AN OPEN LETTER TO GEORGE BUSH-- AND A LIST OF DEMOCRATS

Yesterday at Daily Kos McJoan asked a crucial question every American should be asking herself or himself, Can we get 218?. What we need are 218 members of the House of Representatives to go along with the sentiments expressed in a letter to Bush and signed by 70 House members with spines. It starts with a simple and clear declaration:

We are writing to inform you that we will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of all our troops out of Iraq before you leave office.

In other words: take your illegal war and occupation and shove them up your ass. McJoan suggests that everyone phone or write to his or her congresscritter and urge or demand that they sign on. I'm down with that. I would also recommend that the grassroots stop donating to the re-election campaigns of any Democrats who don't sign on. Right now Blue America has endorsed 8 incumbents for 2008. Of the 8 John Hall (NY), Hilda Solis (CA), Jerrold Nadler (NY) and Steve Cohen (TN) signed on. You do what you want but when I have some spare change for incumbents these are the 4 I'll be thinking of first.

The whole list of signatories:
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA);
Rep. Barbara Lee (CA);
Rep. Maxine Waters (CA);
Rep. Ellen Tauscher (CA);
Rep. Rush Holt (NJ);
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (NY);
Rep. Diane Watson (CA);
Rep. Ed Pastor (AZ);
Rep. Barney Frank (MA);
Rep. Danny Davis (IL);
Rep. John Conyers (MI);
Rep. John Hall (NY);
Rep. Bob Filner (CA);
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (NY);
Rep. Bobby Rush (IL);
Rep. Charles Rangel (NY);
Rep. Ed Towns (NY);
Rep. Paul Hodes (NH);
Rep. William Lacy Clay (MO);
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR);
Rep. Albert Wynn (MD);
Rep. Bill Delahunt (MA);
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC);
Rep. G. K. Butterfield (NC);
Rep. Hilda Solis (CA);
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY);
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY);
Rep. Michael Honda (CA);
Rep. Steve Cohen (TN);
Rep. Phil Hare (IL);
Rep. Grace Flores Napolitano (CA);
Rep. Alcee Hastings (FL);
Rep. James McGovern (MA);
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH);
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL);
Rep. Julia Carson (IN);
Rep. Linda Sanchez (CA);
Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ);
Rep. John Olver (MA);
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX);
Rep. Jim McDermott (WA);
Rep. Ed Markey (MA);
Rep. Chaka Fattah (PA);
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ);
Rep. Rubin Hinojosa (TX);
Rep. Pete Stark (CA);
Rep. Bobby Scott (VA);
Rep. Jim Moran (VA);
Rep. Betty McCollum (MN);
Rep. Jim Oberstar (MN);
Rep. Diana DeGette (CO);
Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA);
Rep. Artur Davis (AL);
Rep. Hank Johnson (GA);
Rep. Donald Payne (NJ);
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (MO);
Rep. John Lewis (GA);
Rep. Yvette Clarke (NY);
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (HI);
Rep. Gwen Moore (WI);
Rep. Keith Ellison (MN);
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (WI);
Rep. Donna Christensen (USVI);
Rep. David Scott (GA);
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (IL);
Rep. Lois Capps (CA);
Rep. Steve Rothman (NJ);
Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD);
and one libertarian Republican, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX).

So it isn't just the Jim Marshalls, Gene Taylors, Collin Peterson, Bud Cramers, Dan Borens, and Brian Bairds who haven't expressed support for this, the only way Congress can actually bring this brutal and catastrophic occupation to an end. It seems to me that it won't matter a great deal if you ask Allen Boyd or Jim Matheson or Heath Shuler to support this approach; they are lost causes and no better, at least on this, than your garden variety rubber stamp Republican. But I can name at least as many easy targets we could affect as the ones who have already signed on. For starters, I suspect it wouldn't take much at all to get Mazie Hirono (HI), Peter Welch (VT), John Sarbanes (MD), Carol Shea-Porter,(NH), Zoe Lofgren (CA), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL), John Tierney (MA), George Miller (CA), Henry Waxman (CA), and Xavier Becerra (CA) to agree to this right away. Do any of these folks work for you? My congresswoman has already signed.


UPDATE: MORE DEMOCRATS SIGN ON

Nine more Democrats have signed the letter to Bush:
Chris Murphy, CT
Jesse Jackson, Jr., IL
Melvin Watt, NC
Corrine Brown, FL
Gregory Meeks, NY
Mike Thompson, CA
Anthony Weiner, NY
Dave Loebsack, IA
Dennis Kucinich, OH