Anecdotes Abound -- At What Point Do We Deem the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bad on Israel?

FIRST, the Republican leadership of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is decidedly weak on Hezbollah:

The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) raised concern today that 12 U.S. Senators - 10 of who are Republicans - failed to sign a bipartisan letter calling on the European Union (EU) to add Hezbollah to its list of terrorist organizations. Most troubling, the top two Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Chairman John Warner (R-VA), were not among the 88 Senators who signed the letter.

SECOND, we learn that Lugar & Hagels' Committee colleague and fellow Republican, Lincoln Chafee, opposes the Administration's support for Israel:

Moreover, Chafee's foreign policy concerns -- expressed in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- could alienate Jewish voters and some Christian conservatives who tend to be staunchly pro-Israel. In the letter, Chafee, who chairs the Foreign Relations subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian affairs, urged the Bush administration to stop Israel's construction of 690 new homes in two West Bank settlements.

"It is no secret that I have serious questions about this Administration's policies in the Middle East," Chafee wrote."

Lest we think that Chafee is some loose cannon, consider that tiny Rhode Island is the location for $1 million in pro-Chafee activities by the national Republican Party:

Republican Party operatives have been in and out of the state for months. A dozen or so paid staff arrived last weekend, the advance guard of a get-out-the-vote operation that will grow much larger. So far, the NRSC has spent roughly $800,000 on Chafee's behalf. The national Republican Party had pumped in $150,000 as of a month ago, a figure that officials say will swell.

At $1 million, the spending could easily translate into $40 or more for each vote Chafee receives - if he succeeds in creating a record turnout and winning renomination.