It seems Democrats in Congress are increasingly unwilling to be used as props for Weeper of the House John "Mr. Tangerine Man" Boehner's ham-handed attempt to embarrass the Obama administration through fellow right-winger Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu's scheduled speech to Congress in March:
A growing number of top Democrats plan to skip next month's Capitol Hill speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Reps. James Clyburn (S.C.), the third-ranking House Democrat, and Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), are just the latest lawmakers to indicate they won't attend the March 3 address before a rare joint session of Congress.
The Democrats join other leading Capitol Hill liberals – including Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the civil rights hero, and G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), head of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) – in protesting the speech by vowing to steer clear of it.
And the White House re-entered the fray on Friday, announcing that Vice President Biden will also miss the speech as a result of travel abroad.
Let the recriminations begin!
(Reuters) A senior Israeli official suggested on Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been misled into thinking an invitation to address the U.S. Congress on Iran next month was fully supported by the Democrats. [snip]This mis-adventure, cooked up by Boehner and Bibi to stick it to President Obama at a critical juncture in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, is righteously blowing up in their smug, too- clever- by- half faces. Look for Bibi and Boehner to arrange to call it all off in the near future.
"It appears that the speaker of Congress made a move, in which we trusted, but which it ultimately became clear was a one sided move and not a move by both sides," Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told 102 FM Tel Aviv Radio on Friday.
UPDATE: Even the Anti-Defamation League's Abe Foxman says cancel it.
(Photo: Messrs. Alphonse and Gaston)
