http://lobelog.com/presidential-candidates-at-aipac-dangerous-and-delusional/#more-33609

Presidential Candidates at AIPAC: Dangerous and Delusional

by James J. Zogby
The performances by four of the five remaining presidential candidates at AIPAC’s policy conference made this a perfectly strange and unsettling week in Washington.
The entire affair was more of a spectacle than a conference. The setting was a sports arena with 18,000 spectators. The candidates appearing on a stage in center court were shown on huge overhead screens. One by one they were trotted out to perform. And perform, they did, delivering remarkably similar addresses that were mainly variations on a set of familiar themes. They all: professed their love Israel and “Bibi”; want to arm Israel to the teeth; don’t trust Palestinians, whom they accused of incitement; hate the UN; will oppose any effort to sanction Israel—by the UN, EU, or even US student groups; and promise to be better for Israel than President Obama. As the candidates shamelessly pandered before their delirious audience, the political pronouncements they made and policy prescriptions they offered were both dangerous and disconnected from reality.
In speech after speech, Israel was offered unconditional support using the now commonplace terms “unshakable”, “unwavering”, or “unbreakable”. No one spoke of the hardships endured by Palestinians under occupation—in fact, the word “occupation” was never uttered. When the Palestinians were mentioned at all it was to condemn them for incitement and murder. John Kasich charged Palestinians with fostering a “culture of death”, while Ted Cruz resurrected the old canard accusing Arabs of wanting to “drive Israel into the sea”.http://lobelog.com/presidential-candidates-at-aipac-dangerous-and-delusional/#more-33609