Can We Ever Talk About AIPAC?

Colbert King asks Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) to ‘put up or…you know the rest’ regarding his comment that AIPAC “has pushed this war from the beginning . . . They are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful — most of them are quite wealthy — they have been able to exert power.”

Discussing AIPAC is a third-rail of American politics, and to deny that is to stick your head in the sand. I don’t want to get into a discussion of AIPAC’s influence or how they go about wielding that influence. I just want to present some facts.

The 107th Congress had 10 Jewish Senators and 25 Jewish Congresspeople. All I want to do is examine how they voted on the Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq. Here is the Senate Roll Call, the House Roll Call, and the list of Jewish Members of that Congress. I am not speculating on why they voted the way they did.

Among the twenty-five (of whom 23 were Democrats) Jewish members of the House, eighteen (72%) voted to authorize the war. This compares with an overall rating of 40% for the Democrats. Among non-Jewish Democratic members of the House, 35% voted to authorize the war.

The Senate tells a different story. Nine of ten Jewish senators were Democrats (Arlen Specter being the exception). Five voted for the war, five voted against. Here’s the breakdown. For the war: Diane Feinstein, Herb Kohl, Joe Lieberman, Chuck Schumer, Arlen Specter. Against the war: Barbara Boxer, Russ Feingold, Carl Levin, Paul Wellstone, Ron Wyden. Seventy-seven percent of the Senate voted for the war. Only fifty percent of the Jewish members did so.

Now, Jewish-Americans are the most anti-Iraq War religious group in America. So why did 72% of the Jewish members of the House (92% of whom were Democrats) vote to authorize the war when only 35% of the non-Jewish Democratic members did so?

Maybe Colbert King can contemplate an answer to that question that doesn’t involve AIPAC. I’m willing to listen to his theories.

As for the bigots, the reverse trend was found in the Senate. Why did that happen? And again, Jewish Americans are the most anti-Iraq War religious group in America.