I've seen many articles around the 'net about the North-East strategy and the Spitzer-Hillary coat-tails in NY. None of them mention what I truly believe will be on of the biggest upset victories of the 2006 election.
Democrat Dr. Bob Johnson WILL defeat right-wing Republican incumbent John McHugh in NY-23.
Dr. Bob served on active duty in the United States Army Reserve from 1989 to 1991 as Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Medical Corp. He is in the private practice of Thoracic (chest) surgery in Watertown at Samaritan Medical Center.
Republican John McHugh is a hardcore Bush crony in the U.S. Congress that ensures Dubya's will can be imposed upon the people of America and New York. McHugh is a dedicated supporter of the failed Bush plans for war in Iraq. McHugh has also often expressed strong confidence in the leadership of ethically-challenged former House leader Tom "The Hammer" DeLay, who recently resigned in disgrace after being indicted by a grand jury in his home state of Texas. Scandalously, John McHugh has taken large amounts of money from associates of convicted criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Despite token votes for a few labor friendly bills when he knows they are doomed to failure in the Republican infested Congress, McHugh does not represent the values of upstate New York's working families. He is a radical Republican that votes in lock-step with Bush's whims. Unlike the draft dodger McHugh, Dr. Bob Johnson is a proud veteran who will bring honor and integrity to the NY-23 Congressional seat.
Check out this speach he gave at the Plattsburgh, NY March for Peace April 22, 2006:
Our Duty to Dissent
I'm Bob Johnson, a veteran and a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Medical Corp during the gulf war years of 1989 - 1991.
I admire you for doing your civic duty. It takes courage, particularly nowadays, to come out and let your elected representatives know that you publicly disagree with our nation's foreign policy. For your courage, you just might find yourself on some dissident list, deep in a basement of some Washington building. Or your employer just might be contacted under the guise of the Patriot Act and insinuate that you are undesirable. Or maybe they will just outright intimidate you. Maybe you'll find yourself, along with Catholic nuns and bishops who did nothing more than join a Catholic peace organization, on a government watch list the next time you go to the airport. All for disagreeing about our nation's involvement in a war that it should never have gotten itself into and in a war that we should not be in today. My generation knew this government intrusion upon our 1st amendment responsibilities as the "Enemies list". My Mom's and Dad's generation knew it as McCarthy blacklisting. Today it's known as the "Watch list".
Yes, our country is heading towards a repeat of the early 1950's where innuendo and intimidation were the order of the day. Where disagreement with those in power led to blacklisting and shunning by scared men and women. Today our civil liberties are once again under attack. The NSA spies on Americans with illegal domestic surveillance and warrantless searches. This administration doggedly refuses to renounce torture, hiding behind obscure legal constructions. Patriotism is disfigured by the fear of "being soft on terror" and it is "unpatriotic" to question and indeed disagree with our leadership's positions.
All of you here disagree with our national leaders' pursuit of a failed foreign policy - But not one of you here do not support the men and women under arms and under orders being asked to do an impossible job. The men and women in uniform have performed magnificently. The problem is that there is no achievable military objective. When there is a military objective, and the military is given the resources to pursue that objective, they are unbeatable. But you see, there is no military objective. There's a political objective, and the military cannot achieve political objectives. Even under these impossible conditions, being caught in a civil war and being shot at from all sides, our troops have performed admirably.
The problem is that the military is being asked to do something that they are ill suited to achieve. WHY? - because our national leadership does not understand the role of the military. WHY? - because most never served. They never had the courage to don the uniform and be put under another's orders where they could be placed, without their consent and without their control, in harms way. Do I need to recite the list of names of those that prosecute and support this war who have never served. Dick Cheney - did not serve, Bill Frist - did not serve, Dennis Hastert - did not serve, Karl Rove - did not serve, Tom Delay - did not serve, and yes, our congressman, John McHugh - did not serve. These men do not understand, in their gut, what the military does and what it can't do. How can they. They never served. They were never at risk of being harmed. John McHugh's been over to Iraq eight times - as a congressman. That doesn't substitute for being under arms and under orders and in harms way. If he wants to dress up and play soldier, let him join the army.
This war is not in our national interest. This war was started on a pretense without foundation. For those of you who know Vietnam only as history, that war too was started on pretense. Today you can listen to the tapes of the President and his Defense secretary Robert McNamara staging the gulf of Tonkin incident as it happened that night and then used that fabrication to ask the congress for war powers. The non-existent weapons of mass destruction were also a fabrication and led us into a war that the military cannot win because there is nothing winnable.
We need to change the course in Iraq. John McHugh and his President say to stay the course. We must change the course. I agree with decorated Marine Corps veteran Congressman Jack Murtha:
1. We must redeploy our troops consistent with the safety of US forces.
2. We should create quick reaction force in region with an over the horizon presence of Marines
3. And most importantly, we have to diplomatically pursue a political solution to security and stability in Iraq.
A poll recently conducted shows that over 80% of Iraqis are strongly opposed to the presence of US troops, and about 45% of the Iraqi population believe attacks against American troops are justified. We need to turn Iraq over to the Iraqis. It is only they who can be responsible for their security. By declaring our intent to redeploy, it will give all the parties an incentive to end the political bickering and form a government and accept responsibility.
You have all come out to send Mr. McHugh and his President a message. The Plattsburgh city council did the same two weeks ago when it passed Councilor Bill Provost's resolution calling for our congressman to support the creation of a truly bipartisan Select Committee of the House to investigate the intelligence failures before the war and the conduct of the President and his administration during the occupation.
As Edward R. Murrow said in the darkest hours of McCarthy's grip on America, "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular." The war in Iraq is wrong - it was wrong to start and it is wrong to stay.
You are the loyal opposition. I commend all of you for coming.