Boehner Fooled Us. Bad Boehner, Bad!

Maybe this isn't the best metaphor for an Abrahamic faith but they're squealing like stuck pigs.  They being the government of Benjamin Netanyahu are squealing over the prospect of Bibi delivering a speech just a couple of weeks before he faces an election to a half-empty joint session of the US Congress.

The Republicans thought they'd use Netanyahu to slam Obama for his nuclear negotiations with Iran.  It was a marriage made in Heaven.  Then word got out that the Democrats, including the president of the Senate, Joe Biden, might just give Bibi the cold shoulder, boycott the speech and leave Netanyahu facing a half empty chamber.

Now Netanyahu's people are claiming they were misled by Boehner.  Bad Boehner, bad!


"It appears that the speaker of Congress made a move, in which we trusted, but which it ultimately became clear was a one sided move and not a move by both sides," Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi told 102 FM Tel Aviv Radio on Friday.

The interviewer asked if that meant Netanyahu had been "misled" into believing Boehner's invitation was bipartisan, a characterization Hanegbi did not contest.

Asked whether the prime minister should cancel or postpone the speech, Hanegbi said: "What would the outcome be then? The outcome would be that we forsake an arena in which there is a going to be a very dramatic decision (on Iran)."

Hanegbi admitted the purpose of Netanyahu's address is to swing enough votes in Congress to achieve the magical 2/3rds majority needed to override a White House veto of new sanctions against Iran that are widely believed would be enough to derail negotiations with Tehran.

"The Republicans know, as the president has already made clear, that he will veto this legislation. So in order to pass legislation that overcomes the veto, two-thirds are required in the Senate. So if the prime minister can persuade another one or two or another three or four, this could have weight," he said.

And the Democrats in Congress should go along with this blatant Israeli gambit to undermine their president and wreck the negotiations with Iran, why?  Keep running off at the mouth, Hanegbi.  A little more and you might get Republicans too embarrassed to show up for Bibi.