Jerry Nadler, hero of peaceAlthough one Republican-- libertarian-leaning Thomas Massie (R-KY)-- abstained, all the rest of the House Republicans voted against the Iran nuclear deal. 86% of House Dems voted for it (162 out of 188)-- as had 91% of Senate Dems (42 of 46). Yesterday the House GOP warmongers were joined by 25 faithless Democrats, these 25 faithless Democrats:
Brad Ashford (Blue Dog-NE)Brendan Boyle (PA)Tony Cárdenas (New Dem-CA)Ted Deutch (AIPAC-FL)Eliot Engel (AIPAC-NY)Lois Frankel (AIPAC-FL)Gwen Graham (Blue Dog-FL)Gene Green (TX)Alcee Hastings (FL)Steve Israel (AIPAC-NY)Ted Lieu (CA)Dan Lipinski (Blue Dog-IL)Nita Lowey (AIPAC-NY)Carolyn Maloney (AIPAC-NY)Grace Meng (AIPAC-NY)Grace Napolitano (CA)Donald Norcross (AIPAC-NJ)Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)Kathleen Rice (New Dem-NY)David Scott (New Dem-GA)Brad Sherman (AIPAC-CA)Kirsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ)Albio Sires (AIPAC-NJ)Juan Vargas (New Dem-CA)Filemon Vela (New Dem-TX)
Jerry Nadler's principled and well-reasoned position for the Iran nuclear deal helped make it "safe" for Jews and other Democrats representing Jewish districts to vote for it-- and the great majority of Jewish Democrats in the House and in the Senate did. Chuck Schumer has been working, covertly of course, to drum up hatred against Nadler and to find a primary opponent to run against him, possibly right-wing nut Assemblyman Dov Hikind from Boro Park, although Hikind claims the anti-Nadler forces are looking for someone less right-wing who could possibly win the district-- something an out-and-out, across-the-board reactionary like Hikind could never do. He also claims that AIPAC fanatics will make sure the candidate is loaded with cash to deploy against Nadler. Nadler's district runs from West 122nd Street in Morningside Heights on the Upper West Side north of Columbia University, down Riverside Drive and Broadway, over to Central Park West, through Hell's Kitchen, the Garment District, Chelsea, the West Village, Soho, Tribeca, and the Financial District and then, incongruously, across the East River to Brooklyn and south to Red Hook, Boro Park, Kensington as far east as Coney Island Avenue and Ocean Parkway, into Midwood and Bensonhurst and right it the front door of Lafayette High School. The district is one of the most Jewish in the country and includes enlightened liberals in the Manhattan part and extremely right-wing, racist and backward Hasidim in the Boro Park area. Normally the progressives outvote the reactionaries by wide margins-- Obama, despite the hatred of the lunatic fringe, beat McCain 76-23% and then beat Romney 74-25%-- but the primary is in June and unlikely to generate much turnout. So... Blue America just added Jerry to our "Worthy Incumbents" page. Please consider helping him fend off the right-wing warmongers.The opposite is happening in Illinois's 10th District, north of Chicago (from Northbrook, Glencoe and Prospect Heights through Deerfield, Buffalo Grove and Waukegan up to the Wisconsin border), where DCCC incompetence and a dreadful Wall Street-owned New Dem incumbent, Brad Schneider, saw the victory of Republican nitwit Robert Dold in a deep blue (D+8) district that Obama won with 63% against McCain and 58% against Romney. Progressive Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering decided to take the district back from the conservative Dold, but soon after she started campaigning the New Dem idiot Schneider was back-- and campaigning by joining Dold in the fight against the Iran nuclear deal. Abner Mikva, who's been an icon of Jewish and Democratic activism in Chicagoland since the late 1960s, originally endorsed Schneider but switched his endorsement when Schneider announced he was opposing the Iran deal. This is a big deal because New York warmonger Steve Israel has forced the DCCC to get behind Schneider. Mikva was one of 11 Jewish former congressmen who signed an ad in the NY Times backing the Iran deal.
The 10th district has a large Jewish vote, and support for Israel is a given. Indeed, candidates of both parties in the 10th for years have competed to outdo themselves as champions of Israel’s security. In 2014, Schneider and Rep. Bob Dold, R-Ill., fought over who was the bigger hawk when it came to Israel. The political landscape is different in 2016 for Schneider, who has to get through a primary. Rotering is going after Schneider from the left, looking to rally progressive Democrats to her side. Rotering told me she called Mikva after Schneider proclaimed his opposition to the Iran deal in a Times of Israel column. Mikva is popular with progressives. He once represented the 10th-- and is a former federal judge, counsel to President Bill Clinton and member of the Illinois General Assembly. As a result of the call, Mikva invited Rotering to lunch at the Cliff Dwellers Club of Chicago. In an “open letter” to Schneider, Mikva wrote,”When you first asked for my support, you assured me that you would not be dominated by AIPAC’s and Benjamin Netanyahu’s view on Iran. I signed on to your campaign in good faith, but have since been compelled to reconsider. I was disappointed when you came out against the Iran agreement, opposing your president and your party.”
