Now that Harry Reid has announced that he is not seeking reelection in 2016, it behooves your solitary reporter to explain why Sen. Reid and his Minority Whip and Number Two Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin (D.-Illinois) have already anointed their colleague, Chuck Schumer (D.-New York), as his successor as Minority Leader, starting in 2017.
During his recent trip to Jerusalem (see our posts of March 18 and March 20), the solitary reporter was emphatically told by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, that Mr. Netanyahu insists on vetting, and indeed approving or rejecting, all influential public officials in the United States. “You see, SR,” Lieberman explained, “even though you Democrats lost the election last year, you still have some influence in the U.S. Senate, even though it is rapidly dwindling.”
Lieberman went on to explain that Schumer, as a strident member of AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel political organization in the United States), would be more reliable in strengthening relations between Netanyahu and John Boehner than Durbin, a lapsed Catholic.
After Reid’s announcement, rumors began circulating that Reid, a Mormon, may be facing excommunication from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for being a Democrat. An aide to Church President Thomas S. Monson sniggered after being informed of the rumors, and said “President Monson did, it is true, circulate, in 2008, a letter to California voters urging them to pass Proposition 8, which would have preserved the sacred institution of the family. Unfortunately, Prop 8 has been tossed out by activist judges. So it only stands to reason that Harry Reid, who supports gay rights, may never again be seen in a LDS church."
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