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Sundown: Harold Ford’s ‘Schmear Campaign’

Plus the IDF to leave Haiti while Israel adopts orphans, and more

by
Marc Tracy
January 25, 2010

• On a radio show, former congressman Harold Ford, Jr., alleged he was the victim of a “schmear campaign” launched by New York political insiders who don’t want him to run for the U.S. Senate. He then corrected himself: “I’m a little country, I apologize. It’s s-m-e-a-r.” If anything, the slip should allay fears that he’s “a little country,” no? [City Room]
• An Iranian mullah bashed the United Arab Emirates for allowing an Israeli minister to attend an Abu Dhabi energy conference. [Haaretz]
• With the arrival of substantial U.S. military and medical forces, the Israeli team-on-the-ground in Haiti is set to depart by Thursday. [JTA/Forward]
• That said, the Israeli government is reportedly considering adopting Haitians orphaned by the earthquake. [JPost]
• After Israel’s ambassador to Germany applied pressure on the government there, a German firm canceled plans to construct a port for Iran. [Haaretz]
• Former oil tycoon and George H.W. Bush Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher—who converted to his wife’s Presbyterianism, but was born Jewish in New York—died at 82. [NYT]

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.