[Peace-discuss] JTA: Iran deal foe Ted Deutch = "likely fit" for HFAC Chair if Engel loses primary

[Robert Naiman]

Let's check in on the DC Conventional Wisdom about the House Foreign
Affairs Committee and House Dem leadership's #EndlessWar Habitrail.

1. It's been openly reported in the press that a key reason that Justice
Democrats made defeating Eliot Engel a priority was foreign policy. Now,
Engel-Bowman on June 23 has become the marquee showdown between the
Bernie-AOC forces and the Pelosi-Hoyer forces. Justice Dems and WFP are
dropping half a million dollars on Bowman. AOC is in, Bernie is in, PCCC is
in. The Atlantic is in, NYT's Michelle Goldberg is in. Mainstream observers
think Engel is in trouble. See the JTA headline below. "There's blood in
the water."

2. But the DC Conventional Wisdom is that if Engel loses his primary, it's
the Eleventh Commandment that the new chair of HFAC must be an Engel clone.
In which meeting room was this decided? Who was present? Were the
Bernie-AOC forces consulted? I bet you a dollar that the Bernie-AOC forces
were not in the meeting. What happened to "elections matter"? What happened
to "*vae victis"?*

Someone, somewhere, must have a strategy for dealing with this. I can't
imagine that the Bernie-AOC forces would go to all this trouble of
defeating Engel in NY-16 and not have a strategy for having some say about
who the next chair of HFAC is when Engel is defeated.

====

https://www.jta.org/2020/06/09/politics/eliot-engels-bid-to-stay-in-congress-grows-more-troubled-as-bernie-sanders-endorses-jamaal-bowman

Eliot Engel’s bid to stay in Congress grows more troubled as Bernie Sanders
endorses Jamaal Bowman
BY GABE FRIEDMAN  JUNE 9, 2020 12:48 PM

[...]

If Engel is unseated, the Foreign Affairs Committee would get a new chair
responsible for steering its direction, likely drawn from the moderates who
still occupy leadership positions in the House because of their seniority.
One person considered a *likely fit* for the role is Rep. *Ted Deutch*, a
Democrat from Florida who chairs the committee’s Middle East subcommittee
and is staunchly pro-Israel.

[...]

Gee, what salient things do we know about Ted Deutch and his views on war
and peace? You'll Never Guess what I found in a five second internet
search.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/sfl-ted-deutch-iran-deal-20150804-story.html

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch: I can't support Iran nuclear deal

By BY TED DEUTCH
AUG 04, 2015 | 3:34 PM

[...]

Think this is obscure?

Not to some people, apparently.

It's still proudly displayed on Deutch's Congressional website.
https://teddeutch.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398471
Press Releases
BREAKING: Rep. Ted Deutch Announces Opposition to Iran Deal in South
Florida Sun Sentinel
f t # e <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php>
*Boca Raton, FL, August 4, 2015* | Ashley Mushnick
<ashley.mushnick at mail.house.gov%20> (202-225-3001)
In an op-ed that will run tomorrow <http://buff.ly/1SJUiQO> in his hometown
paper, *The S**outh Florida Sun Sentinel, *Congressman Ted Deutch (FL-21)
writes about his ten years in public office and his decision to oppose the
recently announced P5+1 nuclear agreement with Iran. The piece
<http://buff.ly/1SJUiQO> by Deutch, a senior member of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee and Ranking Democrat on the influential Middle East and
North Africa Subcommittee, is included below:

Sun Sentinel: U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch: Ten years in public life and the Iran
deal <http://buff.ly/1SJUiQO>

By Ted Deutch
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