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Democrat accuses both GOP and Putin of ignoring reality

Democratic Congressman Steve Israel pointed out the little significance and irony in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s New York Times editorial. "an op-ed doe

Democratic Congressman Steve Israel pointed out the little significance and irony in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s New York Times editorial. "an op-ed doesn't matter.  I'm not going to take lectures from a guy who has troops in Georgia about exceptionalism and about the need to respect international law.”

The New York Congressman said that he wants to see Putin’s words backed up with actions and progress on diplomacy to degrade Syria’s chemical weapons. Israel is not ready to assess the situation fully until after Secretary Kerry meets with his Russian counterpart in Geneva, Sergey Lavrov, he said.

Speaking of progress, Israel says it has been impeded U.S. Congress due to “relentless partisanship and extremism." He said 2014 would be a choice for voters to either elect “leaders with reasonable common-sense solutions on jobs and the economy and infrastructure” or continuing “down the path of extremism and obstructionism and not being able to pass budgets and not even being able to pass hurricane relief bills.”