The Dangerous Quaker Lobby

Over at the New Republic blog James Kirchick is angry that the "Quaker lobby" is meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad and isn't inviting the press. When Kirchick called the high-powered Quaker lobbyist, Mark Graham, and asked him if he was going to be pressing Ahamdinejad on Iran's nuclear intentions, Graham responded that the purpose of the meeting is to promote dialogue and understanding.

I thought this comment on the TNR blog was spot on:

It really should be a rule for anyone who runs a magazine: If one of your writers uses the phrase "the Quaker lobby" with a straight face, he must be fired. Immediately.

Of course, the Quakers have a long history of appeasement, going right back to the 1600s when they insisted on "dialogue" and "mutual coexistence" with the native Indians instead of just slaughtering them like civilized people. So you just can't trust those Quakers to deal with existential threats.