AIPAC Wins One— With The Help Of Most Democratic Freshmen

Ruben Kihuen and Pramila Payapal passed the first congressional courageousness test

Orange County right-wing nut Ed Royce offered a resolution Thursday objecting to the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2334, the one condemning Israeli expropriation of Palestinian land for settlements in the occupied territories. It has no force of law and is just an expression of wing nut ideology but it passed overwhelmingly, 342-80. There’s not much to learned from it, but it’s worth looking at how the freshmen voted. (The Democratic freshmen; obviously all the newly-elected Republicans are brain dead zombies incapable of voting against their rigid, turgid ideology. Every Republican freshman voted for the resolution.)

The only Republicans to vote against it were non-interventionist Libertarian types— Justin Amash (R-MI), Johnny Duncan (R-TN), and Walter Jones (R-NC)— plus Texas crackpot Louie Gohmert who could have been thinking anything, or nothing at all, when he voted.

As for the newly elected Democrats. 4 followed Pelosi and progressive champions like Barbara Lee, Keith Ellison, Raul Grijalva and Mark Pocan to oppose the resolution. Most of the others just didn’t want trouble with AIPAC. Voting no:

• Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE)
• Salud Carbajal (CA)
• Pramila Jayapal (WA)
• Ruben Kihuen (NV)

Two freshmen, Carol Shea-Porter (NH) and Dwight Evans (PA), voted “present” and slippery Charlie Crist managed to be not around. These were the AIPAC voters among the Democratic freshmen, who got onboard with Steny Hoyer, Joe Crowley, Ben Ray Lujan and Debbie Wassermann Schultz:

• Nanette Barragán
• Anthony Brown (MD)
• Lou Correa (CA)
• Val Demings (FL)
• Adriano Espaillat (NY)
• Josh Gottheimer (NJ)
• Colleen Hanabusa (HI)
• Ro Khanna (CA)
• Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL)
• Al Lawson (FL)
• Don McEachin (VA)
• Stephanie Murphy (FL)
• Jimmy Panetta (CA)
• Jamie Raskin (MD)
• Jacky Rosen (NV)
• Brad Schneider (IL)
• Darren Soto (FL)
• Tom Suozzi (NY)