Democrat Jim Moran of Northern Virginia is one of the denser members of Congress, which is saying a lot (a short course on his wit and wisdom may be found here). An otherwise unremarkable public figure, Moran is notorious for uttering, days before the invasion of Iraq in March of 2003, that “If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this. . . . The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should.” Moran apologized yet was scolded by senior members of his own party, including then-Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, who said that “He has properly apologized. His comments have no place in the Democratic Party.”
Leaving aside this assertion (the belief that Jews, as a monolithic group, are responsible for the Iraq war is an idea that, if anything, is gaining traction in the Democratic Party), one would have hoped that Moran had learned from his four-year-old flub. Not so, according to the Washington Post’s Colbert King. In a column entitled “Jim Moran’s Mouth, Again,” King discusses a May interview with Moran conducted by the leftist Jewish magazine, Tikkun, and published this month. In the interview, Moran essentially repeats the slander he made four years ago, this time gussying it up for a liberal Jewish audience.
King takes specific issue with Moran’s assertion that AIPAC members
are willing to be very generous with their personal wealth. But it’s a two-edged sword. If you cross AIPAC, AIPAC is unforgiving and will destroy you politically. Their means of communications, their ties to certain newspapers and magazines, and to individuals in the media are substantial and intimidating.
If the all-powerful AIPAC can “destroy [a politician] politically,” why has Jim Moran returned to office again and again? This casting of aspersions based on little to no evidence, King says, “suggests an alignment between AIPAC and journalists that conspires to influence news and opinions about Israel . . . Having made those charges, Moran is obligated to provide evidence supporting them. He should start by naming names.” This is good advice, and the Congressman should indeed name the individuals he believes are part of this supposed AIPAC-led conspiracy. After all, doesn’t it represent a threat to our very way of life?
