism. (Barrett's position, stated here by him, I would best describe as Holocaust denialism lite.)

It did no such thing. (And, I'm not going to dignify Pein's claims by actually post his short clip.)

Per another Tweeter:

@billmon1 I'd hardly call it denying the jewish holocaust to point out the crimes of Dresden, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.

— robert rizzuto (@RobertOryx754) August 20, 2016

The two were actually discussing the use of the word "Holocaust," and how it can sometimes be used to shut down debate.

Jews as well as goys have raised that issue before.

Let's not forget that the great Simon Wiesenthal often talked about the Nazis' "greater Holocaust" of 11 million, including Slav intellectuals, Roma, etc., along with the 6 million Jews — and regularly got vilified by many Jews.

And, I told Pein bluntly on Twitter – that all you got? If he really is a Holocaust denialist, post me a better clip than that as proof.

Well, Pein blocked me shortly thereafter, and didn't post any better proof.

That said, this issue does connect to other issues, per the part of my header after the em-dash.

Per his Wiki page, Baraka HAS claimed that a 2014 kidnapping of Israeli teens by Hamas is a false flag. And, while he's rejected Holocaust denialism (and Wiki makes no mention of him being a Holocaust denialist), his rejection is pretty weak, about his claim that he didn't think any essays he allowed to be reprinted in a book would appear next to essays by denialists. Once you raise the false flag claim, Baraka, it's in for a penny, in for a pound.

This also reflects poorly on Jill Stein. Did she know about this in advance and brush it aside? Or did she and her assistants do a poor job of vetting him? I mean, she knew that Swiftboating attacks were coming, right?

It also reflects poorly on the Green Party. While it has gotten smeared at times unduly for anti-Semitism, it's got more than its share of anti-Semitic cranks, along with Frankenfooders and anti-vaxxers, even if Stein isn't one herself.

That said, the anti-Semitism issue isn't just Greens; its an issue that hits other left-liberals that don't identify as Green. I delinked Counterpunch from my blog for a number of years because Alex Cockburn's anti-Zionism sometimes crossed the line into anti-Semitism, as I saw it.

The false flags in general? I reject them in general, along with other aspects of conspiracy thinking.

That said, given things like Tuskegee Airmen, I can understand their power for many African-Americans.

And, while the comment is VERY problematic, so is the chickenshit hit-and-run