Fighting Dems Eric Massa and Jay Fawcett , Speak Out!

Cross posted from dKos, where Jay is standing by to answer questions. (Eric is out and about today)


Fighting Dems Eric Massa and Jay Fawcett - Two Recent Diaries Revisited
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Today we review two recent posts: one by a graduate of the Naval Academy and the other a graduate of the Air Force Academy -- Commander Eric Massa and Lt. Colonel Jaw Fawcett (the sailor boy and the fly boy if you will). In addition to being graduates of their respective service's academies, they also have these things in common: they are both candidates who have a great shot at winning their districts, both are endorsed by General Wesley Clark, among other high profile endorsements, and both get the netroots. Eric and Jay were among a handful of Fighting Dem candidates who attended YearlyKos earlier this month. Recent polls in these districts show why the Fighting Dem challengers are scaring the wits out of GOP opponents. People in these "red" districts believe America is on the wrong path and they place much of the blame on the Republican dominated Congress.

Netroots Endorsed candidate Eric Massa is running unopposed against the freshman Republican incumbent Randy "Rubberstamp" Kuhl who has consistently voted in lock step with the neocons in Washington instead of representing his district. The recent poll found Eric Massa, a political newcomer, and Kuhl, a career politician, running a statistical dead heat. The attempt by Kuhl to shore up his candidacy by bringing in President Bush created a backlash that actually benefited Eric's campaign with 41% saying they would vote for Massa and 42% for Kuhl, with only 17% undecided six months before the election. The district blames Congress and the President for the condition of the country and of the district. What is needed now is to get Eric before the public. To hear Eric speak is to be a convert.
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Jay Fawcett is running for an open seat vacated by retiring 10th term Republican incumbent Joel M. Hefley. Jay is unopposed facing a large field of Republican hopeless hopefuls. The recent poll shows that despite low name recognition, once people know just a bit of information about Jay, he takes a commanding lead in the horserace with 39% in his favor and 22% for the Republican candidate, reflecting national polls that find a majority of people think Democrats should control Congress. The large number of undecided voters points to the need for funds to help Jay get more visibility in this district, Colorado voters are desperate for change and netroots can help make this possible
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Here is Jay Fawcett, Eric Massa, and, hey, John Laesch, too!

Today we will look at Eric Massa's biting, take-no-crap-from-the-neocons, denunciation of Ann Coulters fragging comment with respect to John Murtha, and to Jay Fawcett's fact-filled assessment of how we know when we are finished in Iraq.

The reviews below are not the entire diaries but snips to give a coherent nutshell account. Some reordering of parts was necessary to make the brief review cogent. In addition, some comments by bloggers have been included.

ERIC MASSA'S DIARY REVISITED:

A Call for Public Denunciation of Ann Coulter's Fragging Comment
Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 06:53:17 AM PDT

I opened up my email recently and saw that I had received an unsolicited junk mail from Ann Coulter -- one of the many very conservative and very reactionary radio talk show personalities who, like the very well known Rush Limbaugh and others, have become so infamous for some of their outrageous statements -- containing her weekly column. (link).
In her article she writes that:


Let me explain why this kind of talk is unacceptable. "Fragging" is the murder of non-commissioned and commissioned officers by their troops. Made infamous in Vietnam, there is no doubt that this exceptionally rare crime has been with military forces at least since the Romans marched out of Italy. But even as recently as the run up to the invasion of Iraq there are tragic, isolated incidents that are punishable, under the Uniform Code of Military justice, by execution and at the very least life in prison.
Now, Ann Coulter has added her reactionary and despicable voice to this sad story. She is claiming that because of his political beliefs Jack Murtha deserves to be "fragged". This is a treasonous statement. This is an attack on the very fundamental nature of our country. This is raw uninhibited Stalinism at its worse. It is the ultimate assault on our Constitution and on the fundamental character of our country. And we, as a people, cannot continue to be silent.


This is not about agreement with Jack Murtha's position and plan for the redeployment of troops from Iraq. This is no longer about whether one agrees with this Administration's strategy for dealing with the future. I have very strong feelings about both and agree with many things that Congressman Murtha says - and disagree with the vast majority of the lies that come from this failed Administration. I make no secret of my disdain for this President's strategy and for my open rejection of his rubber stamping right wing reactionary Congress. Does that make me the reason that fragging was invented? I had dinner with a group of doctors who strongly disagree with this Administration's failed health care polices - does that make them candidates for fragging by the ER staff? How about the small business owner who cannot survive because of the spiraling cost of health care? Should they be fragged? I was at a gas station and the driver across the pump was cursing about the price of fuel - frag him?

By tacitly justifying the assassination of Jack Murtha (which, in effect is what she is justifying), Ann Coulter has attacked every Veteran in America just as she has attacked the very right of every American to express political opinion. And I for one am willing to lay down my life to preserve the fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution - a Constitution that I swore allegiance to and wore a uniform for 24 years to defend.

Ann Coulter has stepped over the line and must be held accountable.

I am a candidate to the United States Congress and I call on all Members of Congress, all candidates to publicly condemn Ann Coulter's statement and to reject her vindictive, hate filled form of pollution. I, for one, am willing to lead the charge to rid our country of the likes of Ann Coulter because I'm fighting for a more optimistic, positive and inclusive society where political debate is welcome and where public figures do not justify the assassination of our leaders because they disagree with the positions they take.

The Discussion on dKos and MyDD

In response to Eric’s diary, one blogger wrote that "Ann Coulter is a hateful freakshow, and really not worth the time of someone running for Congress." To this Eric answered: First: silence is tacit agreement and the more that we are quiet the bolder and more destructive people like Ann Coulter will become. Second: millions do listen to her and when they fail to hear any sort of a reaction from anyone they fall in line. In my home district, talk radio is the meduim that dominates and Ann Coulter has managed to work her way on the airwaves. We must offer a different vision in the model of what I have stated for a more inclusive, optimistic and tolerant society or we will face more and more outrageous behavior from more and more out of control public figures like Coulter.

And “Inclusive heart” had this to say: People are looking for leadership in their candidates. The GOP produce people who at least appear to be leaders and I can't for the life of me figure out why so many people in the Democratic Party are afraid to get their hands dirty and get into the debate. I think Massa is a great candidate and I especially like the fact that he is addressing hate speech. That is leadership in my mind.

Inclusive heart also said, "I think that shaming these people publicly every time they promote murder, racism, bigotry, hate etc. is now a required task."


And support from fellow Fighting Dem David T. Harris, Candidate for TX-06: “I would say that we all have come out against her. It's something all of us are speaking about everywhere we go. Thanks Eric for posting this today!”

And Budman, who promotes Jay Fawcett, fellow diarists tonight, noted that "These guys have to work every venue, every angle. As much as we'd love them to have million dollar war chests, they don't. And I'm glad, as Eric stated above. If he's anything like Jay Fawcett, this took about an hour to write - well worth the time. These Fighting Dems are smart, tough, experienced, they can write, they can speak, and they will kick ass in Congress. I saw Eric at YKos, his speech was inspiring, fiery, and exactly what we want from our candidates. We've been bonded together 2-3 years, the Republican Money Machine has been together 20-30 years. We have not yet begun to fight.

Paul Rosenberb gave an excellent summary: "Look, Ann Coulter is a gift. She is a personification of the moral rot at the core of modern conservatism--which pretends to hold the moral high ground. If she didn't exist, she would have to be invented. And we're supposed to ignore her??? , The problem is not that Eric Massa denounces her. The problem is that every Democrat running for office at every level does not. In fact, we should be calling for every Republican running for office to denounce her. She is, after all, advocating terrorism. And we're like, fighting a war against terrorism. Remember?

"Circle" gave us another perspective: "Ann's attack is part of a coordinated strategy…. People in high places, people running for office, DO have to weigh in on this. She's called for the murder of a public official. Does free speech extend to treason? Isn't it treasonous to call for the murder of a democratically elected official? And this isn't the first time. She's also called for the murder of a Supreme Court Justice. Imagine if someone on the Left suggested rat poison for Judge Alito and the fragging of John McCain?”

"Jen" gives us a thoughtful ending to this post: "The fact that Coulter is on TV in the first place means that something is seriously wrong with our society. Peter Daou, who called Coulter's appearance on the Tonight Show "a dangerous inflection point in American politics," recognizes the absurdity of having a hate-mongering bigot like Coulter on, but he shied away from making the "obvious comparisons." The obvious comparisons need to be made. So here it is: Coulter talks about "liberals" the way racists talk about blacks, the way the Nazis talked about Jews. Her "jokes" are predicated on the notion that the elimination of a set of humans are funny, her "jokes" are funny the way anti-Semitic "jokes" were funny, which is to say, they are not not funny. They are disgusting and deadly serious..."


JAY FAWCETT'S DIARY REVISITED:

How do we know when we're finished in Iraq?
Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 10:33:43 AM PDT

In the military we find it essential to conduct reviews of actions taken to assess the effectiveness of what we are being asked to do. Without these periodic assessments you may continue down a path that is not taking you to your desired destination. The time has passed for such a review at the strategic policy level for American involvement in Southwest Asia.
Now, what are the specific goals and objectives required for operations in Iraq to include termination and an end state?

From Wikipedia we have the overall military objectives. The US military uses the name Operation Iraqi Freedom and, according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the military objectives were:

1. to end the regime of Saddam Hussein.
2. to identify, isolate and eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
3. to search for, to capture and to drive out terrorists from that country.
4. to collect such intelligence as we can related to terrorist networks.
5. to collect such intelligence as we can related to the global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction
6. to end sanctions and to immediately deliver humanitarian support to the displaced and to many needy Iraqi citizens.
7. to secure Iraq's oil fields and resources, which belong to the Iraqi people.
8. to help the Iraqi people create conditions for a transition to a representative self-government.

Thursday May 1, 2003, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, President Bush made the following statement:

Our mission continues. Al Qaeda is wounded, not destroyed. The scattered cells of the terrorist network still operate in many nations, and we know from daily intelligence that they continue to plot against free people. The proliferation of deadly weapons remains a serious danger. The enemies of freedom are not idle, and neither are we. Our government has taken unprecedented measures to defend the homeland. And we will continue to hunt down the enemy before he can strike.

In a May 25, 2004 speech the President established five steps in his Iraq planning:

1. Hand over authority to a sovereign Iraqi government
2. Help establish security
3. Continue rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure
4. Encourage more international support
5. Move toward a national election that will bring forward new leaders empowered by the Iraqi people
The first step is complete and the fifth step has been addressed. Steps two three and four as nebulous and open ended.

It is the open ended nature of his statements regarding Iraq, including saying that his successor will address the issue, which create a dangerous problem for the use of military force. Without clear goals and objectives and a defined end state, there can be no timetable for withdrawal. This is the crucial point that the current debate misses. Under the current guidelines we could remove our troops now or in forty years.

If we accept that we are engaged in a Global War on Terrorism, then we must acknowledge that the center of gravity for the enemy is his ideology. Ideology does not depend on countries or geography. It depends on people, communications, and resources. As the President points out in his USS Abraham Lincoln speech the target is Al Quaeda and its sister organizations. These organizations move and act globally, taking years to create incidents in their favor. We can see this analysis clearly in the 911 Commission report.

From Widipedia we have the following casualty estimates:

Iraqi Deaths. 30,000-100,000 mostly civilians.
U.S. armed forces. 2,500 total deaths, 18,356 combat wounded (8,436 evacuated), plus an unknown number of non-combat injuries.
Armed forces of other coalition countries. 227 (113 British, 32 Italian, 18 Ukrainian, 17 Polish, 13 Bulgarian, 11 Spanish, 4 Danes, 3 Slovaks, 2 Australians, 2 Dutch, 2 Estonians, 2 Romanians, 2 Thai, 1 Salvadoran, 1 Fijian, 1 Hungarian, 1 Kazakh, 1 Latvian.).
Non-Iraqi civilians. Civilian, journalist and contractor deaths for countries involved in the coalition. Here is an incomplete list of non-Coalition civilian casualties: Colombia: 1; Croatia: 2; Egypt: 5; Finland: 2; France: 3; Guam: 1; Germany: 1; India: 2; Indonesia: 4; Jordan: 5; Macedonia: 3; Nepal: 19; Sweden: 1; Pakistan: 6; Russia: 4 (in addition to a diplomat killed in June 2006); South Africa: 18; Turkey: 34. In total, at least 568 non-Iraqi individuals have been killed since the 2003 invasion (311 contractors, 87 journalists, 20 media support workers, and 150 aid workers).

From a professional military standpoint the question is: What are the goals and objectives in Iraq within the context of the Global War on Terrorism? This lack of essential definition is what is leading to increasing discussions by retired generals and admirals in the public forum. It appears that we are not staying the course; rather we have allowed ourselves to get off course. We must get back on course, now.

In the discussions that supported Jay's assessment, "Budman" gave us a great general conclusion:

This post is exactly the kind of analysis we need from our people in DC.
Republicans should be ashamed to take their paychecks from our treasury after this "cut and run" b.s. they tried to pawn off on the American people.
Republicans are the "cut and run" party.
Republicans Cut our troops' planning in Iraq short.
Republicans Cut our troops' pay short.
Republicans Cut our troops' health care short.
Republicans Cut our troops' leaves short.
Then Republicans RUN from responsibility for our troops, our budget, and our nation's self-defense.

Editorial comment: Eric and Jay! These are the kind of men to take back Congress and put America back on course.
And don't forget Bill Winter in CO-04! His poll numbers are looking good, too.