I’m so used to being called a Zionist, among other things, I am actually shocked tonight to learn Jenn Rubin thinks this statement makes me anti-Semitic:

A conservative friend says she’s best understood as ‘Likud’ rather than Republican or conservative. There’s nothing wrong with being Likud, but one ought to be honest about it.

I nor the friend of mine who offered that up are anti-Semitic, but it has apparently hit a nerve that I did not intend to hit and I feel I do need to apologize for that. A friend of mine explains to me that a Jewish-American might find it insulting because it suggests they put Israel ahead of the United States.I had not thought of that when writing it and was not my intention. Where I finally had enough of Jenn Rubin was her position on Jonathan Pollard that I cannot in any way, shape, or form comprehend as being the right position. It was that position of hers and her positions on national security, terrorism, and Israel (all three of which she and I see eye to eye on) that didn’t make me think twice about using the Likud comparison. Apparently I should have. Likud as a party is tough as nails on terrorism and security issues, but is liberal to left (by American standards) on fiscal and social policy, and that’s what I intended by the comparison, not a suggestion of misplaced loyalty. And certainly not anti-semitism.I do not think Jenn Rubin is a conservative. On those positions she and the Politico chose to highlight on fiscal issues, I actually don’t buy that she is as right as claimed, though certainly more center than left. Through the budget shutdown fights of the past year, she routinely chose to side with the establishment GOP, not the conservatives trying to fight for smaller government, has been less than kind to Jim DeMint, etc. The one anomaly has been her coverage of Rick Santorum.But all of that is another matter to this anti-Semitism business. My initial reaction was that I must have hit close to home for her to cry foul in that way. But after a friend explained to me the implication — that it suggested a loyalty to Israel above a loyalty to the United States among other things — that’s absolutely not what I meant and certainly do apologize for leaving anyone, including Jenn, with that impression. We can fight on other matters, including whether she’s a conservative, but I don’t question her love of this country.