From a non-Jew, it would smack of anti-Semitism.  From Eric Alterman? You be the judge.

The author of the Altercations column at Media Matters has a running complaint:  Rick Klein, editor of The Note at ABC News, pays too much respect to the work of other Jewish pundits. Jennifer Rubin, one of the chief bloggers at Commentary's "Contentions" blog, was Alterman's first target, in his August 1 column [emphasis added throughout]:

I realize I may be the only person in the world to care about this, and I only care a tiny bit, but what does Commentary's Jennifer Rubin have on The Note's Rick Klein?

I realize that Mr. Klein is, in many respects, a fully-worked ref, citing right-wing publications that have proven consistently wrong about everything throughout the past eight years -- following the requisite ABC advertising which justifies the expense of the effort to his corporate overlords -- while ignoring those on the center-left who have proven right. But even so, Commentary? Come now. The guy cites her every day. Are they dating? Did his mother lose a bet to her mother playing canasta in Boca?

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Does he actually think that Commentary, edited by John Podhoretz like a family dry-cleaning business, is actually a worthwhile publication? (OK, that one's impossible.) What gives?

Mothers playing canasta together. In Boca.  Publications run like "a family dry-cleaning business." What, no Jewish lightning? Yesterday, Alterman was back at it, again complaining about Klein's collusion with those neo-con media Jews. His target this time were what he sees as the schlemiels at the New York Sun:

Just curious: How stupid do you have to be to be both a Jewish neocon and not quoted respectfully by Commentary booster Rick Klein in The Note?

The New York Sun editorial board goes a big step further: "Could Senator Clinton win the Democratic presidential nomination at the last minute by taking advantage of buyer's remorse among Democratic super-delegates who are dismayed by the performance of Senator Obama's campaign so far? . . . What if, by the time the convention rolls around, Mr. Obama isn't just running neck and neck with Mr. McCain but is lagging by, say, five percentage points, or if Mr. Obama makes a big blunder with his choice of a running mate, or some other campaign stumble?"

Yes, and what if Barack Obama reveals on the podium at his acceptance speech that he is a space alien from the planet Osamabinladenton here to colonize Earth for his evil spawn? What then? Remember, it was the geniuses at the can't-give-it-away Sun who tried to start a "Cheney for President" boomlet. Boy wouldn't that have been fun? (Do Rick Klein's parents share a timeshare at the beach club in Boca with the owners of the Sun, too? )

Boca on the brain again.

Just what is Alterman alleging?  A Vast Zionist-Wing Conspiracy? The Bride of the Elders of Zion marries Mearsheimer?  Go ahead, Eric, spill the beans.

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.