Letter: Sen. Murray’s behavior at speech needs explaining

Through her career, Patty Murray has done a decent job of representing us. Nevertheless, there’s an item from March 3, 2015 that could use some explaining.

It was when then-Speaker John Boehner invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress. Nothing wrong there, it’s one more in a long tradition. Netanyahu’s address, however, was something different — it was set up expressly to embarrass President Obama as he worked toward an agreement to halt Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. The prime minister did not let his hosts down, hectoring Mr. Obama at every opportunity. Many Congressional members rightly declined to be party to a heavily subsidized ally browbeating our president. Not so Sen. Murray.

Patty, easily recognizable, was not only present, but cheered enthusiastically at each of Netanyahu’s “applause lines.” I still find the idea of Israel a good one, though I have great issues with current management. I have further issues with a deeply obstructionist Congress doing everything it can to disrespect the president.

Despite repeated attempts through the past year, I have yet to hear from Sen. Murray explaining her presence and behavior at the speech. Why would she find that so unimportant?

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 6:34 PM with the headline "Letter: Sen. Murray’s behavior at speech needs explaining."