Another Israel (almost) reference

Capital J

By Ron Kampeas · August 28, 2008

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was supposed to have joined the "we'll do a better job securing Israel" chorus Wednesday night.

Richardson was bumped from the schedule on the night that the Democratic Party convention in Denver focused on national security and foreign policy. A line in his speech pledged that the nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), "stands behind Israel with full-time diplomacy to achieve peace in the Middle East."

He rewrote the speech for his appearance Thursday night to comport it with that evening's theme: distinguishing Obama from his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and despite a number of foreign policy references, the Israel line was gone.