Select presidential candidates respond to a query from The Jerusalem Post about how they understand the importance of the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship.  McCain does his best to leap to the front with an exuberant endorsement of Israel as an ally (you have to admire the “sacred soil” line, considering McCain’s general dislike of religious conservatives here and around the world), and Romney works in his “caliphate” shtick–who can forget that Hizbullah dream of a caliphate?  Clinton avoids these more spirited efforts, but puts in a respectable amount of abasement (nice touch with the nihilism reference).  Obama does his best to keep up, but he will continue to be dogged by his stubborn insistence on referring to Palestinians as if they were human.  Richardson says all the “right” things, and even manages to work in a New Mexico reference!

After falling over himself to declare his utmost devotion, Brownback makes sure to throw in at the end: “To be sure, Israel has problems and difficulties, and my support for any particular Israeli policy or government would not be unconditional.”  He makes sure to end on a variant of his boilerplate slogan: “However, my administration would always reaffirm that at its heart Israel is good, and because of that, Israel can help America and the world be great.”  It was bad enough when he used this sort of saccharine talk about America alone, but if this is going to be a characteristic of a Brownback foreign policy I think we could probably do without it.