http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/chuck-hagel-appointment-stresses-pro-israel-group
WASHINGTON — Donors to the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC gathered in Washington this weekend in the shadow of an appointment the group, for all its legendary clout, appeared powerless to stop.
Many of the supporters of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, as the group is formally known, expressed a kind of resigned frustration towards the confirmation of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense, but most avoided direct criticism of AIPAC's inaction during the drawn-out mudfight over the nomination."I think Chuck Hagel's a very bad guy. I don't like him. I think he's a mistake. I think he was a mistake for the Obama administration," said Rena Lewin, a 20-year AIPAC member and donor from Potomac, Maryland. "But for some reason or another AIPAC did not feel that was a fight they could win," she said.
are these nay sater of the same club as the senatorial ones, are they afraid he'll not blindly follow them in to death and dstruction with Iran, do they personally know the man?
AIPAC refused to publicly take a stand during the fight over Hagel's nomination. The move reflected the group's traditional neutrality on matters of personnel — as opposed to policy. But a new set of vocal, Republican-linked groups waged a bitter campaign against Hagel, leaving AIPAC in an awkward and vulnerable position. Indeed, the enforced silence was too much this time for some members. There were, people familiar with the situation say, a flurry of phone calls from donors to AIPAC's leadership over the past few weeks demanding that the organization do something to stop the former Nebraska Senator, who had once suggested the "Jewish lobby" exerted a malign influence on American policy.
is this part deux of right wing revenge on Hagel because he spoke bad of Bush or embraced the POTUS? or he broke ranks because he no longer couldn't stand the GOP as it is?
