Readers of this blog will recall several previous battles I have been engaged in with Israel-Firsters intent on getting me fired from various jobs and banned from the media. In these efforts, the Israel-Firsters have had some success.
Well, things on this score had been quiet for a while, but last week a new e-mail campaign began against me, one that is directed at FOX NEWS and Georgetown University. I commented acidly or flippantly to most of these notes, but it became clear that this campaign was different from the others in that the three e-mail writers — blewis3h@yahoo.com, mgilbertc@yahoo.com, and lisabandrea@yahoo.com — implied in their missives to FOX and Georgetown that a senior foreign policy adviser to Governor Romney named Gabrial Schoenfeld was either driving, involved in, or cooperating with their efforts. [NB: Readers of this blog also will recall that Mr. Schoenfeld slandered and lied about me repeatedly while he was a writer at Commentary, Israel-First’s flagship publication.]
Defamation of me by OpEd writers in the private sector is fair enough; after all, the public square is a rough place and when scurvy people the likes of Mr. Schoenfeld cannot refute a person’s argument with substance, he only has slander, lies, and defamation in his arsenal.
I was, however, a bit put out that someone advising and being paid by Governor “Jobs-for-All” Romney apparently was using his position to encourage an effort to again cost me employment. So, I sent a letter to Governor Romney’s campaign spokesman, Mr. Kevin Madden.
What follows is (1) a sample of the notes sent to FOX, as well as one sent to me which recounts Israel First’s earlier victories against my income and public voice; (2) the note I sent to Governor Romney’s spokesman, which includes three of the notes sent by lisabandrea@yahoo.com, two to Georgetown and one to me clearly suggesting Mr. Schoenfeld’s cooperation and/or participation in the attacks on me; and, (3) the non-response response I received from Governor Romney’s spokesman, Kevin Madden.
Readers can read the following material and decide for themselves what it means. For myself, I can only conclude that it validates this blog‘s long-held contention that there is not a nickel‘s worth of difference between the two parties on foreign policy, and that their interventionist policies in the Muslim world will keep America at war with an increasing segment of Islam for the foreseeable future.
TO FOX: from mgilbertc@yahoo.com, Sat, Oct 20, 2012 7:31 pm
Mr. XXXXXXXXXXXXX, it’s unfortunate you provided an outlet for Michael Scheuer to articulate his well-known anti-Semitic rants, such as his paranoid claim that “Israel owns the US Congress” Scheuer’s psychiatric disorder is infamous: The Weekly Standard, whose editor, Bill Kristol, appears regularly on Fox News, documents Scheuer’s sickness:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/249irrsq.asp
Jeffrey Goldberg, of the highly respected publication The Atlantic and a recipient of the National Magazine Award for reporting, wrote about Scheuer’s anti-Semitic hysterics:
You should have greater respect for your program and for the intellect of your audience. M.Gilbert
TO FOX: from mgilbertc@yahoo.com, Oct 21, 2012 9:50 am
Mr. XXXXXXXXXXXXX: Michael Scheuer, who recently appeared on your program, receives high praise from David Duke [links below], the notorious former klansman and bigot, racist and anti-Semite, for Scheuer’s anti-Semitic and Israel-bashing tirades. What were you thinking in having Scheuer on your show?
TO: scheuer@aol.com from mgilbertc@yahoo.com, Mon, Oct 22, 2012 11:27 pm
You won’t be autographing any employment contracts at Jamestown Foundation, Fox News, CNN and several other think tanks and news organizations aware of your psychiatric disorder and allegations of an incompetent career at the CIA and falsified statements made to the government and pertaining to your career, as highlighted by the highly respected Gabriel Schoenfeld, who holds a PhD in government from Harvard, in contrast to your bogus degree from a diploma mill. It’s a nightmare to be you. [M. Gilbert]
When mgilbertc@yahoo.com mentioned the Israel-Firster Gabriel Schoenfeld it rang a bell in that I had read several media pieces saying that he was a “senior foreign policy adviser” to Governor Romney. I also knew the name from his attacks on me when he a writer at Commentary. Then, in the next few days, several deans at Georgetown received notes from lisabandrea@yahoo.com regurgitating much of the defaming material contained in the notes sent to FOX by mgilbertc@yahoo.com and blewis3h@yahoo.com. In the lisabandrea@yahoo.com notes, however, there was a new twist that strongly suggested Governor Romney’s senior foreign policy adviser Gabriel Schoenfeld was involved in the campaign to get me fired from Georgetown and banned at FOX.
At this point I decided to write to Governor Romney’s spokesman to ask if the Romney campaign had approved this attack on me livelihood, and if it had put Mr. Schoenfeld in charge of the attacks. I sent a note it to Governor Romney’s spokesman, Kevin Madden, and put the matter to him as follows:
— Original Message —
From: scheuermf <scheuermf@aol.com>
To: madden <madden@jdafrontline.com>
Sent: Wed, Oct 24, 2012 9:47 am
Subject: Has Governor Romney authorized these actions by his adviser Mr. Gabriel Schoenfeld?
Mr. Madden:
For the past week or so a senior foreign-policy adviser to Governor Romney named Gabriel Schoenfeld appears to have been running an e-mail campaign that has described me as an anti-Semite and a liar in an effort to get me dismissed from my post at Georgetown’s graduate school, as well as to prevent me from appearing again on the FOX network. Other people are writing the defamatory notes to various Georgetown deans and to several of the most-senior anchors at FOX and they are offering Mr. Schoenfeld to testify against me. Mr. Schoenfeld has been involved in several of these campaigns against me when he worked for Commentary magazine. The last time this he and his colleagues did this, about two years ago; they got me fired from the Jamestown Foundation, banned from CNN, but were unable to move Georgetown or FOX. I don’t know how things will turn out this time.
The e-mail addresses being used by the people who are writing these defamatory notes — perhaps at Mr. Schoenfeld’s direction— are blewis3h@yahoo.com, mgilbertc@yahoo.com, and lisabandrea@yahoo.com. Following are the texts of three of the notes Ms. Andrea sent to two Georgetown deans apparently with Mr. Schoenfeld’s authorization. I have deleted the names of the Georgetown officials from the notes, pending your response, but will include all data in my published piece. I would of course be happy to send you copies of all the defamatory notes sent from the three e-mail addresses above if you would like to read them.
1.) TO: GEORGETOWN DEAN FROM lisabandrea@yahoo.com, Mon, Oct 22, 2012 3:45 pm
Dear Dean XXXXX, I’m concerned over the professional and personal conduct of a member of Georgetown’s Center for Security Studies faculty, Michael Scheuer, alleged in the Weekly Standard publication [link below] and how it reflects on the integrity of Georgetown University. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/084zuzpe.asp?page=1 I contacted Mr. Scheuer’s director, XXXXXX, about the article, written by a prominent public figure who holds a PhD in government from Harvard and who is an advisor to Mitt Romney, however, XXXXX dismissed it as inaccurate. Mr. XXXXX was asked for specific inaccuracies and flatly refused to do so. I look forward to your thoughts on this matter. Thank you, Lisa Andrea
2.) On 10/22/12 2:12 PM, Lisa Andrea wrote:
Mr. XXXX, I’m in touch with Gabriel Schoenfeld, whose article on Michael Scheuer you have called inaccurate. Mr. Schoenfeld has asked me to find out from you the specific inaccuracies of his article. Looking forward to your response. Lisa
3.) From: Lisa Andrea <lisabandrea@yahoo.com> To: scheuermf <scheuermf@aol.com> Sent: Tue, Oct 23, 2012 1:13 pm Subject: Re: Follow-Up To Dean XXXXX
Perhaps, you’ll need to defend yourself to Dean XXXXX. Gabriel Schoenfeld is amenable to defending his article about you and the allegations of professional failures and false statements made to the government and about your resume.
I writing to ask if Governor Romney has authorized this effort to make me unemployed. I cannot imagine that he wants to put an American out of work — given his campaign rhetoric — but since Mr. Schoenfeld apparently works closely with him, I wanted to ask whether the Governor has endorsed his adviser’s campaign before I publish an account of what has transpired on my blog and a dozen or so others.
I regret sending this note to you out of the blue, but I supported Dr. Paul during the primaries and had no contacts in the Romney campaign. I have cc’ed two journalists at XXXXXX on this note as that organization was kind enough to give me your contact data.
Respectfully,
Michael F. Scheuer Mclean, Virginia
With no answer from Mr. Madden, I resent my note to him on the next morning:
On Oct 25, 2012, at 6:21 AM, scheuermf@aol.com wrote:
Mr. Madden,
I am resending this note on the chance that my first mailing misfired.
I would very much appreciate a response from you today. I realize that you have much more important things on your mind, but I suppose you can imagine that continuing to earn a living and not being blocked in the exercise my 1st Amendment rights are foremost in my mind.
As they say, silence connotes consent, so if I do not hear from you I must assume that the participation of Mr. Schoenfeld in a campaign to deny me employment and a voice in America’s debate on foreign policy has the consent of Governor Romney and his advisers. If you look at Commentary’s website and search on my name and Mr. Schoenfeld’s name you will see that he has been defaming me for half a dozen years. When he was doing that in the public prints it was fair enough. I will not, however, silently brook such abuse from someone who is the paid foreign-policy adviser of a man who wants to be president, a man who would disagree with my views on foreign policy and might well prefer my silence.
Please let me know what you think. If you need more of the texts of the many recent defaming e-mails that have seen sent about me by what appears to be Mr. Schoenfeld’s team or at least his associates, I will be glad to send them to you. Or you can wait and read them on my blog and a good number of others in the next few days.
Respectfully,
Michael F. Scheuer
Mclean, Virginia
Mr. Madden answered as follows, and so far has failed to respond to a subsequent note from me asking who I should contact in the Romney campaign:
From: Kevin Madden <madden@mittromney.com>
To: scheuermf <scheuermf@aol.com>
Sent: Thu, Oct 25, 2012 7:35 am
Subject: Re: Has Governor Romney authorized these actions by his adviser Mr. Gabriel Schoenfeld?
Mr. Scheuer: I know nothing about this. I’m also not sure why the inquiry would be directed to me.
