Diana DeGette: Change America's course in Iraq

A press release from the congresswoman states, in part:

"Today I had the opportunity to support legislation that will change America's course in Iraq," said Rep. DeGette. "The U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health and Iraq Accountability Act shows that Congress is no longer a rubber stamp for President Bush's failed Iraq policy."

H.R. 1591 is legislation that will, for the first time require the President to:
• Set an August 2008 deadline for the removal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
• Enforce established readiness standards for the deployment of U.S. combat forces.
• And certify on July 1, and October 1, 2007 that the Iraq government is meeting political and military benchmarks.

The President has indicated that he will veto HR-1591 if the bill makes it through the Senate.

So much going on...

...and so little time. In my case, actually, no time at all. Fortunately, there are a lot of good people following the stories of the day.

• The governor announced his plan to keep the State Education Fund from going bankrupt. Read about it: Post, Ritter, SquareState, Media Matters

• Diana DeGette. She's the most powerful member of Colorado's congressional delegation. She's working to provide healthcare for children. And she's asking for voter's opinions on the Iraq War.

• The Colorado legislature debates a nonbinding resolution opposing the Iraq War: Pols, Post

• Interesting stuff: Wash Park Prophet, Wild Again, Democracy In Progress, Ave Cassandra

And as always, someone's always blogging at SquareState. That's it. I'll see you Monday.

Ritter dines at the White House

The Ritter-Bush mini-summit I mentioned yesterday only sort of happened. The Denver Post reports:

In the White House's state dining room, Bush toasted Ritter and the nation's other governors, pledging that they could "do big things" together.

With the festivities over, Ritter returned to the White House on Monday with a list of Colorado issues he wanted to discuss. In particular, he wanted to press Bush about funding for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden.

He never got the chance. Instead, Ritter experienced the slow pace of working in Washington on issues important to states.

But the assembled governors were able to attempt to communicate their concerns with National Guard deployment and No Child Left Behind.

Framing is everything

Pro-Iraq War people calling themselves the Northern Colorado Support Our Troops Group and counter-protesting at anti-Iraq War rallies? Clever. And dishonest. It makes it sound like peace activists don't support the troops. If you're pro-war, have the courage to say it.

Memo to the Rocky: What?

The Saturday Rocky Mountain News contains this head-scratcher:

[Democratic Congressman Mark Udall is] a longtime war critic whose vote [against escalation] won't raise eyebrows in his liberal-leaning district. But he's also pondering a U.S. Senate race in 2008, when he would need votes statewide. Several observers said Udall has to tread carefully and make sure he doesn't get dragged too far to the left in coming months...

The most recent poll I could find shows that 63% of Americans are against the escalation and 56% believe that the war is "hopeless." In the words of Molly Ivins, "That is the center, you fools." Not many find anti-Iraq War votes leftist anymore.

Diana DeGette to speak out against escalation on House floor

Tune to C-SPAN tomorrow morning between 7:30 and 8:30.

(More: Mark Udall's remarks)

UPDATE: DeGette's full remarks as prepared here and in the comments. Enjoy.

Raf Noboa on Iraq

"I owed - and freely gave - my devotion. But we were due - and never received - clarity of judgment, care for our welfare, and a pledge that Iraq's threat to America was truly the equal of the price that so many have already paid, and now more are called to pay."

Bob Beauprez calls for the execution of Barack Obama

And your execution, too. If you oppose the Iraq War. From Colorado Media Matters:

On Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show, guest host Bob Beauprez -- a former Colorado Republican congressman and gubernatorial candidate -- responded to a caller who suggested that people opposed to the war in Iraq are "traitors" and "ought to be shot" by stating that doing so would constitute "good old Western justice."

Some days, I can't believe how easily we beat Bob Beauprez in 2006. Other days, I'm suprised anyone voted for him at all.

Edwards to deliver anti-war speech in Clinton's backyard

Today John Edwards will come out against funding the escalation in a speech at a historic Harlem church.

Diana DeGette speaks out on war escalation, terrorism

A press release from the congresswoman leaves no doubt where she stands on the President's plan:

"...President Bush is sending us in the wrong direction on Iraq. Instead of announcing a specific plan on how we are going to get out of the Iraq quagmire, he is escalating troop levels and deepening our commitment. A majority of the American people and military experts alike do not agree with this military escalation. Unfortunately, as we have seen time and time again, President Bush refuses to listen to anyone who disagrees with his position. I will not support any escalation of troops in Iraq. My colleagues in Congress and I intend to ask hard questions and exercise increased oversight of the President's Iraq policy.

DeGette favors protecting America by actually protecting America. She supports implementation of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. A press release from Tuesday states, in part:

[DeGette] has conducted strategy sessions with first responders in Colorado and participated in field hearings on port security through her position on the Energy and Commerce Committee. "The Republican Administration chose to largely ignore the 9/11 Commission recommendations and because of their inaction our nation is still not as safe as it should and must be," said Rep. DeGette. "Democrats are moving to fix that failure."

The ghost of Christopher Hitchens

If you listed our language's 10 finest sentences, you would find half had been crafted by Christopher Hitchens.

Hitchens' works are so transcendent that remembering them inspires genius in his lessers. Examine my first sentence. The alliterative beginning. The assonantal end. Would I have written so well without Hitchens' ghost hovering over my keyboard? I doubt it. Which is why it has been difficult for me to watch him fall apart.

Hitchens' move from socialist to neocon is the stuff of legend. It began with his hatred of Bill Clinton and accelerated after 9/11. He even "slightly" endorsed George Bush in 2004. I remember reading that piece in The Nation. It was the first time that I simply could not follow one of his arguments. He wrote that liberals faced a prisoner's dilemma, forced to choose between a Democrat they despised and a third-party candidate who couldn't win:

...[Kerry] is offering you the worst of both worlds. Myself, I have made my own escape from your self-imposed quandary. Believe me when I say that once you have done it, there's no going back. I have met a few other ex-hostages, and they all agree that the relief is unbelievable.

Kerry isn't liberal enough, and he can't win, so liberals will feel better if they vote for Bush? Hm.

At first, I believed that my biases were getting in the way of my reason. But Hitchens' reviews in The Atlantic have also gone south. (I recall his willfully combative reading of The Waste Land, in particular.)

Last night, the remaining respect I had for Hitchens evaporated. NPR broadcast a segment in which Hitchens attempted to defend his new career as a neocon apologist after four double Scotches and three glasses of merlot. "I thought the United States should be defended from nihilistic Islamism and [left-wing thinkers] thought... it brought [9/11] on itself."

There are two errors in that sentence. First there's the false choice between defending our country and criticizing it. And then there's the implication that knocking over a secular dictatorship was the best way to destroy Islamic fascism. Hitchens' thought process is the same as your garden-variety Bush voter: He can't distinguish between the need for a hawkish foreign policy and the decision to invade Iraq.

The rational left's opposition to the Iraq War is built on the war's opportunity cost. If you'd given a President Al Gore $300 billion dollars and 130,000 troops on Sept. 12, 2001, Osama Bin Laden would be dead today. But we didn't have a President Al Gore. We had Bush. And so we find ourselves the babysitter of a deteriorating Iraq, our military stretched thin, our debt unmanageable, and our borders porous.

Unfortunately, it seems that Hitchens is no longer interested in debating the rational left. The NPR interview portrayed a man busy sparring with a small cadre of radical pacifists, churning out wordy reviews, and lubricating his liver.

The loss to our letters is incalculable.