Moore in the Middle
The US House of Representatives voted 403-11 to support a bill banning the shipment of gasoline to Iran to protest that nation's refusal to allow international inspection of its nuclear reactors. Two of the votes against the bill were cast by the two women representing Wisconsin: Tammy Baldwin of Madison and Gwen Moore of Milwaukee. (1) Readers will recall that Rep. Moore was one of only five members of Congress to oppose a resolution supporting Israel in the conflict over Gaza in January, 2009. (2)
Hoping to find out why my representative has taken these often lonely positions, I attended a town hall meeting with Rep. Moore and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D, Ohio) at the Laborers Union building Sunday morning, April 25. The meeting was hosted by the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County and Peace Action Wisconsin. Although the location was in a very integrated part of the city (63rd and Appleton Avenue), the audience (not including the congresswoman's assistant) was about 99% white and mostly middle-aged or older. Demographically, the audience looked like a Tea Party crowd. (See if the media ever mentions that about peace-rallies!)
Most of the discussion was about the war in Afghanistan, to which Kucinich was totally opposed and Moore was more ambivalent. Kucinich mentioned that his father had served in World War II, but later said that "war doesn't work." I did not get a chance to ask him whether anything but war would have worked against Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito. Although the audience was always polite to Rep. Moore, it's heart was clearly with Kucinich, who received tumultuous applause for his many strident declamations.
After one questioner contended that Israel had committed crimes against the Palestinians, Gwen Moore mentioned that she had voted against the resolution supporting Israel in the Gaza war because Israel had committed "overkill." However, she noted that she had also voted to shelve the UN Goldstone Report on the conflict because it was so totally one-sided against Israel. For example, the report said that Gaza police should have been treated as civilians, even though they were (some of the time) fighting alongside Hamas soldiers. Moore said she had been lambasted by her friends in the peace movement for that vote, some implying she had caved in to AIPAC. "But check my financial records," she added, " I don't get much Jewish money! (With these votes) I managed to (expletive)-off both sides! (3)....Nobody (in the Middle East) has clean hands!" Moore noted that she was opposed to building Israeli housing in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
Kucinich said that the creation of Israel in 1948 was "great", but he disapproved of much that the country had done since the 1967 take-over of the West Bank and Gaza. Unlike Rep. Moore, Kucinich was proud to have voted to endorse the Goldstone Report, which he found balanced and factual. The crowd loved his remarks, while giving only tepid approval to those of the congresswoman.
After the public meeting I asked Gwen Moore why she had opposed trade sanctions against Iran. She told me that since China and Russia would continue to trade with Iran, the sanctions would do no good. When I asked her what measures, if any, she would support against Iran, my representative (cued by her assistant) cut-off our conversation to meet with reporters.
I think she is exactly wrong about Iran-----sanctions are the only step short of war that have any chance of dissuading the Tehran regime from pursuing nuclear weapons. The US should do what it can, even if other nations do not follow. Defeating sanctions (as her vote would have done) would have undercut the efforts of President Obama to get Russia, China and others to pressure Iran.
Apparently, Rep. Moore has chosen to take a middle position on the Israel-Arab conflict, sometimes siding with one side, sometimes the other. She knows that she does not need either the Jewish community or the peace activists (who are overwhelming sympathetic to the Arab cause) to get re-elected. Her base of support is Milwaukee's large black population, far more numerous than the Jews and the peaceniks combined. Since she is politically invincible, no one has her vote in their pocket.
I would prefer a representative more like Henry Reuss, Jim Moody or Tom Barrett, all of whom supported Israel consistently. But Gwen Moore is not going anywhere except back to Congress for the foreseeable future.
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(1) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 25, 2010, page 19A.
(2) See "The Gaza 5" January 18, 2009.
(3) Although she denied being influenced by Jewish money in her congressional votes, she never mentioned that her own brother (Atty. Gerald McKinney) considers himself a convert to conservative Judaism and was married to a Jewish woman. Some of her nieces and nephews are Jews. Wouldn't that connection to the Jewish people influence her more than campaign contributions? Maybe not!
Hoping to find out why my representative has taken these often lonely positions, I attended a town hall meeting with Rep. Moore and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D, Ohio) at the Laborers Union building Sunday morning, April 25. The meeting was hosted by the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County and Peace Action Wisconsin. Although the location was in a very integrated part of the city (63rd and Appleton Avenue), the audience (not including the congresswoman's assistant) was about 99% white and mostly middle-aged or older. Demographically, the audience looked like a Tea Party crowd. (See if the media ever mentions that about peace-rallies!)
Most of the discussion was about the war in Afghanistan, to which Kucinich was totally opposed and Moore was more ambivalent. Kucinich mentioned that his father had served in World War II, but later said that "war doesn't work." I did not get a chance to ask him whether anything but war would have worked against Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito. Although the audience was always polite to Rep. Moore, it's heart was clearly with Kucinich, who received tumultuous applause for his many strident declamations.
After one questioner contended that Israel had committed crimes against the Palestinians, Gwen Moore mentioned that she had voted against the resolution supporting Israel in the Gaza war because Israel had committed "overkill." However, she noted that she had also voted to shelve the UN Goldstone Report on the conflict because it was so totally one-sided against Israel. For example, the report said that Gaza police should have been treated as civilians, even though they were (some of the time) fighting alongside Hamas soldiers. Moore said she had been lambasted by her friends in the peace movement for that vote, some implying she had caved in to AIPAC. "But check my financial records," she added, " I don't get much Jewish money! (With these votes) I managed to (expletive)-off both sides! (3)....Nobody (in the Middle East) has clean hands!" Moore noted that she was opposed to building Israeli housing in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
Kucinich said that the creation of Israel in 1948 was "great", but he disapproved of much that the country had done since the 1967 take-over of the West Bank and Gaza. Unlike Rep. Moore, Kucinich was proud to have voted to endorse the Goldstone Report, which he found balanced and factual. The crowd loved his remarks, while giving only tepid approval to those of the congresswoman.
After the public meeting I asked Gwen Moore why she had opposed trade sanctions against Iran. She told me that since China and Russia would continue to trade with Iran, the sanctions would do no good. When I asked her what measures, if any, she would support against Iran, my representative (cued by her assistant) cut-off our conversation to meet with reporters.
I think she is exactly wrong about Iran-----sanctions are the only step short of war that have any chance of dissuading the Tehran regime from pursuing nuclear weapons. The US should do what it can, even if other nations do not follow. Defeating sanctions (as her vote would have done) would have undercut the efforts of President Obama to get Russia, China and others to pressure Iran.
Apparently, Rep. Moore has chosen to take a middle position on the Israel-Arab conflict, sometimes siding with one side, sometimes the other. She knows that she does not need either the Jewish community or the peace activists (who are overwhelming sympathetic to the Arab cause) to get re-elected. Her base of support is Milwaukee's large black population, far more numerous than the Jews and the peaceniks combined. Since she is politically invincible, no one has her vote in their pocket.
I would prefer a representative more like Henry Reuss, Jim Moody or Tom Barrett, all of whom supported Israel consistently. But Gwen Moore is not going anywhere except back to Congress for the foreseeable future.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 25, 2010, page 19A.
(2) See "The Gaza 5" January 18, 2009.
(3) Although she denied being influenced by Jewish money in her congressional votes, she never mentioned that her own brother (Atty. Gerald McKinney) considers himself a convert to conservative Judaism and was married to a Jewish woman. Some of her nieces and nephews are Jews. Wouldn't that connection to the Jewish people influence her more than campaign contributions? Maybe not!
Labels: "Gwen Moore" Kucinich
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 4:14 PM
1 Comments:
With all due respect Mr Glazer, like so many who consider themselves polically estute Gwen Moore's being "politically invincible" is a matter of opinion and some might argue mathematically incorrect. Researchers on my campaign have discovered that there are over 520,000 registered voters in Moore's district and over the course of the last 4 presidential elections over 313,000 of them have voted Republican. The notion that Moore is invincible is liberal nonsense perpetuated by the media, and in this case bloggers such as yourself. Rather than middle of the road Moore is clearly ANTI-ISRAEL! Her record has proven that. And like so many political pundits who's audience includes Moore's constituents I find your OMISSION of Moore's opponent (namely, ME) in the upcoming general election in November very revealing. This is doing a disservice to the Jewish Community represented by Moore. They need to know that Moore is in fact anti-Israel and that she has an opponent who is clearly Pro-Israel. And his name is Dan Sebring.
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