Sweeping Out the Crud

10/17/2007

Paul Munnis


Popular responses to the War in Iraq are that “Bush and the GOP own it”.

“It is theirs to manage.”

“They started it and they must finish it.”

Thus it is clear that Democrats do not want to own the War in Iraq. Many are in denial of having endorsed the war although they did and they did so because they thought it was good politics, that Americans had to stick together, and all of that. Just ask Dick Gephart, it cost him his career. On October 10, 2002, Dick Gephardt was among the 81 House Democrats who voted in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq. It turned sour on him by 2004 when he was a presidential candidate.

Now that the war has turned sour many disown the war and they say that if they knew then what they know now they would not have voted for the war. Yes, that is true, we were all misled, lied to, and if one looks even harder, many were off course on a moral basis even if the lies were all true. We had not tried everything that we could have before an invasion of Iraq. Thus when people knowing what they did still voted for war they were way off the moral target. A lie by Bush does not exonerate them from endorsing the killing of the Iraqi people and for the support of Mr. Bush and his immoral war because they missed the moral standard which is that “War is a last resort.” America had other options to an invasion and rejected them out of hand. A vote for the war was a vote to abandon seeking the alternatives to war.

All of that aside for the moment it is clear that Democrats do not want to own the Bush war and yet we are going to own it and pretty darn soon. Hillary Clinton has made it clear that if elected she will extract us from Iraq. It doesn’t get any clearer than that and she is the front-runner. Yet there is a lot of waffling by elected Democrats who have a chance to end the war now but won’t do it. I don’t know if they would support Hillary’s effort to leave Iraq.

It’s impossible for our Party officials to say that they have had no opportunity to end the war for we can point to several chances that were available to simply vote against further war funding or not to let an Appropriations Bill come to a vote until a negotiation was had and yet Democrats who ran for office on a platform of ending the war voted to continue with war funding.

So, there is duplicity and voters know it and they don’t like it a bit.

Why does the duplicity exist? When pressed our politicians tell us that we cannot afford to create an impression that we do not support our troops. Others tell a story about the chaos we will leave behind if we just up and leave Iraq. Still others say that we must come out of Iraq but slowly, while still others talk about a fifty years’ war in Iraq. All point their fingers at Bush but when push comes to shove they support him (or is that when Bush comes to shove?) while another $200 Billion is coming up for war funding and every indication is that the appropriation will pass.

Democrats will soon have to own the war. It may happen as soon as the Appropriation Bill is voted on. What then? Are they lying to get into office and to use this sore point with Americans to get votes only to renege when the chips are down?

Unfortunately it is looking that way and our Party needs to clarify where we stand as a Party so we can start to disown those politicians among us that are secret Bushies. We need to run other Democrats against them in 2008. The endorsing conventions are going to be difficult this election period and the party conventions will also be dramatic. Some whom were endorsed in the past may not make the cut this time around. They represent themselves and not their public for 70% or more of Americans oppose this war and want it ended pronto.

We have people in the Democratic Party that are Democrats only in name. One of them was “outed” from our Party in 2006, Sen. Joe Lieberman, and he came within a breath of being the Vice-President of the USA on the Democratic ticket in 2004. We have others that must be given the boot too who are just not in tune with our Party or with the expectations of Democrats.

I know that move-on.org created a bad gaffe in the sophomoric name calling of General Petraeus. I also know that they are right in terms of a need to clean out our own closets.

There is still a little time for those who are playing both sides of the street to get onto the proper side – but that time is running out.

Meantime our caucuses need to start seeking candidates to run against those who countenance the war. If we can’t find one then we should withhold an endorsement for the incumbent candidate guilty of supporting Bush and we should make it clear that he has no endorsement by Democrats and is not on our ballot. If they want to join Joe Lieberman and run as an Independent then that is their choice.

This Democrat wants to be represented by a Democrat who supports Democratic values and not by someone leading a double political life.