I just email Senator Amy Klobuchar to express my dismay at her vote against me and other MoveOn members. I also called on Friday and told her staff the same thing. I thought I would share it here.
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Dear Sen Klobuchar,
I am a Democrat who has been heavily involved in politics in MN for the past 6-7 years.
In January of 2003 I led a group of 30 people who met with MN Representative Jim Ramstad. We were brought together by our involvement in an organization called MoveOn. This group was the only way that a growing number of us felt that we could get our voices and opinions heard by our representatives in Washington.
Our arguments impressed Rep Ramstad, who insisted to us that he was sure Bush would not invade Iraq unless it was a last resort. He also commented on how representative of ordinary MN citizens we were (because even then MoveOn members were being portrayed as wild-eyed radicals) and how impressive it was that 30 of us would be so committed that we would show up at his office at 10am on a weekday morning.
I supported MoveOn then and I support it now.
read more after the jump...
I am deeply offended at your vote and the vote of the other 20+ Democrats in the Senate (I've stopped expecting Republicans to do the right thing). As US Citizens we used our First Amendment rights to pool our money and take out an ad that criticized an official of our own government. By casting that vote you used your power as a US Senator to condemn our free speech rights. Can you tell me why the Senate felt it necessary to condemn the voices of it's own citizens? Can you tell me other instances when the Senate has done this? Did this body condemn the Swift-boating of John Kerry? Did it condemn the comparison of Max Cleland to Osama bin Laden? I think not.
It is the right of every citizen to hold their government official accountable. You failed to do so and so we pointed it out. Then you condemned us.
I am called regularly by the DNC, the DSCC and other Democratic organizations to give money and we give even though my husband and I don't have a great deal of extra cash. We give because the Democrats have promised to bring about an end to this horrible waste of lives and money that is the Iraq war. But I will tell you that this week I gave my money to MoveOn, in fact I donated twice. So when the DNC calls I will tell tham that my money is no longer going to them, but to an organization that will advance the cause I truly believe in: the end to this dreadful, misbegotten war.
You serve in the same body as the late Sen Paul Wellstone: a true hero of MN politics. But even he cast a few votes that he came to regret. I am predicting that this vote will be one that you will regret. Please don't let yourself get caught up in the consultants and pollsters who tell you that you must vote a certain way because it is "smart politics." Those same pollsters told Paul Wellstone that a vote against authorizing the Iraq war would cost him the election, but after he cast it he began to rise in the polls and was leading Coleman when he died.
There is a great deal of conventional wisdom in the Washington DC media and politicians that is neither. It's not just those on "the left" who hate the Iraq war. Across this country majorities are against it, majorities want our troops home and majorities don't trust Bush. "The anti-war left" is actually the majority view in the US now.
Please think more about your vote the next time.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
--signed