Etheridge on the war: Not my issue
To Congressman Bob Etheridge, it’s all about the Democrats winning the House. (And I think it goes without saying, about him being re-elected.) So yes, he did show up at the Wake Progressive Democrats meeting last night — points for that, I guess. But three questions into the Q&A part of his 6:30 gig there, and he’s complaining that he “promised the farmers” that he’d meet with them at 7? Oh, c’mon. (”You’re important, but the farmers are important too,” was his attempt at humor. I think.) What a weak performance.
The reason Etheridge wanted to get out of there, and did get out a couple of minutes later, was that all the questions were about Iraq, and the torture-rendition flights out of Johnston County, and he didn’t want to talk about either subject. “You can’t do everything,” he said to a woman who pressed him on his refusal to co-sponsor a particular House bill. “I haven’t looked at that one.”
The “that one” he hadn’t looked at was the main Democratic resolution calling for a 17-hour floor debate on Iraq. “You have to pick your fights in Congress,” Etheridge said. His point: Standing up for veterans rights is his issue. (All of Bragg and Pope AFB are in his district, he emphasized. So, btw, is part of Raleigh.) Whether we should be fighting in Iraq or not is not his issue.
Strange. He represents soldiers when they come home, but it’s not his job to worry about where they’re sent — or … no, I’m not going to finish that sentence.
His other point: The Democrats don’t have any power in the House, so don’t expect him to get much done except routine constituent work while they’re still in the minority.
August 16th, 2006 13:21
Congressman Etheridge definitely does deserve points for speaking to the Wake County Progressive Democrats on Veterans Affairs issues last night. The Wake Progressives did not acquire the nickname “The Aggressives” for nothing, and Etheridge’s voting record on war issues has been quite conservative. Kudos to Bob for having the guts to take questions from the Progressives and from members of CodePink who attended. He had made his time contraint known to me before the meeting, and he actually gave us twenty more minutes of Q&A than we were supposed to get.
I asked the Congressman to address the Progressives last night as a way to welcome the newly established Democratic Veterans Caucus of NC (check out their website at www.ncvets.org). We had previously made our opposition to the war quite clear, but wanted to emphasize the issue that unifies Progressives, veterans of all stripes, and Congressman Etheridge - which is taking proper care of veterans once this awful war is finally over.
I find it very disheartening, as Congressman Etheridge pointed out, that the GOP has been scoring political points by defining themselves as the Party that supports the troops, when in fact they have cut veterans benefits repeatedly - most recently in the area of mental health care.
While we may disagree on other issues, I thank Congressman Etheridge for really fighting for our veterans, when most Republicans slap a yellow magnet on their car and leave their support at that. After the Vietnam War, veterans comprised a significant percentage of the unemployed and the homeless in America. We are currently facing a societal timebomb because we are not preparing for all those soldiers who are going to return home and start looking for work, or counseling. The thought that they are going to end up sleeping under the Boylan Avenue bridge makes me very, very angry.
Progressives have their favorite issues, and most Progressives are decidedly anti-war. But human compassion demands that we not take the attitude that “they knew what they were signing up for” - because for one thing a lot of those kids had no idea what they had gotten themselves into. And who among us wishes to be held strictly accountable for decisions we made when we were young and foolish?
But I digress.
Yes, it is true that Congressman Etheridge did not want to discuss certain topics which were not the focus of the evening. Yes, I wish that he would see the light on some of his not-so-Progressive votes, and, like John Edwards, be more vocal in denouncing the war and the lies that started it. But let’s give the Congressman some credit for weighing in on a critical issue that most of us are not paying enough attention to.
Tell all your veteran friends to sign up at www.ncvets.org, and help silence those GOP chickenhawks, who never served a day in their life, but still bluster on about “staying the course” in this “noble cause”. As Congressman Etheridge stated in his biggest applause line, “Staying the course is not a plan”.
And remember also, if Democrats do win the House, and Bob is re-elected (as he certainly will be), he will then be in a position to start investigating all the criminal GOP activity of the last five years, with full subpoena powers.
I can’t wait for that day to finally arrive. And I’m willing to set aside any differences I have with Congressman Etheridge in order to make that happen.