re: #5 Buck

Why shouldn’t textual interpretation be scored like horse shoes? You are reacting to Hagel as if he had said #1, and I see his statements as more like #2, so the question of whether #1 or #2 is closer to the mark is relevant.

In my interpretation, I am taking Hagel’s reference to “the Jewish lobby” to refer to hard-right pro-Israel advocacy. That seems to be the only bit of interpretation needed to get from Hagel to #2.

Your interpretation seems to rely on inferring some combination of “secretly”, “secret control”, and “subversion” from Hagel’s “intimidation” to get from Hagel to #1. This seems to be more of a stretch.

For example, there is nothing secret or subversive about hard-right pro-Israel lobbying in DC. It is simply a fact of life.