In a time marked by unspeakable horrors in Gaza, the Democratic Party faithful still found time to laud Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) for his 25-hour Senate speech. His spectacle, hailed as a triumph of Democratic grit, reveals a deep rot in a party so enamored with its own theatrics that it turns a blind eye to the carnage it funded and supported under the Biden administration.
To cheer Booker while Palestinians in Gaza are being slaughtered by Israel is not just tone-deaf. It is a damning indictment of a party as morally bankrupt as the Republicans led by President Trump.
The numbers alone should stop us cold. Since October 2023, Israel’s offensive has led to the deaths of more than 59,000 Palestinians in Gaza (one-third of them children), injured more than 116,000, buried countless others under Gaza’s rubble, and made millions homeless. In addition, Israel has deliberately cut off food, water and electricity – a war crime that the U.S. has done nothing to stop – that is pushing Gaza to the edge of famine.
Last week, reports emerged of Israeli soldiers executing 15 paramedics. In addition, since the beginning of 2024 the UN has reported discovery of mass graves around a number of hospitals containing the bodies of executed Palestinians.
Yet amid this ongoing carnage, Democrats chose to fawn over Booker’s speech which, for all its stamina, did nothing to fix America’s broken moral compass. This is not the mark of a party that values humanity. It is the behavior of a political cult, obsessed with symbolic gestures while failing to address real problems affecting people’s lives.
Booker himself is also guilty. He has pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years from pro-Israel groups. Far from being a champion of justice, Booker (like other Democrats) is a cog in the machine that Democrats have oiled and maintained that has led to the Gaza carnage.
The accolades for Booker aren’t just misplaced – they are symptoms of a pestilence within the Democratic establishment. Democrats condemn Trumpism as a fascist specter, yet the party’s unwavering support for Israel, its coziness with corporate interests and its refusal to confront its own complicity have erased any claim to moral superiority.
– Fareed Khan
Excerpted from “Praise for Booker Amid
Gaza Carnage Is a Sign of Democrats’ Moral Bankruptcy”
The Hill
April 6, 2025
Excerpted from “Praise for Booker Amid
Gaza Carnage Is a Sign of Democrats’ Moral Bankruptcy”
The Hill
April 6, 2025
In 25 hours of performance nonsense, lobby-paid shill of the Israeli regime Senator Cory Booker did not have a single word to say about the genocide in Palestine, one funded and defended by the very body he was addressing.
Outside the chamber, the slaughter continued throughout his speech.
Booker is not a voice of reason or decency. He is a supporter of genocide and a symbol of the corruption, deception, and decadence of the Congress – on both sides of the aisle.
Folks, I know we are desperate for heroes, fot people who recognize the urgency of the moment, and are willing to take even a symbolic stand. We need to work with just about anyone in order to stop Trump. At the same time, I have a hard time getting excited about Sen. Cory Booker, given his support for the likes of Yoav Gallant, indicted by the International Criminal Court for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
How do you speak for 25 hours straight without mentioning the genocide we are funding? Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been killed with our bombs and our tax dollars.
How can you claim to defend democracy here while supporting fascism elsewhere? Genocide is always the red line.
– Crystal Reina
via social media
April 1, 2025
via social media
April 1, 2025
Booker held a filibuster that wasn’t a filibuster – and he scheduled it to let him avoid attending his own committee’s probe of his Big Tech pals.
Oh, and Booker and Dems provided unanimous consent to advance a Trump nominee right after Booker’s speech.
And finally, I appreciate the following by Kevin LaFleur, shared elsewhere online about the above Code Pink video . . .
Thank you! I’m so glad people are pushing back against this cheerleading of Cory Booker’s latest performative b.s. Empty performative words unless he points to specifics. Aren’t we all aware that an apology is meaningless without showing you actually learned something about something specific? Like he could address the Democrats’ prioritizing genocide over winning an easy and crucial election, or in sending the police after our own students and faculty who peacefully protested the same, or he could admit the party drags its feet on women's issues that it campaigns on so that they can campaign on it again next time and sollicite donations from you all. He apologized for NONE of that. He takes responsibility for none of it, just this vague and vacuous “I’m not perfect,” diatribe. No one’s looking for perfect; we’re looking for basic adult responsibility, accountability, leadership, and representation. I can’t believe Dems are still eating this garbage up as if this dude has done anything to take a real stand.
– Kevin LaFleur
via social media
April 1, 2025
via social media
April 1, 2025
Related Off-site Links:
“It Can’t Be Business as Usual”: Cory Booker Praised for Historic Stand Against Trump-Musk – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, April 2, 2025).
Cory Booker’s 25-Hour Speech Was a Stunt. It Worked – Nia-Malika Henderson (Bloomberg, April 2, 2025).
Senate – Again – Rejects Bernie Sanders’ Effort to Block U.S. Arms to Israel – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, April 3, 2025).
“Every Atrocity Imaginable”: Litany of Israeli War Crimes Continues – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, March 31, 2025).
“This Is Not a War – It’s a Genocide”: The Brutal Truth No One Wants to Admit – Ahmed Shihab-Eldin (Ahmed’s Perspective, March 22, 2025).
UPDATES: Cory Booker Is Playing You – Sabrina Salvati (Sabby Sabs, April 5, 2025).
Journalist Burned Alive in Tent Strike Among Scores of Gazans Killed by Israeli Forces – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, April 7, 2025).
CAIR Calls on U.S. Media to Air Video of Journalists Burning Alive After Israeli Tent Bombing – Council on American-Islamic Relations (April 7, 2025).
Taxpayers Submit U.N. Report Charging U.S. Officials With Genocide in Gaza – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, April 7, 2025).
Israeli Troops Blow Whistle on War Crimes in Gaza “Kill Zone” – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, April 7, 2025).
Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill 58 Palestinians in a Day, Including Journalist Ahmed Mansour – Democracy Now (April 8, 2025).
Trump Hosts Netanyahu at White House, Reiterates Plan to Expel Palestinians from Gaza – Democracy Now (April 8, 2025).
“Not in Our Name”: Protesters Decry U.S.-Backed Assault on Gaza – Democracy Now (April 8, 2025).
Israel Preparing to Seize Ethnically Cleansed City of Rafah as Part of Permanent Buffer Zone – Bret Wilkins (Common Dreams, April 9, 2025).
Deepening Hunger in Gaza as Israel’s Illegal Blockade Stretches Through Sixth Week – Democracy Now (April 10, 2025).
Israel Kills at Least 35 People in Shuja’iyya Attack as Israeli Forces Prepare to Seize Rafah – Democracy Now (April 10, 2025).
How Far Can Israel Go? An Interview with Max Blumenthal – Sabrina Salvati (Sabby Sabs, April 10, 2025).
See also the following chronologically-ordered Wild Reed posts:
• October 7, 2023: “Nothing About Today is ‘Unprovoked’”
• Phyllis Bennis: “If We Are Serious About Ending This Spiraling Violence, We Need to Look at Root Causes”
• In the Midst of the “Great Unraveling,” a Visit to the Prayer Tree
• Eric Levitz: Quote of the Day – October 11, 2023
• Something to Think About – October 12, 2023
• Prayer of the Week – October 16, 2023
• Voices of Reason and Compassion on the Crisis in Israel and Gaza
• More Voices of Reason and Compassion on the Crisis in Israel and Gaza
• Ta-Nehisi Coates: Quote of the Day – November 2, 2023
• Jehad Abusalim: Quote of the Day – December 8, 2023
• Christmas 2023 – Reflections, Activism, Art, and Celebrations
• Sabrina Salvati: Quote of the Day – January 2, 2024
• Michael Fakhri: Quote of the Day – February 27, 2024
• Phyllis Bennis: Quote of the Day – March 28, 2024
• Josh Paul: Quote of the Day – March 28, 2024
• “A Genocide Has Been Normalized”
• “This Is a Genocidal Project”
• Outrage and Despair
• Naomi Klein’s Powerful Words on Israel’s and the West’s Ongoing Gaza Genocide
• Judith Butler on the Ongoing Student Protests Against the Gaza Genocide
• Kyle Kulinski: Quote of the Day – May 23, 2024
• Something to Think About – June 28, 2024
• Nina Turner: Quote of the Day – July 24, 2024
• Phyllis Bennis: “We Can Never Give Up Hope”
• John Cusack: Quote of the Day – July 26, 2024
• Progressive Perspectives on the Presidential Nomination of Kamala Harris
• Breaking Down Kamala Harris’s DNC Speech on Gaza
• Yousef Munayyer: Quote of the Day – August 30, 2024
• “It’s a Systematic Slaughter That We’re Funding”
• Protesting Weapons Manufacturer and Genocide Enabler General Dynamics
• Something to Think About – September 26, 2024
• “A Year of War Against Children”
• Anti-Genocide Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Reflects on the First Anniversary of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza
• Liam Cosgrove Confronts U.S. State Department Spin Doctor Matthew Miller: “People Are Sick of the Bullshit”
• “This Is a Tragic, Heartbreaking Moment in the History of Humanity”
• Progressive Perspectives on Kamala Harris’ Faltering Presidential Campaign
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Presidential Election
• Hope and Courage – Christmas 2024
• Chris Hedges: “Israel Has No Intention of Halting Its Merry-Go-Round of Death”
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
• Caitlin Johnstone: Quote of the Day – January 22, 2025
• Butch Ware: Quote of the Day – January 30, 2025
• The Only Difference
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• “The Mistreatment and Discrimination Against Palestinians Is Not Unprecedented. It’s Baked Into the Foundation of the Political System in Israel”
• Progressive Perspectives on the Ongoing Israeli-Palestinian “Nightmare” (2021)
• Something to Think About – July 29, 2018
• Noura Erakat: Quote of the Day – May 15, 2018
• For Some Jews, Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians is Yet Another Jewish Tragedy
• Remembering the Six-Day War and Its Ongoing Aftermath
• David Norris: Quote of the Day – August 12, 2014
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