As most of you know, on 20 September the Senate voted 72-25 to condem MoveOn for the ad in a newspaper , with many Democrats, including my Senator Amy Klobuchar, voting alongside all of the Republicans to condemn an ally and fundraiser for the Democrats.
I have seen several good diaries on this over the days. I liked the analysis of liberaldregs, who argues that the ad was quite successful and that is what has prompted the responses of both Republicans and some Democrats.
One today still on the recommended list I particularly like. It is about Al Franken standing up to Norm Coleman's attack ad. I will come back to Al Franken below.
I have not seen a diary that pointed out something that seems an obvious point.
On 20 September, while the US Senate rejected the Webb Amendment due to want of Republican support and debated then passed the MoveOn condemnation with considerable Democratic support, two US service personnel and at least 32 Iraqis were killed in Iraq. Since then, at least nine more US personnel and hundreds of Iraqis have been killed.
But for just a moment, consider those who died while the Senate debated and passed with broad bipartisan support a measure condemning an ally of the Democrats for the ad in a newspaper. I don't have much to offer in the way of personal information, just what is available at the places that gather all of this sordid information for us.
The US personnel killed while the Senate debated and voted were:
PFC Luigi Marciante, Jr.. He was killed by an IED attack on his vehicle. He was 25 years old and came from Elizabeth, NJ.
Capt. (Dr.) Roselle M. Hoffmaster. She was killed in a non-combat related accident and the circumstanes are under investigation. She was 32 and from Cleveland, OH.
Information on the 32 Iraqis killed are not as detailed. You can see the incidents by city and the names of some of the more prominent individuals here if you scroll through all of the recent dates to 20 September. Note that two of the dead Iraqis, including a five year old boy, were killed during a US/Iraqi raid in Baghdad.
While these people were being killed, the Senate debated and voted on a measure to censure those who published an ad in a newspaper. They did this after refusing to vote on a measure that would insure that US forces would spend as much time at their stateside bases as they did deployed in Iraq. Of course, this was not even a meaure to begin ending the war. This was only a measure to try to protect the troops figting the war. Then they had to move on to MoveOn. While more US soldiers and Iraqi civilians and soldiers died in Iraq that day and every day since.
In thinking about these people and about the interchange between Al Franken and Norm Coleman over the last two days, I decided I would send a few thoughts to Sen. Amy Klobuchar regarding here vote to censure MoveOn, who helped raise funds for her election campaign. Maybe this will inspire you to write to your Senator if you have one or two who voted to condemn MoveOn will the war raged in Iraq.
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Dear Senator Klobuchar,
I am writing to express my disappointment in your vote on the Senate measure to condemn MoveOn.org for their newpaper ad criticizing Gen. Petraeus. On the same day that you and so many other Democrats in the Senate voted along with all of the Republicans to condemn a staunch ally of the Democrats, two US service personnel were killed in Iraq. Capt. Roselle Hoffmaster died in a non-combat related accident and PFC Luigi Marciante, Jr. died of injuries sustained in an IED attack. In the days sense your vote, at least nine additional US personnel have been killed and scores of Iraqis. I worked for your election and voted for you in the hopes that you would be a voice for an end to the war. Your record so far has disappointed me.
As it turns out, MoveOn's criticisms have been born out by reports from the Pentagon that contradict Gen. Petraeus' testimony about casualties in Iraq, as reported in the Washington Post this week. When the Senate failed to pass a resolution condemning all politically motivated attacks on current and former US personnel, including a former US Senator and current Democratic colleague of yours, how could you bring yourself to then vote for the resolution condemning a single organization that accurately and legitimately criticized Gen. Petraeus? The vote against MoveOn was a Republican stunt to deflect attention from the actual issue: the ongoing carnage in Iraq.
To compound matters, MoveOn is an ardent supporter of the Democratic Party and even raised funds for your own election campaign. Is this how you and so many of your colleagues treat political allies who have the temerity to speak truth to power in terms that are perhaps more direct than typically allowed by the comity between parties on the Senate floor?
I presume you saw the ad your colleague Sen. Coleman placed yesterday in the Star Tribune calling on Al Franken to condemn MoveOn. I also presume you know of Franken's refusal to do so in public yesterday and in an op-ed in the Star Tribune today. Why can you, a recently elected Senator, not stand up to the ridiculousness of the GOP in the same way that Al Franken does even as he is actively campaigning for Coleman's seat? Al Franken does not shrink from the Republicans and he calls the political stunts of an unpopular party and its even more unpopular President for what they are: ridiculous.
Why can you not do the same? That is what we elected you to do and it is what we hope to send Al Franken or Mike Ciresi to do in Norm Colemans's stead.
If we wanted a Senator who would vote with Norm Coleman and President Bush, as you did on the MoveOn measure the bill to expand FISA that so undermines our Constitution, we would have elected Mark Kennedy.
In disappointment and frustration,