That’s quite a lot of innuendo in this Scott Wong item:
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a warm welcome from a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) skipped out on the speech, sitting quietly at his Senate desk shuffling through papers and newspapers. Earlier this year, Paul proposed eliminating all U.S. aid to Israel…
So, it was a protest?
… but his office and other Republican senators said Paul’s decision to remain on the Senate floor during the address concerned a dispute with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) over amendments Paul proposed to the Patriot Act extension.
This was not a solo protest of Netanyahu. Some evidence? On the way out of the Senate, while the speech was wrapping up, I briefly shared an elevator with Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., whose reputation on, and relationship with, Israel is… let’s just
say it’s less critical than Paul’s
. Some members of Congress have already seen Netanyahu on his trip here, and they didn’t see his speech. Let’s not let this become some part of Rand Paul’s mythology; he was not snubbing Netanyahu.
