THE HOUSE CAN'T CONDEMN BUSH'S WARS AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ OR AGAINST SICK AMERICAN CHILDREN, BUT IT DID MANAGE TO CONDEMN... AN AD

Martin Heinrich (NM)-- file under: "More and BETTER Democrats"

DailyKos has the full list of how every member of Congress voted. We'll discuss this at greater length soon but since it is the end of the fundraising quarter I want to urge Blue America contributors to take today's vote into serious consideration when they decide who has earned a donation. Four of our endorsed incumbents voted against this stupid Republican diversion and four went along with it. Tom Allen (D-ME), who is running against Republican rubber stamp Susan Collins voted no, as did Steve Cohen (D-TN), Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Hilda Solis (D-CA). Voting with the Republicans today were John Hall (NY), Jerry McNerney (CA), Patrick Murphy (PA) and Carol Shea-Porter (NH).

The 4 who voted for the GOP talking points have let us down. I would like to suggest that we withhold contributions from their campaigns for the rest of the quarter. I see Rahm Emanuel and Steny Hoyer also voted with the Republicans. Let them go get their funding from them. (Current DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen stuck with us on this and voted "no.") I'm making a contribution today to Jerry Nadler, Hilda Solis, Tom Allen and Steve Cohen. Please consider joining me.

Tom Allen just sent us this message: "I do not believe the House should vote to approve or disapprove of political ads in our democracy. I voted against this resolution today because I believe it is the job of the Congress to bring our troops home, not legislate free speech." At the time the vote came down I was talking on the phone with Albuquerque City Councilmember Martin Heinrich, the progressive Democrat running against corrupt rubber stamp Heather Wilson (NM-01). He was very disappointed that the Democratic Leadership even allowed this idiotic voted to come to the floor. Martin's answer was what every Democrat should be saying. "There's a grand diversion for you... It's not something that I'd have been willing to support because it takes us away from the focus of actually making a difference on the ground in Iraq. What we ought to be voting on is a timetable to redeploy our troops."

May I also recommend you read MoveOn's statement:

“With every passing day, more information comes to light casting more and more doubt on the validity of the facts and conclusions presented by General Petraeus in his testimony before Congress. [Hit the link to see the stories.]

With every passing day, more American soldiers and Iraqi civilians lose their lives in this unwinnable civil war. It is unconscionable and outrageous that instead of doing the people's work and ending this war, Congress chooses meaningless and distracting gestures.

With every passing day, America's frustration with politicians in Washington drops the approval ratings for this Congress to new lows. Congress is fiddling with an ad while Iraq burns.

We will continue our ad campaign to accuse the Republicans who are blocking an end to the war of a 'Betrayal of Trust.'”