Republicans, particularly Republican Senators, should not be encouraging the enemy in time of war.
In a previous post I urge everyone to Take the Pledge.
In a post this morning, Hugh Hewitt relates that the urgency to contact your Senator has increased. They have not been listening. According to an article in the Washington Post today:
The committee’s partisan vote strengthened the hand of Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and a bipartisan group of senators backing a less forceful resolution of opposition.
Warner and his co-sponsors, Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), went to the Senate floor last night to introduce their resolution of opposition, brandishing a raft of new co-sponsors, including Democrats Ken Salazar (Colo.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Bill Nelson (Fla.), as well as Republicans Gordon Smith (Ore.) and Norm Coleman (Minn.)….
But several Republicans indicated they would vote for a resolution of opposition if the language were toned down. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), a presidential candidate, said he was in talks with Warner on a resolution he could embrace. Others were still awaiting some sign of compromise from the president.
According to Hugh:
The Warner resolution encourages the enemy, and that is according to the testimony of General David Petraeus. Not only should it have zero co-sponsors, there should be zero GOP support for any of its first cousin resolutions. In my interview with him yesterday, Norm Coleman indicated that he will reconsider support for the resolution, and every Republican named in this story needs to hear from you as well. E-mailers tell me that Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and George Voinovich of Ohio are also among those who were considering the Warner resolution prior to the Petraeus testimony.
Please spend the day working the phones and the e-mail to let these senators and the GOP leadership know that the Warner resolution is unacceptable.
Sign the pledge and ask your friends and family to do so as well (more than 6,000 have done so in 18 hours.). The country is not defeatist, does support victory in Iraq, and most certainly does not support encouraging the enemy.
Senator Kyl told me that “I think my colleagues have their ears to the ground,” but they are clearly not hearing from the core of the party, a core that will not shrug off a vote for the Warner resolution or any resolution that undermines the policy already in place and supported by not just the President but also by General Petraeus.
Please tell the candidates in the ’08 cycle especially –Alexander, Collins, Coleman and Smith and would-be presidential nominee Brownback—that a vote for the Warner resolution is the end of support for them and the NRSC.
Senator Alexander’s phone: (202) 224-4944. His e-mail is here.
Senator Brownback’s phone: (202) 224-6521. His e-mail is here.
Senator Coleman’s phone: (202) 224-5641.His e-mail is here.
Senator Collins’ phone: (202) 224-2523. Her e-mail is here.
Senator Smith’s phone: (202) 224-3753. His e-mail is here.
Senator Voinovich’s phone: (202) 224-3353. His e-mail is here.
The GOP leadership, which needs to announce that no resolution will be voted on that encourages the enemy, and that includes the Warner resolution or any cousin of the Warner resolution:
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s phone is (202) 224-2541. His e-mail is here.
Minority Whip Trent Lott’s phone is (202) 224-6253. His e-mail is here.
Senator Jon Kyl’s phone is (202) 224-4521. His e-mail is here.
Senator John Ensign’s phone is (202) 224-6244. His e-mail is here.
When you are done calling and writing, start over, and ask your friends to do so as well, beginning with the pledge.
I don’t know what these senators are thinking this morning, but they clearly haven’t been listening to you. No debate will begin or vote be taken until next week, so invest some time in supporting the troops by bringing clarity to these senators: You can’t win a war by encouraging the enemy and undercutting the commander on the ground in Iraq or the Commander-in-Chief in the White House. Not to understand that is a great way to send an irreversible message to core supporters that their time and money is best spent elsewhere.
It will discourage me to begin the ’07-08 campaign cycle aware that I won’t be able to support with time or money some very fine senators or, in all likelihood, the NRSC. But victory in war trumps party. The senators may say they are voting their conscience. So will I.
So will I.
BEAR TO THE RIGHT 