God and Jerusalem Railroaded Back In DNC Platform

Now that the hotly contested platform language has been corrected, Democrats want you to believe that the exclusion of the language that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and the word 'God' deleted from even one mention throughout the platform was all just a technical glitch. Somehow all these very experienced legislators and lawyers guiding the platform committee just didn't catch any of these exclusions until others did and began to question the wording of the platform positions.

People involved in 48 hours of intense disputes over the platform — first reported by the conservative Free Beacon, laid the blame squarely on President Obama and his allies for a gambit that they did not ultimately intend to carry through. A member of the Platform Committee itself said the language was drafted by staffers — notably former national security aide Colin Kahl — and overseen by former Rep. Robert Wexler, and that even some committee members did not see it until this Monday night.
The Democrats, meanwhile, chose not to bring on-and-off allies in the pro-Israel Jewish community — had in past years been consulted on the drafting process — on this year's platform, instead opting to consult only national security staffers who were concerned with not committing to so called">Foreign Policy's Josh Rogin reported. The Democrats, meanwhile, chose not to bring on-and-off allies in the pro-Israel Jewish community— who had in past years been consulted on the drafting process — in on this year's platform, instead opting to consult only national security staffers who were concerned with not committing to so called">Foreign Policy's Josh Rogin reported.

Complicating the process: Some White House allies told reporters that AIPAC had signed off on the language, when — in the view of the group's leaders — it had been only on the bare margins of the process, and had been taken by surprise by the language; an AIPAC statement to reporters suggested otherwise.

The unwinding of this fiasco began with the unhinged reaction by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the number two man in Harry Reid's Senate hierarchy, during an interview with FNC's Bret Baier Tuesday evening.  During the Special Report segment, Baier asked Durbin about the exclusion of God and of supporting Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, as it had just been reported on from the convention platform committee's afternoon work.

Clearly taken off guard, Durbin launched into a hostile attack on Baier and accusing him and Fox News Channel of implying that Democrats are not God loving people and that they don't support Israel. That answer and Durbin's expression spoke volumes.  He realized the Democrats would be called on the carpet for the decisions made and obviously worked immediately to correct the situation.

One thing led to another and by Wednesday afternoon the language deleted was voted to be put back in. Or was it? Most observers to the floor vote on replacing the language clearly heard a vote split between the ayes and nays and there was no 2/3 majority accepting the change.  Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa was clearly perplexed and called the votes three separate times before declaring it passed. He railroaded the thing through and that was that. How progressive!

So, Jerusalem and God are back in the DNC convention platform. The word is that President Obama realized the poop storm that was swirling and took immediate action to shut it down.  The last thing he needs in this close election is for Jews to ramp up their doubt of his support for Israel.