Colorado Democrats, and even Denver Democrats, like to portray themselves as being more centrist, less likely to be run by their wing nuts. Certainly, there’s been little if any evidence of an anti-Israel bias in the state’s Congressional delegation over the years.  Unfortunately, their choice of speaker for Saturday night’s State House District 7 “Unity Dinner” calls that claim into question.

The speaker is California Congressman Maxine Waters, who, only three months ago, was peddling Jewish conspiracy claptrap to the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, a hard-leftist organization:

AIPAC has a lot of power, a lot of influence.  They raise a lot of money, and they raise this money not just for re-elections, but also to see that the people who will support their agenda are in key places in all of the committees. and all of the leadership of Congress.  So they do exercise tremendous power, and I think that the more money you take from AIPAC, the more you get tied down to their policies.  I do not accept contributions from AIPAC.

Well, that’s mighty independent of her, given that AIPAC doesn’t make campaign contributions, spending its money on lobbying.  Make no mistake, there are plenty of pro-Israel PACs, an they are often informed by AIPAC as to the positions of Congressmen on specific bills or appropriations.  But AIPAC doesn’t even issue legislative ratings.  So if Rep. Waters wants to stay clear of undue Jewish influence, it’ll take more than dodging non-offered contributions from a non-existent PAC.  (The PAC in AIPAC stands for “Public Affairs Committee.”)

What’s disturbing is that the Denver Democrats would choose someone like this to speak at a Unity Dinner.  The last couple of years, they’ve had more or less traditional liberals speak at their Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner: Cory Booker, Deval Patrick.

And, typically, the choice has evoked no response from the establishment Jewish institutions here in Colorado, dominated as they are by those who identify Jewishness with membership in the Democrat party.