Ballots and Blood by Ralph Reed

bill.”
    â€œMake sure anyone in leadership or chairing a committee is added to my remarks,” directed Long. “You guys ready?” He wanted to get the show on the road. An aide handed him a leather binder with the presidential seal on it containing his remarks. “Let’s go.”
    They headed down the hall toward the stage, Andy and Long in a power clutch, the noise from the crowd wafting over them.
    â€œLadies and gentlemen,” said an offstage announcer. “The President of the United States, accompanied by Reverend Andy Stanton, the chairman of the Faith and Family Federation.”
    Andy and Long bounded onto the stage to a loud roar. Long stood to his right on a tape mark on the carpet, acknowledging the applause with a bob of his chin. Andy beamed.
    â€œLadies and gentlemen, every now and again a leader comes along who is the perfect marriage of a man and a moment in history,” Andy began as the crowd fell to a hush. “Washington after America won its independence, Lincoln during the Civil War, Franklin Roosevelt during World War II, or Ronald Reagan during the Cold War. We now face a similarly perilous time of both great opportunity and great danger. I believe the man of the hour is President Robert W. Long.”
    Loud cheers and applause.
    â€œBob Long is a man of courage, with moral clarity and conviction. As the United States and the civilized world face threats from terrorist networks like those of Rassem el Zafarshan, Hamas, and Hezbollah, state sponsors of terrorism like Iran, and the timidity and vacillation of the United Nations, we can say of President Long, as was once said of Esther, he has come into the kingdom for such a time as this.” (Applause.) “My friends, please welcome our friend, a friend of democracies around the world, and a friend of Israel, President Bob Long.”
    Long pumped Andy’s hand and leaned in, whispering something in his ear, then bounded up the steps to the elevated podium. Teleprompters rose as if by magic from either side.
    â€œThank you for that warm introduction, Andy,” said Long as the applause died and people took their seats. Long went through the list of introductions of senators, members of Congress, and the Israeli ambassador, paying the obligatory obeisance to the Faith and Family Federation.
    â€œIsrael was founded, providing a place of refuge for a people who suffered for centuries from the persecution of pogroms, the bigotry of anti-Semitism, and the horrors of the Holocaust,” said Long. “It was the fulfillment of a dream, one might say a miraculous fulfillment, that turned the promises of God and the predictions of prophets of old into a modern-day reality.”
    Long rose on his toes, ramping to his topic. “Since that time, Israel has been a beacon of hope and democracy in a region that knew only bloodshed and violence. Until recently it was the only functioning democracy in the Middle East, where tyranny, authoritarianism, and terror was the norm.” He paused, raising his chin, signaling a rhetorical high point. “For all these reasons the United States has had a special relationship with Israel, one based on shared democratic values and strategic interests, and that relationship is nonnegotiable and inviolable.”
    The crowd leaped to their feet in a standing ovation that lasted a full minute. Flashbulbs exploded, recording the moment as Andy smiled with approval.
    â€œToday one of the greatest threats to that relationship and to peace-loving people throughout the Middle East and around the world, is the pursuit of nuclear weapons by Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world.” Everyone knew Iran obtained a nuclear weapon, but neither Iran nor the U.S. would publicly acknowledge that fact. It was useful fiction. “Iran sponsors terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, pays cash bounties to homicide bombers, funded Islamist militias that