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Military Org. Loves Rep. Klein!

Boca congressman gets event rescheduled

by
Marc Tracy
July 22, 2009
Klein campaign for his Congressional seat with Bill Clinton.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Klein campaign for his Congressional seat with Bill Clinton.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

It looks like the White House Commission on Remembrance, when planning 2009’s National Weekend of Remembrance, forgot to remember the High Holy Days. The annual weekend for military families to commemorate lost loved ones was scheduled for September 18-20 … and September 19th is Rosh Hashanah. Ooops. Fortunately, a statement we got from Families United For Our Troops and Their Mission, which represents military families (of all religions!), says a schedule change is forthcoming, for which, it adds, we can thank Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fl.), who represents the good people of Boca Raton and who calmly and nicely made his displeasure over the scheduling snafu known. Certainly Families United is thankful! The group is now “making every effort to accommodate every Gold Star family, from every faith”—see, not just Jews!—including “working with airlines and travel partners to ensure that families are not forced to pay a penalty for this oversight.” And all this, “in spite of” the fact that the event date “was in place long before Families United ever became involved.” Yes sirree, Ron Klein just made himself a new best friend in Families United!

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.