Marcy Winograd, a member of Progressive Democrats of America, challenged Jane Harman in the 2006 Democratic primary in California's 36th congressional district. Winograd made the decision to run against Harman after watching her defend the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program on Meet the Press. Harman won the primary, 62.5% to 37.5%. Winograd has reflected on the Harman scandal over at Daily Kos:
Right after the 2006 primary, Israel invaded Lebanon. As the
Israeli bombs turned Lebanese neighborhoods into blood-filled craters,
Harman went on television to justify the invasion. Never mind the
carpet bombing.Days later, after I, together with LA Jews for Peace
[lajewsforpeace.org], organized demonstrations in front of the Israeli
consulate, Harman invited me and a dozen others who worked on my
campaign to meet with her in her office. I begged her, literally
begged her, to call for a cease-fire in the middle east. She wouldn't
hear of it and drew back when I suggested she at least talk to members
of Americans for Peace Now, an American offshoot of an Israeli peace
group.Was Harman a true believer in Israel and AIPAC or was she caught up in a script that had spun out of control?
Hard to say — given the fact that so many of our Los Angeles-area
law makers, from Howard Berman, Chair of the powerful House Foreign
Affairs Committee, to Henry Waxman, Chair of the House Energy
Committee,
have yet to raise a critical question about Israel's use of white
phosphorous and DIME explosives weapons in the open-air prison of Gaza.As much as this story is about Harman, about her collusion with a
Bush administration bent on breaking the law, it is also about the
pernicious influence wielded in Washington by lobbyists for a foreign
government. Israel.Let us remind Harman and the rest of Congress that they represent the people of the United States of America.
