Saturday, May 24, 2008

Dems Getting Heated

Over at Blue Jersey a brawl has broken out over the Democratic nomination here in the Fifth. Two posts by Juan Melli, Editor in Chief, questioning the honesty of the Camille Abate's campaign statements regarding Dennis Shulman's stance on Iraq have led to some testy conversations.

In the first, Melli simply calls the Abate campaign liars. In the other, he questions the Abate campaign manager's attempt to paint Shulman's stance on Iraq and Representative Scott Garrett as one in the same:
I believe our troops have endured far too much bloodshed in the name of a war that never should have been started and will fail no matter how long GeorgeBush, John McCain, Scott Garrett and Dennis Shulman try to keep them there.

With two weeks left to go, it's not surprising that things have gotten heated, but this is a bit of a stretch. Shulman's comment about making sure there was time to repair the damage done in Iraq was a little too politically cautious; but it's light years ahead of Garrett saying the war was justified after we found 12 mustard gas canisters.

Last I checked there were about 15 to 20 out of 435 who vote "end it now" on funding bills and such. Often times, they vote with the Republicans against timetables and things because it doesn't end the war fast enough in their mind. Someone should find out if Abate would join this crowd or not.

The bottom line is, and most voters know it, no single Representative has the power to bring the troops home now. What's important to find out, and probably would throw cold water on this thing, is how they would have voted on several of the bills over the last year.

If it turns out they both would have supported the various time lines, then there isn't an issue. However, if Abate would have voted with Garrett against these measures because they didn't do enough fast enough, then it would be Abate and not Shulman who would be keeping the troops there.

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