Eat your own, part 2
Not that progressives are any better than conservatives...MoveOn targets pro-surge Democrat.Rep. Brian Baird’s (D-Wash.) recent conversion on the Iraq war is beginning to affect more than the national dialogue. On Wednesday, liberal group MoveOn.org announced an ad campaign against the congressman in his own district. Baird recently returned from a trip to Iraq and reversed his position on a withdrawal timetable, citing military progress in the four-year-old war. MoveOn is calling the move a “flip-flop” and says it goes against the views of his constituents.
What MoveOn has forgotten to notice is that Baird has "voted against the war in 2003 and had opposed it until last month." So for the sake of politics MoveOn is throwing this guy under the bus. He's been a long time supporter of MoveOn positions, but now thinks another 6 months might be needed before a slow withdrawal. Of course, Republicans have latched on to this and are using it for a broader political purpose. So what does MoveOn do? Fight the Republicans? No, they try to push him out of office, without regard for the political realities of his Congressional District or the larger discussion about how to get out of Iraq.
MoveOn sucks. They are the left's equivalent of the Club for Growth. They want complete and total commitment to an idealogy. Great as a religion, bad a political movement.
I know that MoveOn exists as a vehicle for anti-war folks and acknowledging anything positive in Iraq is giving comfort to the enemy. I understand that is where they are coming from, but this "eat your own" strategy doesn't make it any better. Sure, there is very little progress in Iraq according to the GAO, but MoveOn would be a lot smarter than eating one of their own over this. Do they think that SW Washington State will suddenly be as bright blue as Seattle? If they toss out Baird, the Dems will have to replace him with someone like him and/or lose the seat to the Republicans. Neither is winning formula for getting out of Iraq.
posted by Expat Teacher @ 11:35 PM
