Washblog

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Robert Murphy <rmdewey@yaXXX.com>
To: rklein@globe.com
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 9:22:58 PM
Subject: Murtha Attacks demonstrate the Peril of a leaderless, spineless "opposition"

Rick, as a writer for the Boston Globe, have you ever heard of a couple of politicians from Massachusetts named Dukakis or Kerry?  You do know they lost for a lot of reasons, the most significant being an inability to fight like their opponents, who fight 24*7*365.
I suppose it is easier to ignore those reasons, and repeat the DLC propagated lies that Dems purportedly scared the swing voter and lost.
What I wonder about you is, have you mastered doublethink because the quality of life is better hanging out with DLC sell outs rather than the quality of life afflicting the powerful? Or, are you just stupid?
I've lived in Seattle for 16 years, and I lived the prior 29 in Massachusetts, and our Washington Dem party is having a big squabble about supporting Maria CantSellUsOutFastEnough.  On 1 side of the squabble are those who believe we've been losing for decades because we support losers.
On another side of the squabble are those who are worried that if we don't support Maria then the mean, evil corporate Republicans will win by lying to the swing voters. Sound familiar? Or, did you miss history class in skool?

Bob Murphy
2442 N.W. MARKET ST. #562
SEATTLE, WA. 98107

Boston.com
The attacks on Murtha demonstrated the political peril that could face Democrats who offer plans involving troop withdrawals.
Although Murtha has 99 House cosponsors for his plan, some Democrats remain skittish about offering a plan that they know would be attacked harshly -- and, they say, almost certainly misconstrued -- by political opponents.
Still, Dean, Reed, and others in the party are trying to develop a united Democratic vision for Iraq, based in part on the calculation that the war will be a big factor in many 2006 congressional campaigns.
Representative Martin T. Meehan, a Lowell Democrat who voted in favor of the war and now supports the Murtha plan, said that while the war remains Bush's responsibility, Democrats should be able to tell voters what they would do differently.
''There are a lot of different views, but I personally believe that putting forward specifics about how to move forward in Iraq is important to do," said Meehan, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. ''I would like to see Democrats coalesce around a strategy like Korb's strategy."
This fall, in elections that Democrats hope will bring them back to power in Congress, more than 50 military veterans are running in congressional races as Democrats.
Those candidates are asked about Iraq all the time, and the idea of strategic redeployment is appealing to many of them, said Eric Massa, who is challenging an incumbent Republican in upstate New York and is helping to organize strategy for the veterans who are running.
''You can't stand in front of people and say, 'We want your vote,' and not tell people what it is they're voting for," said Massa, a former Navy officer. ''We all know that staying the course is not a strategy that's going to work."
Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com.