Jack Murtha is coming to Colorado Springs to campaign with
Jay Fawcett - the Fighting Dem Vet who has turned what was thought to be an impossible race into a neck and neck fight against a
hard-core (James) Dobsonite.
Just the announcement made the front page of the local fishwrap.
Fawcett and Murtha will raise some serious questions about how things are going in Iraq and the fight against terrorism. Murtha has called for Rummy's resignation. So has Jay.
And so have several other of our elected officials and candidates:
Bill Winter,
Angie Paccione,
Ed Perlmutter,
Ken Salazer, and
Diana DeGette.
But as most know, Rumsfeld's resignation would only be the start of a long process to allow our troops to come home from the escalating, bloody mess that George W. Bush has created in Iraq.
Yet what do Republicans offer in response to the valid questions and specific proposals of Democrats like Jack Murtha and Jay Fawcett - who are each in their own way trying to break the President's stubborn refusal to acknowledge the facts on the ground in Iraq?
They offer empty "stay the course" rhetoric and the Swift Boat slanders of our vets.
For all the tough talk, for all the "Support our Troops" magnets they put on their Hummers, when true sacrifice was required of our nation those same Republican leaders forgot their bold campaign promises and resorted to the lies and accusations we see today.
At almost each and every step of the way they have failed to give our troops real support that would ensure their success and our security:
Yet they never shy from using troops as photo props and election year tools.
Our leaders have to be held responsible for their empty lies, for their political manipulation, and for frivolously sending our troops into harm's way.
Jack Murtha is doing it. Jay Fawcett is doing it. Our Colorado delegation is doing it. We all can and must hold our leaders responsible and ask them the tough questions that true patriots never shy from asking. We must not let the Swift Boat tactics of past elections keep us from our duty to hold this country to its highest standards.
(cross-posted at SquareState)