Presidential aspirants got a wonderful opportunity to kiss the AIPAC ring at their Policy Conference, and did so expertly. It’s not as easy as it might seem, and groveling may be necessary, as with Lord Trump’s backing away from the ridiculous idea of neutrality in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. There is also the issue of how wet the kiss should be, how long, how passionate and how ridiculous.
 
The one thing that is absolutely unacceptable is to ignore the AIPAC Policy Conference, and this is what Bernie Sanders did. The fact that he’s Jewish makes it all the more stupefying. Just keep campaigning? Is he mad? Has he lost his mind up there in the Vermont boonies? 
 
But that’s what he did, and from this sea of tranquility rose a huge gaseous bubble no one wants to talk about because of the smell. Being myself a resident of Hymietown as Jesse Jackson named it, I know lots of Jews, and I know that a lot of them aren’t crazy about AIPAC, the settlements, dual-citizenship, Bibi, or that in-the-Presidential-face address to congress a while back. They know there’s a not so silent majority of the non-chosen that questions how much money should be pumped into that thriving economy, and some of these natives are getting restless. That is more than significant.
 
It’s not easy to say who kissed the ring best. These are our cream-of-the-crop politicians, and on any given day, any of them could win. Hillary was the professional, touching all bases, reminding us of her record at length. Inspiring she was not, but reassuring to the max. Kasich, whose foreign policy is even more bellicose than required, spoke with more juice, and probably upped his rating. But it was the Senator from Texas who reminded us why he is both a debating champion and a committed Christian of the new school. He drove home with passionate, scholarly excellence his commitment to Israel. It was impressive, and for once I believed he meant what he said.
 
But that Bernie – what was it in Sanders that enabled him to ignore this ring-kissing? Some sense that Netanyahu represents an arrogance that can’t be ignored (or succeed long-term)? Some sense that all the rockets those nut-job Arabs fire and all the random stabbings are meaningless? An intuition that Israel has just lost too much support from the UN and the world generally, and from non-religious Americans in particular? That dual-citizenship is a two edged sword?
 
Whatever – Bernie no kissa da ring. Thissa Bernie, he’sa been right a few times an’ he still there. Maybe take a look. He’s no Muslim, Bernie Sanders – he’s a Brooklyn Jew with his feet on the ground. And his level of honesty is pretty appalling in a serious presidential candidate. 
Appealing too, especially this year.

There are times when you stand up to be counted, and the Sanders campaign is creating them. Leading up to Super Tuesday, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s godawful corrupt fawning worship of Mrs. Clinton had been raising a stench equal to that rising from the Other Party. Fear and stupidity vie in Schultz, along with ineptitude, tone-deaf blindness and other limitations. Gross clumsy unfairness most of all. Clinton owns Schultz and neither cares who knows about it. Major media (Morning Ho, for example) manage to look the other way with clenched nostrils.

Through all this we have heard nothing from the sainted Elizabeth Warren, whose silence is eloquent but not golden. Massachusetts is her state, and was a pivotal one for Sanders, who would have taken it with her help Warren now looks like, and probably is, simply another calculating politician covering he behind. If there was greatness in  her, she would have already joined Sanders, and become potentially a decisive running mate, providing a kind of leadership she does not have the guts for. If there were integrity in her she would be speaking on his behalf. But she is a de facto sister in arms with the least talented most sold-out woman in national politics, deeply allied with financial interests Warren professes to detest. A machine politician. When Clinton denies the quid pro quo that goes with huge sums of money she insults our intelligence and forces Warren’s hand. She also opens the door for Donald Trump, who is richer, smarter, tougher and much more confident than she. Worst of all, his character and principles are no more questionable than hers.

Enter – or rather, exit – the remarkable Tulsi Gabbard. It was e.e. cummings in I Sing of Olaf Glad and Big who wrote “there is some shit I will not eat,” a great line of American English and totally appropriate in this context. Gabbard had had enough.

Who is she, this former #2 of the DNC? She hails from Hawaii and is a true 21st century American hybrid, Euro-Samoan by blood, with committed Roman Catholics in the family, and a practicing Hindu herself. She was home-schooled, spent a couple of years in a girls-only Philippine missionary school and lives in the real world – she holds a degree in Business Administration and is an Army reserve Major who fought and lost friends in Iraq. She’s also very politically incorrect on LGBT matters (nobody’s perfect), and like most Hindus, has a serious outspoken attitude about with Muslims, which delights Fox News and which she may outgrow. She’s endorsed by, among others, the Sierra Club, Emily’s List and VoteVets.

What does Tulsi Gabbard do in congress, and what does she stand for? She’s an active member of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, and one of the few with any real hands on experience. She embodies the anti-Clinton/Wassermann-Schultz spirit, which puts her on a formidable enemies list. (She was warned by everyone and had the courage to act anyway.) Basically, she wants to fix the mess that we’ve become with our foolish foreign policy, imploded political process and collapsing third-world infrastructure.

Perhaps most important, she really understands the lack of judgment in the Bush/Clinton interventionist foreign policy and wants an end to squandering lives and treasure on stupid wars. She’s been to those foreign places and seen the hate for us. And by putting her future on the line, she’s proved that she is a likely running mate for Sanders, capable of drawing the women’s vote now that Elizabeth Warren has gone into hiding.