Crowd Pounds Baird's Iraq Stance

[swag]

Source: The Oregonian

VANCOUVER -- Hundreds at a raucous and hostile town hall Monday night let U.S. Rep. Brian Baird know that they disapprove of his support for the troop surge in Iraq. Many suggested the Vancouver Democrat is not representing the will of his district.

Baird said before the meeting that he expected a negative reception. And the crowd fulfilled those expectations.

The audience often interrupted Baird as he tried to calmly explain his decision to support a beefed-up presence of U.S. troops in the war-torn country. He said the United States has a moral obligation to help Iraq rebuild itself.

"We don't care what your convictions are," said Jan Lustig of Vancouver. "You're here to represent us."




Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1188282391177620.xml&coll=7

[rodeodance]

1. To that, Baird quietly replied, "I understand."

To that, Baird quietly replied, "I understand."

The town hall meeting at Fort Vancouver High School came two weeks after Baird publicly reasserted an opinion expressed in May: The military's troop surge in Iraq is making headway, and it needs more time to work.

Baird has cited two visits to Iraq -- one in May, the other this month -- as providing him greater insight into the challenges Iraq faces and the role the United States should play in assisting Iraq.

He opened Monday night's meeting by reminding the audience that he was among a minority of House members who cast the politically unpopular vote in 2002 to oppose granting President Bush the authority to invade Iraq.

But now, he told the audience, "If we withdraw, I think the consequences will be catastrophic, and I think some of that will be our responsibility."

[iconoclastic cat]

2. That article is jaw-dropping.

Primary his ass out of there!

[TwilightGardener]

3. What sort of fool suddenly supports a disaster in its waning months?

[Tikki]

4. Good for those hard working Americans speaking up.....

Good for them doing their job as Americans. We can't back down just because someone
like Baird has caught jet set fever.



Tikki

[Old and In the Way]

5. We are past helping them by staying there.

Moral obligation or not, our presence there continues to destabilize the country. We need to get out and let the people of Iraq figure out what government they want. We can facilitate a post-occupation rebuilding and incentivize the political process by supplying the $ to let the Iraqis fix what we have destroyed.

But we won't because Dick Cheney and Big Oil want to control their $100TT oil reserves.

[Laughing Mirror]

6. Sounds like real democracy in action

As opposed to that "but we don't have the votes" excuse, always on the tongues of our corrupt and hugely unpopular lawmakers in the US.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. Vancouver is just across the river from Portland, and

the region is known for feisty citizen action.

[saigon68]

8. His DLC House Handlers are working Hard

To keep him at the trough

[swag]

9. Some video reports

Baird is completely echoing all the White House spin ("al Qaeda", etc.)

as do these local news stations regularly:

http://www.katu.com/news/9415661.html?video=YHI&t=a

http://www.kgw.com/video/video-index.html?nvid=170020

The Stranger's blog post on the event has a bit more air of reality:

http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/report_from_vancouver_washington_rep_bai

[PassingFair]

10. Hooray for Jan Lustig!

How many of these roll-over dems that CLAIM to
represent their "red state" electorate are
CHUMPS like this?

Primary 'em out FOR SURE!!!

[LibDemAlways]

11. "You're here to represent us." A hearty thumbs up to

citizen Jan Lustig for reminding Mr. Sucks-at-the-public-teat Baird where his paycheck is coming from. Every one of these warmongering assholes should be reminded of the same daily.

The idiot who supposedly "represents" me, vile repuke Elton Gallegly, never holds a town hall meeting. If he did, it would be for invited repukes only. He's actually been known to have Dems thrown out of his office. A rubber stamp would produce the same result and be a hell of a lot cheaper.

[swag]

12. Yeah, hats off to Jan Lustig.

[Doctor_J]

13. Baird should resign, immediately

If representing the people of his district is such a moral dilemna, he should quit and become a hate radio host or used car salesman or whatever his avocation is. There's nothing wrong with being pro-death, unless you were elected by citizens whom you told you were going to try to end the war.