Cross-posted from my blog, An Enduring Democratic Majority.
Last week, while our most senior Democratic leaders in the House and Senate were running away from their earlier committment to troop withdrawal, it was our Freshman class of 2006 that stood most steadfast against removing the timetables. Of the 140 "No" votes that day, 12 of themcame from Representatives who recently won their seats from incumbents of another party.
One man in particular I wanted to highlight was my Congressman, Joe Courtney:
Congressman Courtney was elected last November from Connecticut's second district, which encompasses the entire Eastern half of the state. Prior to Coutney's victory, the seat was held by Republican Rob Simmons for six years from 2001-2007. The second district, though not held by the Republican party as long as Chris Shays in CT-4, is in my opinion the most conservative district in the state.
The massive Groton Submarine Base is the bread and butter of the district, and combined with the other rural communitites, the deck is generally stacked against any Democrat who runs for this seat. However, fed up with the war and other Bush policies, the second district revolted and threw out the former Army officer and CIA Agent out on his ass in favor of Congressman Courtney.
It wasn't an easy victory by any means though, Courtney won the seat by the smallest margin of victory in the entire 2006 cycle: 93 votes.
A 93-vote victory, in a military district and Joe Courtney still voted in favor of EVERY bill that included a timetable for withdrawal.
That is someone who is a man of his word. Someone who cares less about politics and more about doing what he was elected to accomplish, and what he believes in.
Yesterday night MCJoanover at Daily Kos reported on Joe Lieberman's indifferencetowards the true feelings of our troops in his most recent voyage to Iraq. After the story reported two soldiers, one from Mass. and another from Connecticut saying this:
Spc. David Williams, 22, of Boston, Mass., had two note cards in his pocket Wednesday afternoon as he waited for Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Williams serves in the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C., the first of the five "surge" brigades to arrive in Iraq, and he was chosen to join the Independent from Connecticut for lunch at a U.S. field base in Baghdad.
The night before, 30 other soldiers crowded around him with questions for the senator.
He wrote them all down. At the top of his note card was the question he got from nearly every one of his fellow soldiers:
"When are we going to get out of here?"
...
The soldiers smiled and greeted him, stood with him for pictures and sat down to a lunch of roast beef and turkey sandwiches. It was unclear if they ever asked their questions....It isn't clear whether Williams mentioned the last line on his note card, the one that had a star next to it.
"We don't feel like we're making any progress," it said.
Well Joe of course didn't care much about that and later told them, "I think it's important we don't lose our will," he said. "To pull out would be a disaster."
Well, what that diary didn't mention was that Lieberman was not the only Connecticut lawmaker on that trip to Iraq. Congressman Courtney made the trip out there as well, and came back with a much different picture, completely devoid of the Bush Admnistration's talking points.
From the Connecticut Post:
In his most recent visit, Lieberman saw improving conditions, something that Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, also found on his latest journey to Iraq, just days ago. Meanwhile, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2, who opposes the war, walked away from his Memorial Day trip to Iraq with a different view.
"You had a general sense from the leadership, our leadership, that the clock is ticking right now in term of anyone's realistic expectations about how long we can maintain this level of presence," Courtney said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday from overseas.
"All the effort that the U.S. troops are trying to put in to create trust and lower the tension is undermined by the failure of the Iraqi political leadership to get to the bottom of these very basic issues that are dividing the two sides in the civil war," Courtney said after his visit.
Meanwhile, back home in our district the failures of this war are the top story.
I guess in the end, this diary is simply a thank you from me to Congressman Courtney. I pulled for you in November by donating, canvassing and sporting your stickers for weeks ahead of the election and now you're coming through for me when it counts.
While we are all still fuming at our leadership, don't forget that guys and gals like Joe Courtney are the reason we worked so hard to take back Congress. We need more Joe Courtney's.
To help Joe get reelected