Kentucky Democrat Rep. John Yarmuth said that House Speaker John Boehner came "close to subversion" when he invited Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress.

Isn't that sort of like "almost treason"?

Yarmuth was far from done.

Buzzfeed:

“I am totally outraged at Speaker Boehner for doing it, I think it’s, it was deliberately
designed to undermine the president — that’s close to subversion,” said Yarmuth of Netanyahu’s upcoming address to Congress.

“I mean, the president is supposed to be conducting foreign policy, not the Speaker of the House.”

Yarmuth then said a lot of the strong support for Israel has to with fundraising and pressure from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

“And you know, a lot of it has to do with fundraising — I’m sure some of it is sincere support for Israel,” Yarmuth said.

“You know, I’m a Jewish member of Congress, I’m a strong supporter of Israel, but my first obligation is to the Constitution of the United States, not to the Constitution of Israel. And unfortunately, I think, some of the demands that are made of members by AIPAC and some strong Jewish supporters are that we pay more attention — I guess we defer — to Israel more than we defer to the United States.”

“And that’s another thing, because if he’s going to come over here and say ‘well, my intelligence shows this’ — you know, there’s an implicit, I guess, admission — or not admission, I guess concession — that Israeli intelligence is superior to American intelligence. I’m not ready to sit there and endorse that kind of proposition, and I suspect he will, basically, talk about things like that — you know, try to match their assessment of the situation against ours. And I’m not willing to believe theirs is superior.”

Yarmuth also said he found the reaction to Netanyahu’s 2011 speech “inappropriate on so many levels.”

“And, you know, I was there in the chamber in 2011, when Netanyahu spoke, and there he got I don’t know how many standing ovations. And I was in Israel shortly thereafter, and believe me, the Israelis pay very, very close attention to events like that. And I just — the first thing out of virtually every Israeli’s mouth was: ‘What was with all the standing ovations?’ And I said: ‘Well, AIPAC was meeting in Washington that week, and the gallery was full of AIPAC members, and every one of the members all wanted to see — make sure that their constituents saw them stand up.’ Well, that was kind of a phony reaction, but the Israelis took it very seriously. And so it can have an impact on the election — and, yeah — totally inappropriate on so many levels.”

So...to sum up:

1. Boehner commits treason if he opposes the president on foreign policy.

2. Because, you know...the Jooooooooos!

3. Republicans secretly hate Israel but love that campaign cash they get from rich Jews.

4. If you support Israel, you are disloyal to the U.S.

5. AIPAC secretly runs the American government.

6. Did I mention...the Jooooooooos?

This kind of paranoid conspiracy-mongering is beneath contempt.  Yarmuth knows better, of course.  He's just pressing all the left-wing buttons to support the president.  But in the process, he feeds a narrative almost as old as Western civilization itself: a rich Jewish cabal runs our lives with an unseen hand.

Bibi got all those standing ovations not because AIPAC was in the galleries, but because he has consistently been a voice in the wilderness crying out for action against Iran.  Such clearheadedness in the face of U.S. mushy thinking and outright enabling of Iranian nuclear plans is sorely needed.

Prime Minister Netanyahu will speak some hard truths to power when he addresses Congress.  And both Israel and the U.S. will be better for it.

Hat tip: Rich Baehr