Blue Dog Patrick Murphy....told Keith O. we should pray for the troops.

[madfloridian]

When Keith asked him what they would do about the troops going there for the surge??

He said Pray for them.

Not gonna work, Patrick, my friend. You guys got elected to do more than pray.

Most of us pray for them daily. Your job is to get them out of there. Stop playing politics with their lives.

[xxqqqzme]

1. I couldn't believe I heard it!

My response was gotta do more than that Pat!

Bring em home so they can be sent to Afghanistan????WTF!!

[madfloridian]

5. He is being fed the bipartisanship hooey.

Too many are. He's a nice guy, but he's swallowed the Blue Dog talk about not tying Bush's hands. They are using the troops politically.

And the effing irony is they will cause us to lose in 08 because of not taking a stand.

[marmar]

2. I don't know much about him, but I wasn't impressed by that interview....

But I'm not a big fan of the "blue dogs."

[Atman]

3. My response, in another thread...

I can't retype it, I'm fucking seething.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3137538&mesg_id=3137551

[Cha]

22. Excellent Rage!

:grr:

[City Lights]

4. I heard it, but I took it to mean there is nothing Congress can do to

stop Lil Boots from sending them regardless of whether or not they have proper training.

Still...x(

[madfloridian]

6. Of course they can do something.

They may not be able to stop him, but they can do a hell of a lot more than pray.

And that fellow Harry Reid who said they will work on the 9/11 commission report first....Iraq will still be there.

We should be ashamed of ourselves if we are not on the phone tomorrow to all of them.

[City Lights]

9. I agree with you.

Praying ain't gonna cut it, but when push comes to shove, the Democrats can't stop the chimp from sending more troops. :-(

[madfloridian]

10. But they can stand up to him!!! Not act like wimps.

Read this letter from yesterday in the paper...I hear this all over now in Central Florida. We will lose if we don't stand up.

http://theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070226/NEWS/702260439/1037/EDIT04

"As a coach, one of the things I tell my players is to "put up or shut up," meaning that they can talk all they want about how good they are, but until they perform then it's all just words.

I feel the same way for the Democratic leadership in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. How long have we heard them make the cry "Bush lied, people died" or "This war is about oil"?

Well Mrs. Pelosi and Mrs. Clinton, and your fellow congressmen and senators, it's now time to "put up or shut up." Enough of these nonbinding resolutions.

They made the claim that this past election was about Iraq. If they and all the others who voted yes on the nonbinding resolution are so against the war, then, by all means, they should cut the funding.

They and their fellow representatives control the purse strings, so what's stopping them? If you firmly believe what they say, then they should "man up," as my players say, and prove that they are not just talk."

[City Lights]

12. That's a great letter.

So what's keeping the Democrats too spooked to grow spines? The media and the right-wing smear machine? :shrug: Threats from the BFEE? :shrug: Whatever it is, they are :scared: shitless to stand up to The Dick of Death and The Boy King. And our military is caught in the middle. :mad:

[SemperEadem]

24. What's stopping them? Fear of being held accountable if they are wrong

fear for their jobs when the election cycle rolls around again. Fear of being labeled "unpatriotic" by FuxNoise. Fear fear fear fear fear fear fear fear fear fear fear.

They are worthless and need to go.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

7. I wonder how...

Atrios and Kos are feeling about their support of him, right about now?

[madfloridian]

8. He had the support of a lot of progressives....DFA folks got mad

when he said Howard Dean was wrong about the war not being winnable.

We had some correspondence. I said you are not in DC yet and you are already sounding like them. He wrote me back, said he would like to explain. I said never mind, you will never again be able to speak your mind.

Amd he is spouting their DC rhetoric.

[Beelzebud]

11. He better pray he's re-elected if the Dems fail to end this...

[cap]

13. Patrick Murphy only won by 1500 votes

He is in a swing county in a swing state. This county is critical to Democrats carrying PA in 08. Praying for the troops plays well in this county. He cant go too far out. Sorry.

[madfloridian]

15. I heard enough of that stuff. No more.

War is not a swing issue. Not anymore.

He and the rest of the Dems will lose in 08 if they don't speak up clearly on it.

[cap]

16. He will not win re-election in Bucks County if he doesnt watch his step

I have to watch the way I talk to my neighbors here if I want to be effective. In NYC I can speak my peace but at home I have to moderate my language. We havent had a Democrat win here in years on the local level. We want to consolidate what we have. I think Murphy has done what he can. He has to work the issues carefully here at home. More is gained with some honey than with vinegar here. Slowly popular opinion is turning and that has to be gently nurtured here. We have "thinking" Republicans here; not the knee jerk types down South. So we need to patiently reason with our neighbors.


If we carry this county and some of the "collar" counties around Philly, we can carry the state. Historically, Dems carry Pittsburgh and Philly, Republicans carry the middle of the state. The "collar" counties" are the battleground.

[Skidmore]

17. Sell that crock to the families of all the people being killed and maimed

in this war. Perhaps Patrick Murphy's shining 15 minutes of fame should be that he takes a a stand for those people and helps move something a little more forward, rather than worrying about reelection. Perhaps our time is better spent in living moral behavior by the actions taken in by the elected officials in the party rather than playing political shell games.

I was going to say that this is just a thought. But, for me, this has be come a mantra and not a passing observation. I'm on a slow boil and have been for a while now. I have no patience with the excuses for people who will ask for your vote and turn around and engage in weaseling.

Pray indeed. Pray that people who feel like me hold on because, unlike Patrick Murphy, I will stand for something even if the rest of the group will not. I've done it before at great personal cost and I will do it again in a heartbeat. It's not an easy thing to do, but the Patrick Murphy's of the world just might sleep easier by doing what is right.

[cap]

19. I like Kucinich myself... but I know what plays in Bucks County

Kucinich gets the Quaker vote out here and what progressives we have -- but that's not the majority in Bucks County.

We have a lot of undecideds here and a lot of split ticket voting. We tried to run Pennacchio but he couldnt carry his own district. He didnt even win a majority in Plumstead township, his home town.

So, our choice is someone like Pennacchio who wont win at all, but we can feel good for campaigning for a progressive or we pick someone like Murphy who is against the war and has campaigned on that platform but packages his message in a form, like a prayer, that people in our district will respond to.

BTW, Murphy isnt a fundamentalist, but an Irish Catholic.

[cap]

20. BTW, Murphy's platoon lost 19 men

[Skidmore]

26. So, why should he just want to pray for them and not step forward

now to help get them out? He, then, of all people, should know better.

[cap]

28. Again, he has to watch his step here in Bucks County

His votes are what matters. Murphy is anti-war. He will vote to pull the troops out. It is really important to package the message carefully here. PA sends a lot of its young into the military. It's not only WHAT you say but HOW you say it that is important here. We get more with a moderated message. The Republicans here need to be wooed ... most of them are really disgusted with Bush. We are getting a lot of cross-overs from the Republican party. A lot of people are split-ticket voters. Let him package his anti-war vote with a prayer. An anti-war veteran who prays for the troops will play well to his constituency and make it easier for people to come on over to our side.

Murphy has to lay the groundwork for our county to go Democratic in '08. We are a critical county in a swing state. A Quaker will not be able to bridge the gap. What Murphy is doing is assuring people that you can be strong and provide for our security, that you care about the troops, that religion should be used for peace.

One third of Bucks County works in New York City -- many on Wall Street. We have had local people die from 9-11. Some of our people are palpably afraid of terror. They need reassurance.

We do have a number of kids in the military from this county.

Murphy is Catholic. We need to split the Catholic vote even further in this county and to fight the efforts by the Republicans to use the Catholic church as part of its apparatus. The Church in Bucks County was used by the Republicans to enlist support for the war. Our priests were handing out Christian Coalition voter guides. These actions have really angered anti-war, Democratic Catholics. Murphy is quietly rallying us. He is giving a way for Republicans to cross over... yes, you can be strong, secure, religious and be anti-war at the same time. We are quietly fighting back in the pews.

[Malikshah]

27. Enough with the F*(&ing Chess game mentality.

Enough!

[bobbolink]

14. Which is exactly why so many of us didn't get all that excited about the elections.

Many of the faces have changed.

What else........

:shrug:

[leftchick]

18. a lot of people will not vote in 2008

if there doesn't start to be a difference between the two parties.

[bdamomma]

30. we should start our own party, the People's Progressive Party

now that would be interesting.

[faithnotgreed]

23. to you and madfloridian i say "exactly"

nothing really has changed

and i truly dont get all those who say the dems have only had a limited time in power etc
you dont have to be in power to be pissed and to call out the lies and do all you can to bring attention to the mounting lies and crimes
but if you ARE in power and have been elected to do your job then there is no excuse for not screaming bloody murder because that is exactly what it is

misled? mistakes? embarrassed? THAT is the response to this heinous administration and their evil?

russ feingold seems to be the only one i am hearing who wont play the games dc loves to play

edit to include jack murtha who is at least trying to stop the carnage and the game playing (though he isnt my favorite otherwise i do respect his effort)

[Solly Mack]

21. Pray, eh? So if your child comes home in a body bag you can blame

the lack of prayer? your god? yourself? not enough faith?

So is it God's will someone's child dies in a war for lies?

I'm fuming...so I'll just stop now

[KharmaTrain]

25. As Long As Booooshie Has The Money...That's About It

Even if the IWR were repealed, Murtha's plans approved and the money shut off, Boooshie still has several months of the last supplemental to run his little war of profit and aggression in any manner he wishes. Then he'd rob Peter to pay Paul...he's all but said that...draining money from other parts of the budget...education, health care or some other "pet" Democratic cause just to show us "whose boss". This dude will Executive Order and stonewall this invasion until he's dragged out of the oval office (reminder, lots and lots and lots of disinfenctant will be needed).

The thing Murphy and other Democrats can and must do is to tatoo every Repugnican with blood on their hands. Make them defend the carnage, the crapping on our troops, the mistreatment of the veterans and the abuses of power...forcing them to either support the unpopular booshie and his war or putting the pressure to force this regime to withdraw or face the total destruction of the Repugnican party.

[bdamomma]

29. Praying can do only so much, this illegal war is in our hands.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

31. At LAST!! A solution to the war!! What a display of political courage!!