"February 02, 2008
Is there an Israel lobby? Barry Lando, a former producer for "60 Minutes," writes:
A few years back I did a report on AIPAC for "60 Minutes" with Mike Wallace. One after another, all the congressional offices I contacted confirmed the tremendous influence that AIPAC wielded, and the fear that could be inspired by an AIPAC threat to target a particular candidate. We were, however, unable to convince a single sitting House member, senator or staff person to talk on the record. Not that they disagreed with the premise. They were just terrified of taking about AIPAC.
That included the late John Chafee, the powerful U.S. senator from Rhode Island, who at the time was being targeted by AIPAC in his re-election campaign. Normally a stalwart supporter of Israel, Chafee had once contravened AIPAC policy by voting to supply an AWACS plane to Saudi Arabia. When the report was finally aired it was the target of more irate mail and phone calls from Jewish organizations across the country than just about any other report I ever did for "60 Minutes."
Note the adjective: "terrified." This was before the war in Iraq. And "60 Minutes" is now terrified about the idea of putting Walt and Mearsheimer on air...
