This afternoon while driving through my old stomping grounds of San Mateo, California, I saw a man outside Congressman Lantos's office holding a sign saying something to the effect of "Impeach Bush. Moloney For Congress."
The Primary being over, I figured this Moloney fellow must be a Green or an Independent. I was wrong. Follow me as the mystery unfolds...
Eventually I ran out of errands and went back to talk to the guy. I thought there was a chance I could convince this volunteer that his time would be better spent trying to get
Jerry McNerney elected an hour east of here.
Like many people here, I don't like Lantos's position on the war. Even so, I like the guy personally and have enormous respect for him. Most of his other positions I like and I was very happy when I read he took part in the protest at the Sudanese embassy. While his seat is obviously safe, I thought a challenge from the Left would be a good thing, just to "keep him honest."
"I'll bite. Tell me about your guy Moloney," I said.
"I'm Moloney. I just won the Republican primary..." Gadzooks! I did a double take. This man holding the "Impeach Bush" sign is the Republican sacrificial lamb? He kept on talking, saying that Tom Lantos is the most powerful man in the House (huh?) and the Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee (you mean Ranking Member?).
I asked him if the Primary he had just won was a contested one, and he said that it had been, that he had one by five points, and that he had ruffled some feathers with the Party establishment. Incidentally, I later found out that there were some 15000 votes cast in the Republican Primary and he had scraped out 42%.
(Later I looked online for any sign of Moloney. I didn't find an FEC filing, but I was reassured by finding that Janel Moloney donated $1000 to John Kerry.)
He said something about the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and stated that his first priority in Congress would be to impeach George Bush and send him to prison. Right around then a passing driver happily honked his horn at the "Impeach Bush" sign.
I wished the man luck and told him I wouldn't be voting for him because I'll be voting for Barbara Lee. As I walked away he yelled, "Barbara Lee is my hero!"