The Volokh Conspiracy

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Volokh Conspiracy

Thomas Friedman: University of Wisconsin is representative of "middle America"

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Friedman [link fixed]: "I wish [Netanyahu] had taken a day to try and give that speech at the University of Wisconsin. And we would have seen what kind of real feedback he would get from middle America."

This is like a conservative suggesting that a politician go to BYU or Regent to get his finger on the pulse of the working class. Is Friedman unaware that UW is one of the most liberal state university campuses in the country, or does he somehow associate the political views of, say, the average New York Times columnist with "middle America's"?

I'm looking forward to Ann Althouse's comment on this.

H/T Jonathan Tobin

Update: For what it's worth, Gallup shows Netanyahu before his speech to Congress with a favorable/unfavorable rating among Americans that President Obama, or most American national politicians, would envy. Friedman isn't wrong that American support for Israel could easily diminish over time. He is wrong to think that the deep skepticism of Israel that's prevalent among political activists on left-wing college campuses presently is indicative of the broader population's attitudes.