Here is the evidence that between the House voting overwhelmingly in January to support Israel’s Gaza slaughter (H Res 34), and the vote to condemn the Goldstone report the other day (H Res 867), the lobby lost some power. I’d say that the kryptonite was Gaza itself, which has resonated in countless ways. Though J Street may also deserve credit for giving pols political cover.
What follows is a friend’s analysis of the vote. Note that a couple of the congresspeople who lost religion on Gaza had visited the place (Holt, Ellison, Edwards).
H.RES.34 (JAN 09): 390 yeas, 5 nays, 22 presents, and 16 no votes.
H.RES.867 (NOV 09): 344 yeas, 36 nays, 22 presents, and 30 no votes.
Similarities and difference between January and November votes:
Compared to January, three fewer Republicans yesterday voted yea; 43 fewer Dems voted yea yesterday; the numbers of those voting present were identical; there were 14 more non-votes, which this means that 14 people could have been on the fence about speaking their minds…
Abercrombie; Blumenauer; Dingell; Edwards (MD); Ellison; Grijalva; Hinchey; Kilpatrick (MI); Lee (CA); McCollum; McDermott; George Miller; Moran (VA); Olver; Stark; and Woolsey went from present in Jan to No vote yesterday
Baird and Snyder went from not voting to nay.
Regarding those who voted yea in January, Becerra, Cooper, Dahlkemper, Duncan, Eshoo, Heinrich, Hirono, Honda, Kaptur, Loebsack, Lofgren, Lujn, Obey, Speier, Tierney, Welch, and Wu went from yea to present. Ackerman, Bachmann, Barret (SC), Brady (PA), Capuano, Conyers, Davis (AL), David (TN), Deal (GA), Gordon (TN), Gutierrez, Hall (NY), Holt, Meeks (NY), Patrick Murphy, Nunes, Pallone, Pascrell, Pingree (ME), Price (GA), Linda T. Sanchez, Sires, Souder, Stupak, Towns, Velazquez, and Wamp went from yea to no vote.
All information concerning H.Res.34 comes from House clerk. All information concerning H.Res.867 comes from House clerk.
P.S. On Nov. 3, the same day as the House voted to condemn the Goldstone report, an anti-J-street power-lobby took place in Washington. Called The Jerusalem Conference, it brought together House Dems like Howard Berman and a lot of AIPAC one-Jerusalem types. (Eli Clifton reports on it here.)
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Agreed. With Congress, take the victories you can get.
If you’re in a district where your Member of Congress voted No or Present, be SURE to write them and thank them. They need all the support they can get (I know Donna Edwards in MD-4 is getting a lot of flak for voting no). And write op-eds and letters to the editor in local papers thanking your Member for voting no or calling them out for voting yes. Congressional staff monitor local media outlets for mentions, positive and negative.
Should we refer to the 36 no voters as the Lamed Vovniks?
So Michelle Bachmann abstained? What gives? Was she on a Playboy photo shoot of the babes of the GOP along with Anne Coulter and the Divine Miss Sarah? Look for it.
Well – the Lobby may take the advise from Michael Lucas, who was glorified by FORWARD on September 16, 2009: “It’s a free PR (Gay movement) for Israel and it’s much better than the PR they’re getting on the news…”
Israel’s Pornographic Stimulus Plan
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/israels-pornographic-stimulus-plan/
Michael Lucas should take a stroll in Hebron and see who actually attacks him for being publicly gay. Last time I checked, it wasn’t a Hezbollah gunman that went on a shooting spree in that Israeli LGBT youth center.
Also…his real name is Andrei Bregman, huh? Just how many Israeli citizens have changed their names? Do we have, like, a percentage? Hell, even just the number of Israeli politicians who have assumed new identities. I mean, is that how Jewish history and tradition is honored, huh?
“The whole idea in Scientology is the only reason a person blows or leaves is because they haven’t disclosed transgressions against the group. So the theory is, if you get the guy to confess those, he’s going to decide, oh, mea culpa. You aren’t so bad after all. I need to straighten myself out. I’m going to stay.” –Marty Rathburn, former inspector general of Scientology’s Religious Technology
Center
Nice account here of floor debate on 867. http://endtheoccupationblog.blogspot.com/
They think the relative paucity of yes votes, the well-informed 36 no’s, etc signals a Pyrrhic victory for AIPAC and a potential turning point
Better link:
http://endtheoccupationblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/is-we-love-israel-consensus-on-capitol.html
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