Ads Don't Kill People, Wars Do

Everywhere I go on this campaign -- from Iowa to New Mexico -- I hear people asking when is this war going to end and when will we get all of our troops out of Iraq? Everyone, myself included, is tired of waiting for this war to end and tired of feeling let down by the people we elected.

The message I hear on the road seems pretty clear to me, but apparently the people in Congress aren't getting it. I know legislating is hard work -- I spent 15 years in Congress -- but I believe that when the people have given you a mandate, and soldiers are dying, it is your solemn duty to get the job done no matter what it takes.

Two days ago the Senate had a chance to help get more of our soldiers home for longer periods of time -- but the measure failed. Yesterday they had a chance to set a timeline to start withdrawing troops -- but that failed too. And today, another measure that would've required a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq failed. Three chances to make a difference, lost. But instead of continuing to push on the most important issue facing our country right now, yesterday Congress spent their time debating and condemning a newspaper ad by an anti-war group.

Let's get some perspective here -- ads don't kill people -- wars kill people. And it is long past time to end this war.

From my many years of diplomatic negotiations I have learned that persistence is key to wearing down the most recalcitrant opponents. So I will be persistent -- and I hope you all will too. If we don't get this done now, we may not have a chance again until a Democrat is in the White House in 2009. That is too long to wait.

And while I firmly believe a Democrat will win in November 2008, I also know that some of the other candidates don't share my clear vision for ending the war.

I have been asking them -- how many troops will you leave behind?

My answer is zero.

Their answers are starting to remind me of the same rhetoric we hearing from DC, a little too much hemming, a little too many "we'll see's."

Every day Congress fails to end this war is another day Congress fails to do what we elected them to do. Americans have lost patience with Congress and with the leaders they elected to end the war. But you know what? We have the power. We can end the war.

Let's do that together.

Comments

[Giordano Bruno]

Today I am feeling very sad. My first afternoon patient came in with a problem. I hadn't seen him for about 15 years when he suffered from recurrent fevers. He had a very strange condition called "Relapsing Fever" caused by a bacteria which is transmitted by a TIC. Long story short, he is fine now, but then I asked him about his brother. He looked down to the ground, eyes filled with tears and said, "...he died in Fallujah." Of course, I was overcome with emotion myself. Generally it isn't good to show emotions in front of your patients, but I couldn't help it. All I could say was that I was sorry. I pleaded with him not to go to join the military (something I generally don't do). Then I hugged him tightly and told him it made me happy to see him, hiding my face so he couldn't see the tears. I excused myself from the room. I returned and addressed his problem. I can say that today I am more angry than ever about this stupid war. His poor family, and friends, and pediatrician!

Giordano

[koromuso]

Hey, Everyone,
I just got an email from MoveOn.Org­, which I'm sure a lot of you got as well. Great news! They've raised a half a million dollars in less than 24 hours BECAUSE the Senate condemned us. They've been flooded with supportive emails. Sometimes the American people rise up in anger against the brutes that govern them. We are not so dumb or so passive as our legislators think.

My senators voted with the good guys for a change.

[kristin]

Yes, I read that they are going to use the money for another ad on an action in Congress. Anyone have a quote with specifics?

[JustADumbFireman]

I just gave them another $25. Contributed $25 2-3 days ago as well. I love it when it works!

[preed407]

BR wants to get our troops out of Iraq, not to be replaced with nothing -- the "chaos" that I read ofabove -- but with diplomacy. He is a foreign policy expert and the only logical choice for President in 2008.

[ActLeft]

And our ridiculous Congress kills people by doing nothing? There is so much blame to be handed out. Who's first?

[The Collinbrandt]

Many Democrats seem to be trying to loose the next election by alianating the very base they need to vote for them in order, and this is the weird part, to placate to people who will never, never, ever, ever vote for anyone except a right wing republican.

I find Bush's hiding behind soldigers on the front lines monsterous. I find Bush's demand that all Americans follow a General no matter what, treasonous. And I find all Democrats that follow this ruler into the jaws of a neverending war hell, offensive and unforgivable.

[Garebear]

I have lost all hope in every one of them. Good men and women are gone but I for one will not forget. I used to be proud to be an American now I only feel shame. No more blood for oil!

[bookish]

Agreed.

Governor Richardson, I'm listening. What is your energy policy and how do we get there?

If the war is about the oil, what do we do without the oil?

[Halsey]

Drop the speed limit back to 55..like we did in the 70's when OPEC flexed their collective muscles..g­et serious about using sugar (NOT CORN) as fuel..if Brazil can become energy self-suffi­cient..DOH­!..the technology's already there.
Take cloth bags to the grocery store..rea­lized every styrofoam cup you use, every plastic bag..is a petroleum product...­we are spoiled rotten...(­I include myself)...­ignore W's call to "shop"...

[maddogbitesback]

If all of you just used less electricity, turned down the thermostat and walked or used public transit, the energy problems would be greatly reduced. For the cost of the war America could have saved a lot of energy and had it keep on paying. But - it wouldn't pay Exxon.

[Scarabus]

Any Democrat in the Senate who voted in favor of the "non-binding resolution" (yes, I'm talking about you, Kerry; and you, my state Senator Bill Nelson) has taken her/his eye off the prize and been "played" by Bush and his manipulators. Any Democrat who abstained (yes, I'm talking about you, Obama!) is beneath contempt. To raise one's nose and sniff, then pretend to be too civilized to take a stand in favor of free speech is CYA, not leadership. That's not what being President is about.

Good on ya, Governor Richardson!

[oldpotsmuggler]

It’s all a dead horse, but you can see that we’re getting nowhere with the current crowd. So many need to be replaced that it is going to take over half of the people going along for us to be at all effective. But it only takes that many votes to also make a constitutional convention be convened, and so many more problems can be addressed in that venue. Also, we can create safeguards so that when folks like McKaskill, Tester, Klobuchar, and Webb slip in disguised, there will be ways to fix that future problem as well.

It seems like two parties is just not near enough to cover the range of our ideological leanings and it’s looking more and more like this country is at a stage where it might actually benefit from a period of shifting coalitions and exploding majorities.

[suki21693]

"It seems like two parties is just not near enough to cover the range of our ideological leanings"

Particularly when neither of the two really seems to stand for anything more than grabbing increasing power and enriching themselves.

[clevelandchick]

Mr. Richardson,

Thank you for criticizing your fellow Democrats on this Move On Issue. The Majority Leader, Democrat Harry Reid, decides what votes go to the floor. And what a patently ridiculous waste of citizens tax dollars - I want a rebate equal to the cost of their salaries for their work the day of September 20, 2007.

You are so right, ads don't kill people, wars do and we can't wait till 2008 to get our troops out of Iraq.

I have to tell you though...t­he Democrats are discouraging their base. I'm disgusted right now. If they keep playing into the Republican's hands by getting bullied into criticizing their base I'm afraid we'll end up with a President Giuliani..­.and I have a feeling he'll make Bush look like a basket of puppies.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Hillary once said that, if elected, she'd act to end the war. That's changed, and even the
ostensibly anti-war democrats have walked their
rhetoric around to spending more billions
rebuilding Iraq, basically, the D.C. brain trust
caused a fairly massive foreign policy 'oil spill' that wasted billions of dollars, is likely to cause decades more worth of problems,
enriches some parties but drives others out of
their homes, hasn't done one thing to bring down
the price of the oil that Greenspan meanwhile
publicly admitted IS at the heart of the whole
war thing, and so here we are, wondering when
someone's going to assert some REAL leadership
and finally end this sad sick spectacle. Bush
and company are out there daily with the old
hat and cane, hell-bent on selling their
'stay the course' bit, but it's been what, 4-5
years, now, and the real shame, in my view,
is that they keep blowing all this revenue on
so-called 'defense' instead of putting shoulder-to-wheel on getting rid of the causal factor of
the war, namely petroleum dependency. I guess
you can either accept the promissory Bushgeld
and bite your lip, or stand for principle and
speak out against the war profiteers­...

www.impeachbush.org

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

Make levies; not war!

[Halsey]

sorry ock...levi­'s stopped making jeans in the U.S. bout 4 years ago...they­'re made in China..so.­.what say the Chinese stop the war..

[groucho]

i believe he was referring to levies in New Orleans. And we have competants here in the USA who can build them, just no Bush will.

[maddogbitesback]

Not sharp.

[magi]

As Alan Greenspan so aptly described the Iraq War...it's about the oil. And so long as we have an occupying force in Iraq, nothing will change...f­rom the shattered streets of Baghdad to the corridors of Esso. It will always be about the oil. Unfortunately, we have neither the troops nor the moral imperative to sort out someone else's civil war...desp­ite the monstrous fact that we're the ones who started it. Gov. Richardson is right. Keeping our troops in Iraq will only get more of them killed or maimed. It won't solve the catastrophe we inflicted on the Iraqui people. Why? Back to Alan Greenspan. For the oil.

[dunlow]

The reluctance of the Democrats is their answer.
They are satisfied with the status quo. To me,
it is a moral crime of ommission.

[maddogbitesback]

I would like to know how the Democrats can get anything done. No chance of the necessary Republican votes in the senate and without them the president has his wicked way of Iraq, Iran and America.

[joebaggadonuts]

Nixon had a secret plan to end the war. The people elected him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_promise

That's why they do it. If you commit to a position before you get elected as opposed to suggesting you have a position, you get hammered on the details. No one knows the future, but the Administration is better at lying about it.

Because of these historical facts, the R's say the people can't handle the truth. What they mean is they would be out of a job if they told the truth. Same thing applies to democrats. Telling the truth gets people pissed off at you.

But I respect you for it, and if you get the nomination I will vote for you.

Obama's formula is better, IMHO. Demand sacrifice of your constituents and follow their lead toward important goals.

[Newvoter49]

Perhaps Gov. Richardson's strategy is to reach for complete withdrawal, knowing that something short of that will be achieved. If we don't elect a president with some radically new and different thinking, we'll have another four years of business-as-usual.

Someone has to start reaching way out of the existing box in order to bring about any real change and real change is the only thing that's going to save this country.

Not change for the sake of it but some radical re-thinking of foreign and domestic policy and the ability to listen to the bosses - the American electorate, not Big Business.

[transendentilist]

I think the governor's strategy is straightforward and just. He adds a desperate dose of sanity to the war equation.