AIPAC: No Boos, Please

by James Besser
Washington correspondent

Sen. Barack Obama’s reported problems with Jewish voters have titillated political reporters for weeks, but this week the candidate caught a break from a group whose status as an arbiter of who’s pro-Israel and who’s not is unquestioned.

In what some observers have said is an unusually explicit letter to delegates in advance of next week’s American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, leaders of the pro-Israel lobby group strongly urged delegates to treat all the speakers politely — and said every speaker can be assumed to be a “strong friend of AIPAC and a dedicated proponent of the special relationship between the United States and Israel.”

On the speakers list: Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and Sens. Hillary Clinton and Obama, who are still vying for the right to oppose him in November.

The letter said that “how we conduct ourselves during the conference, individually and collectively, is a matter of great importance ... we ask that you act and react to every speech, address, and briefing, that will be offered as part of the conference program in only the most positive manner.”

Translation: no booing, especially when Obama takes the rostrum. Last year AIPAC officials were embarrassed when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, addressing the conference, received a smattering of boos, something they hope will not be repeated in 2008.

MORE: http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c41_a11913/News/Short_Takes.html

Boooooooo!

I don't care if it's President Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton... whomever. The speakers deserve respect.

Nancy Pelosi hasn't been even slightly critical of the Israeli government. These days you have to be a neocon to receive applause apparently.