YES, SOME DEMOCRATS REALLY DO WANT TO END BUSH'S DISASTROUS WAR... FOR REAL, NOT JUST SYMBOLICALLY OR NONBINDINGLY

I was naively disappointed when not all the freshmen Blue America collected money to help elect last year didn't rush to join the Progressive Caucus. In fact, several of "our" freshmen rushed to join BOTH the New Democratic Coalition of Corporate Whores and the Blue Dogs. Of the freshmen who we contributed to, the ones who joined both the reactionary caucuses are Kirstin Gillibrand, Michael Arcuri, and Patrick Murphy. I guess Patrick gets a pass since he also was an original co-sponsor of Murtha's redeployment legislation.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus is much bigger than either of the 2 right-of-center Democratic caucuses. It is chaired by Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey. The new freshmen who joined this year include Mazie Hirono (HI), Yvette Clark (NY), Stephen Cohen (TN), and Keith Ellison (MN), all of whom are also co-sponsors of legilslation by Murtha and or Woolsey to stop Bush's escalation.

This afternoon the Progressive Caucus issued a statement of position on Bush's Iraq catastrophe.

Over the last four years, the insurgency in Iraq has strengthened and sectarian violence has increased. Furthermore, the current situation on the ground in Iraq is grave and rapidly deteriorating. The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) has determined accordingly that a predominantly military approach is no longer a viable solution to stabilizing Iraq.

We are committed to bringing all of the U.S. troops and military contractors in Iraq home in a six-month time frame as part of a fully-funded redeployment plan.
 
More specifically, we oppose sending additional U.S. troops and military contractors to Iraq and favor binding votes to block President Bush's escalation of U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

We believe all appropriations for U.S. military involvement in Iraq must be for the protection of our troops until and during their withdrawal within six months of the date of enactment of this limitation and accelerating the training and equipping of additional Iraqi security forces during that six-month time frame. The President has left the Congress few alternatives other than to use the power of purse spelled out in Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution to curtail U.S. military operations in Iraq.

Finally, we are opposed to establishing any permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq, support rescinding the President's Iraq war authority, and support greater diplomatic and political engagement in the region, while ensuring that the Iraqi people have control over their own petroleum resources.

Like many Republicans, the New Democratic Caucus (aka- Ellen Taucsher's Republican-lite Brigade) and the Blue Dogs, both creatures of the corporately-owned DLC, want to appear to oppose the war, while not doing anything at all to stop it. The Progressive Caucus sounds like they're right on the money. We're going to be a lot more selective in 2007 and 2008 about who we raise money for.