Today a foreign leader will interfere in the political affairs of the United States, and Senator Tom Carper has decided that he will not be part of it, thank you very much.
Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware will join about 40 Democrats in boycotting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial speech to Congress on Tuesday. Carper called the timing of Netanyahu’s speech “wholly inappropriate,” given that the prime minister is up for re-election in two weeks. He and the other Democrats say House Speaker John Boehner broke protocol by inviting Netanyahu without consulting with the White House.
“I cannot imagine an occasion when a U.S. president would invite a foreign leader — even one from some of our closest allies like France, Germany or Canada — to address Congress on the eve of elections in his or her home country,” Carper said in a statement. “Furthermore, this visit came together by completely bypassing President Obama and his administration, which breaks our country’s protocol for visiting heads of state and stands to weaken U.S.-Israel relations.”
I was afraid the good Senator was just going to leave his list of reasons at that, and granted, they are good reasons. But the truest reason to be angry about that bastard Netanyahu’s speech has everything to do with the fact that he wants to scuttle any possible deal with Iran and he wants the United States to send more of our American children to die in an invasion of Iran. And to his credit, Carper says that such direct interference into the foreign policy of the United States is one of his reasons:
Carper said he fears Netanyahu’s visit is meant, in part, to undermine those [Iranian] negotiations.
“These negotiations are at a critical, yet delicate point and I believe that giving Mr. Netanyahu an audience in our Capitol at this time is not only a slap in the face of our president, but also a last-ditch effort to derail the progress his administration has made,” he said.
Careful Senator, you are starting to sound like a blogger with that slap comment! Bravo! Perhaps Carper is finally trying to win Jason330’s vote.
So what about his other Delaware Cs? Senator Coons and Congressman Carney say they are attending the speech but they are not happy about it.
“When it came down to it, [Senator Coons’] decision to attend was about respecting the strong relationship between the United States and Israel, and respecting the office of the prime minister of one of our country’s closest allies,” [Coons spokesman Ian] Koski wrote.
And how about that unmitigated bastard Netanyahu’s disrespect of that strong relationship between Israel and the United States? And how is Israel our closest ally anymore when they actively and transparently and in bad faith seek to wreck peace deals our country is trying to negotiate and actively and consistently seek to get our country into multiple wars on their behalf, all the while ignoring every single request our country makes of them, all the while our country does everything in the United Nations to protect Israel, all the while we pay them untold billions in aid to prop up their apartheid state. Senator Coons, you are making a mistake. Netanyahu will look upon you as a puppet, not a partner.
Carney?
Sheila Grant, Carney’s spokeswoman, said Carney believes he has an obligation to attend speeches to Congress by foreign heads of state, especially an important ally.
That is the answer I expected from Carper. I suppose Carney did not get his upgraded and updated download from Carperco.