Where Have You Gone, Al D'Amato?During his 18 years as a Senator from New York, Al D'Amato, a Republican, was at all times a staunch supporter of Israel. For the first 12 of those years, the White House was occupied by a Republican, but that didn't matter. If Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Caspar Weinberger or James Baker pressured or bashed Menachem Begin or Yitzhak Shamir, D'Amato always remained in outspoken support of Israel.
I thought D'Amato was one helluva guy - a Roman Catholic who staunchly supports Israel, even if that put him against the position of a Republican administration.
How naive I was back then. D'Amato, it was explained to me, supports Israel because he is a Senator from New York. Any Senator from New York must support Israel just like D'Amato does.
Funny, I haven't seen any statement of support of Israel from Charles Schumer. Kirsten Gillibrand's statement was quite tepid.
How naive I am to have expected anything different. After all, the pundits explain, Schumer and Gillibrand can hardly be expected to take a position against that of Barack Obama. Any Democratic Senator has to support the Obama administration's line.
posted on 3/16/2010
