Day 3 of my Nick Rahall fundraiser.
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U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D) of West Virginia's 3rd District (right) in the southern end of the state endorsed Sen. Barack Obama in March.
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Let me tell you a story about U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV03).
I'm outside of Rahall's district. My representative - and I use that word loosely - is Bush Republican Shelley Moore Capito in WV-02.
Now back in the days when the Republicans thought they'd be the party in power for the next 1,000 years, if I called Capito's office with my view, it was like talking to a wall for all the good it would do.
Basically if Bush and then Tom Delay and Dennis Hastert didn't tell her to do something, she didn't do it. And if they did, she did it. But if it was a constituent from her district, unless you held the same view as Bush, she didn't care what you thought.
That's the way I felt especially in 2002 in the runup to the Iraq war.
So one day out of desperation I called Nick Rahall's office. I stated my piece and the nice woman asked where I lived and I explained I lived in Martinsburg.
She told me Capito was my representative and I told her I had called repeatedly but it didn't do any good.
Could he represent those of us who felt the same way as he did about the Iraq war since Capito wouldn't? I asked.
It's easy to forget the kind of political courage it took for people to try to stop the rush to the Iraq war in 2002. From The Guardian Sept. 29, 2002.
Last week as some of the biggest voices in the Democratic Party condemned attempts by the Bush administration to turn the planned war into a political issue in the November mid-term elections, some were complaining that the Democratic leadership had still not gone far enough.
Among them was Congressman Nick Rahall, a Democrat who enthusiastically supported the first Gulf war with Iraq but strongly opposes a new one. He is one of those who does not believe the strong comments from his party's leadership would be translated into action: putting the brakes on the Congressional resolution being sought by Bush to unleash the US military machine against Saddam Hussein.
Mainstream Democratic wisdom, he explains, holds that for Democrats to win the mid-term congressional elections in November, they must give a popular President what he wants. Then, they argue, Iraq will cease to be an issue, allowing the Democrats to start scoring points on domestic matters such as the economy.
'As far as my party saying: "Let's get it out of the way," sure, I'd like to get back to issues that are just as important as national security - job security at home, economic security, access to prescription drugs, health security, Enron and Halliburton,' says the West Virginia congressman, whose grandparents were immigrants from Lebanon.
'But I feel there are questions that need to be answered [over Iraq] before we run headlong into trying to wipe an issue off the political map, when it means putting American men and women in harm's way.'
Do you see why I called Rahall after running my head against a wall with war lover Capito?
Rahall voted no on authorizing military force in Iraq in October 2002.
He voted no on the Republicans' March 2004 effort to justify the invasion with a resolution approving the removal of Saddam Hussein.
He voted no in June 2006 on declaring Iraq part of Bush's Orwellian named "War on Terror" with no exit date from Iraq.
And he voted yes on redeploying U.S. troops out of Iraq starting in 90 days in May 2007.
He did this in a district that went overwhelmingly for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.
That is political courage.
I've said before I do not agree with everything Rahall supports and doesn't support.
But I do like courage in politicians. We needed more Nick Rahalls in Congress in 2002.
In March, Nick Rahall endorsed Sen. Barack Obama's presidential bid.
Rahall's Republican challenger, Marty Gearhart, is using Rahall's support of Obama against him on his web site.
If you support Obama, if you oppose the Iraq war and want Congressional representatives who'll not just talk about doing something about it, but will actually vote that way, if you support Democrats with spine, I ask that you help me in supporting Nick Rahall.
If you can afford, please consider a donation of any amount to Nick Rahall.