Will War Veterans Face Assaults On Campaign Trail? by Helen Thomas
Submitted by icantbelieveimv... on January 18, 2006 - 7:58pm.
Will War Veterans Face Assaults On Campaign Trail?
Veterans From Both Parties Run For Congress
Helen Thomas, Hearst White House columnistPOSTED: 2:49 pm CST January 18, 2006
The ballot in the midterm congressional elections in November will be crowded with a number of war veterans -- most of them newcomers to politics -- representing both parties.
And it appears that the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq will be a big issue when their campaigns get rolling this spring.
...snip...
Eric Massa, a retired Navy commander who served in the first Gulf war, has formed Veterans for a Secure America, which includes Democratic congressional candidates. Massa, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a cancer survivor, was an aide to Army Gen. Wesley Clark when Clark was the NATO commander.
more...
Cross posted at Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/18/1939/58211
(Please recommend the diary!)
...assaulted on the campaign trail. No doubt about it.
I know three of the Fighting Dems personally: Eric Massa (NY-29), Jay Fawcett (CO-5), and Bill Winter (CO-6). My heart is with them along with my wallet. I'm not going to enjoy watching them slimed, and I know in my military mind that it won't be pretty.
At least I can hope that they learned from John Kerry's three-week delay in fighting back. I know Bill Winter won't take any attack lying down. He's a fighter, and I expect Eric to be a fighter, too.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
pick up on the smearing of Murtha like they did Kerry. Have you Stan? Wonder if the MSM has gotten a concience....or if they'll get right back on board (so to speak) when it's the House and Senate at stake in an election campaign.
No, I haven't, but that doesn't mean much. I mainly watch CNN, Hardball, and Countdown, and read only the bridge column in the local paper. Shame on me, but I spend so much time on the 'Net I don't take time to get through the paper.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
Has anybody checked to see if the repubs are really running 41 veterans for office? I tried to find how many there were on google the other day with no luck. Seems like it should be verified by other sources than the repub party.
41 veterans... 41 Dems needed to fillibuster... oh boy this is a war I wonder if the love fest here at the blog.... the Clark cult is up for this kind of political war..... love him after .... better stay really good at fighting. America is going to go into a terrible economic depression very soon ... we all may be busy trying to keep roofs over our head long before 2008 and with 41 more REPUG they are going to be able to act on their dark visions in very ungenerous way... it is nearly illegal to be a Democrat in this one party government now... how close to real genocide ( medicare-revision is to look like benign neglect but Rep. Slaughter got it right and had courage to say it it is to stop kill eliminate Medicare... they are out to eliminate the PEOPLE who use Medicare ) will they come when real fascists with death on their minds take control.... Repubs with practice torturing their enemy Repubs who seek out and enjoy torturing their opposition Repub who feel it is their manifest destiny to eliminate whomever they want to: I copies and pasted these smiley's to help illustrate the reality
Go get 'em fellas
I've hear the number is close to 44, but only a couple of them are Republicans. The 41 or so are all Democrats.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
Gee, I am probably the last one to correct Helen Thomas but I think she is mistaken. Unless they are lurking in bunkers somewhere just waiting to ambush the Dems at a later date, but it is hard to run a campaign that way.
Thanks Ruth, that's what I was asking about. I must not have made myself clear. Is the only source for the number of repub veterans running for office from them as quoted by Helen or is there another source??
I searched the Internet for a list of Republican veterans running for Congress. I could not find a list anywhere.
National: 'The Democrats' Premise about Veterans ... is Unproved,' Rothenberg Says
"For months, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, liberal Web logs and major media outlets have been trumpeting the large class of Democratic House candidates who are veterans of the military," Stu Rothenberg writes in Roll Call. "More than three dozen non-incumbent veterans are running for Congress this year, all but a small handful of them as Democrats. While they have received plenty of ink, it is far from clear that any of them will win. While a few high-profile veterans, including Democrat Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, are running in open seats, most including Democrats Tim Dunn of North Carolina, Tim Walz of Minnesota, Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania and Steve Filson in California face GOP incumbents in districts that range from narrowly to reliably Republican.
Thanks Ruth! I think it is significant that they are mostly democrats. Should be brought up as an issue in the campaigns-- Why are most veterans running on the democratic ticket? Because of the republican's policies, thats why!
meow. She wrote quite a bit about Eric in this piece.....and a mention of our General. Thumbs up!! Funny, I had the same thought she did today. Wondering if the SwiftBoat Toadies were going to do a slime job on the lot of them. Do we really have to ask??? I liked the way she put it on the chimp to call them off. He! That's Helen.......takes those opportunities to put the blame where it lays. She's hell on wheels in the WH press conferences. Haha. Such a pleasure. Good article, meow.