( - promoted by Chris Bowers)
Every so often I run across a really egregious example of prowar advocacy and DC gossip couched as journalism. One such example is this article from the Politico on how Democrats want Pelosi and Reid to give up on the war.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, despite their pledges to continue pushing to end the war in Iraq, face growing pressure from their rank-and-file Democrats to focus more attention on domestic, "pocketbook" issues in the upcoming election year.
The article quotes one Democratic House member: Brian Baird. One. That's it. And the context is really remarkable.
My hope would be we start looking at real solutions instead of the dichotomy of cut funding versus stay forever," said Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), who had a change of heart this fall after visiting Iraq and realizing the military surge was working.
"The entire policy has been dictated by the 'Out of Iraq Caucus' ... What are we going to do, have another 40 withdrawal votes?"
The journalists who wrote this piece, John Bresnahan and Martin Kady, just sort of throw out there the assertion that the surge is working as fact. And they quote only Baird, who apparently represents all Democratic junior members, despite not actually being a junior member. They also quote Senator Mark Pryor discussing his desire to cease talking about Iraq and get on with cutting the estate tax, as if he is a junior Congressional member.
So what do junior members actually think? Here's Patrick Murphy, the recognized Democratic freshman leader on Iraq, in the Courier Times.
Murphy said Democrats should have tried to push through a war funding bill with strings attached before they left Washington, D.C. for the holiday break.
"I would have stayed in Washington through Christmas, through the New Year," he said. "When you're willing to stand up to the president and fight for things that you believe in, we can be successful and I think this is one of the things we should have fought harder on."
"There is frustration about Iraq," Murphy said. "The president and the Bush Republicans stonewalled our efforts. I knew this job wasn't going to be easy and I look forward to going back and fighting again on behalf of the soldiers who hope for a better strategy.
According to Murphy, who is not a member of the Out of Iraq caucus but is a freshman leader on Iraq, it's time for Democrats to fight on the war. But according to the Politico, Democrats have given up, junior Democrats want the leadership to give up, antiwar Democrats are crazy, and the surge is working.
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