Murtha Flays Rove on Meet The Press

June 19, 2006

VIA E-MAIL & FIRST-CLASS MAIL

Howard Dean, Chair
Democratic National Committee
430 S Capitol Street SE
Washington, DC 20003

Rep. Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Minority Leader
2371 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515

Re: An Open Letter to the Democratic Leaders re the Democratic Party’s Future

Dear Dr. Dean and Representative Pelosi:

This is an open letter to both of you, as the reputed heads of the Democratic Party, concerning the future of the Democratic Party.

As you know, Dr. Dean, I have written to you several times previously on this general subject, in particular, on the lack of Democratic unity on Feingold’s Censure Resolution. We now know, based on the apparent election results in the 50th congressional district for the State of California, that the so-called “culture of corruption” moniker will not win elections, even in a district where the previous member of Congress sits in jail for his crime of corruption.

In order for Democrats to win this fall, they must run on a strong and unified NATIONAL campaign. This campaign must have one or two faces, not many faces.

Most important, the campaign MUST focus on the issue most identified by the mainstream media as the issue that most voters are concerned with: Iraq and the “Global War on Terror.” (GWOT)

It’s clear to me now that there are two main camps within the Democratic Party on Iraq and the GWOT: the “its time for a real change” camp, from the get out immediately crowd (Cindy Sheehan) and the get out soon crowd (Rep. John Murtha, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Russ Feingold, former V.P. Al Gore and others) and the “stay the course” camp. (Sen. Hillary Clinton & Sen. Joseph Lieberman and others)

Unfortunately, most likely because Hillary Clinton is married to the Bill Clinton, the previous president, the “stay the course” camp has boxed the Democrats into an impossible position: an inability to articulate any bona fide difference between the Democrats and the Republicans on Iraq and the GWOT. Because the Democrats are in this box, the Republicans are allowed to say, without refute, “why choose the Democrats, when their position is the “same” on the GWOT?”

The 2002 and 2004 elections prove my point: In 2002, the Democrats were “afraid” to stop the President on his impending Iraq War, for fear of being seen as “soft on terror.” A strong minority of Democrats, including Senators Clinton, Kerry and Edwards, voted for the Iraq War Resolution. There were also strong minorities of Democrats in the House that voted in favor of Bush’s Iraq War resolution. Nonetheless, the voters increased the number of Republicans in the House and the Senate, despite the Democrats’ strong support of the President’s GWOT.

The same thing happened in 2004: when Kerry was asked “would you have voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution knowing what he knew [in 2004], he answered “yes, I would give the President the authority to conduct war.” That statement alone doomed Kerry’s candidacy, because Kerry failed to distinguish himself in any substantive way from the President’s position on the GWOT. Kerry was obviously persuaded by the Clinton camp, the camp that obviously runs the National Democratic Party, to not run as an “anti-war” candidate.

As far as I can tell, the Clinton Democrats, despite having come from the Vietnam-era anti-war movement, have failed to learn the actual lesson of that War: wars conducted on false premises will NEVER be won. The Vietnam war was conducted on the false premise that the entire South Asian region would become Communist, if Vietnam were allowed to become a Communist nation. Only Vietnam became a “communist” nation, and, given the amount of U.S. trade with Vietnam today, I suspect that its communism is hardly the pure Marxist version of communism.

The Iraq War, far more clearly than Vietnam, was premised on the blatantly false pretense of stopping the spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction. (WMD) While most people believed that Saadam had some WMD, the reality was that he was completely boxed in by the years of the U.N. Sanctions, and didn’t have the ability or the capability of using such weapons. The Iraq War was clearly Bush’s War of Choice, having been well documented in the Project for the New American Century and other writings of the neo-conservative cabal.

By 2004, as the wheels started coming off the Bush War, it should have been obvious to John Kerry that the war’s premise was false, and that giving Bush the authority to conduct it would have been foolish, and, quite possibly, treasonous. Nonetheless, he bought in to the carefully chimed rhetoric of the “stay the course” Democratic camp, and nuanced his way to oblivion.

The Democrats are now in significant danger of repeating the history of 2002 and 2004: attempting to “nuance” the Iraq War and the “Global War on Terror,” by taking a “me-too” approach to both the Iraq War and the War on Terror. Dr. Dean, I know that, in your heart, you must know that this approach is wrong, and doomed to failure, but, you have been silent on this issue since the beginning of the year.

The Democrats can no longer shy away from the issue of Iraq. For example, Nancy Pelosi’s Saturday Radio Response to the President’s Saturday Radio Address outlined six points for a Democratic Victory in November. Not ONE point dealt with Iraq or the GWOT. The “official” Democratic Party position has been silent, or virtually silent, on all of the issues related to Iraq and the GWOT, including the NSA Wiretapping program, the Feingold Censure Resolution, the lack of progress on the Second Phase of the Intelligence Committee’s investigation of pre-Iraq War intelligence, and the recent disclosures of widespread data-mining of U.S. domestic telephone calls. Now, with Zarqawi dead, and Bush having returned from his recent 5 hour trip to Baghdad, Bush appears to be unchallenged on his conduct of the Iraq War and the GWOT.

The very future of this country is at stake: if Bush is allowed to get away with his conduct on the GWOT, democracy will have taken a back seat to expediency and secrecy. Beginning with the trumped and hyped pre-war Iraq intelligence, the illegal avoidance of FISA warrants in conducting wiretaps of domestic telephone calls, and the possibly illegal data-mining, Bush has committed more high crimes than any previous President. While most of the actual crimes may have been committed by Cheney, and not Bush, Bush is nevertheless the “Commander-in-Chief” and bears ultimate responsibility for the actions of the Executive branch taken while he is the President.

Part of the problem seems to be the silent, or at least malleable mainstream media. (MSM) Having been cowed by years and years of the ranting of the far right about “liberal media” bias, the mainstream media has bent over backwards during the entire Bush Administration with its coverage of the news events, beginning with 9-11, and the entire drumbeat of the pre-Iraq War period. Even after the ultimate disclosure of the lack of WMD in Iraq, the MSM has simply ignored or given light coverage of the Downing Street Memos and related stories regarding the Bush Administration’s hype and desire to “go to war with Iraq” from the first instance of their administration, even prior to 9-11.

There truly is a “right-wing noise machine,” that emanates from the blogosphere, and blares from the right-wing hold on most of talk radio and Fox News, apparently the most-watched cable news network. There is no “left-wing noise machine” to counter-act the “right-wing noise machine.”

Robert Parry wrote a fine article about “Why Democrats Lose” a couple of days after the Busby-Bilbray election, in which he noted in part:

[I]t is this conservative messaging capability–in coordination with the Republican national political operation–that has proven decisive in election after election.

Barry’s article emanated from a discussion that he had with a “well-placed”Republican political operative who was oozing confidence about the fall elections, because the Democrats and progressives had failed to improve their ability to reach the public with their message. He used the Busby “misstep” on the issue of illegal immigrant voting as an example: the conservative blogosphere and right-wing talk shows turned her misstep into a giant gaffe, accusing Busby of urging illegal immigrants to vote, despite their non-citizen status. She has allegedly only lost by 3 percentage points. Barry faulted the Democratic Party’s “consultariat,” which discouraged investments in media, and instead directed donations to think tanks:

So, instead of investing in promising Internet sites or improving the progressive content on radio and TV, liberal money flowed overwhelmingly into the hands of the same ol’ Democrat consultant class. Perhaps the Busby defeat finally will serve as a wake-up call to the Democratic Party to throw off the consultariat’s cold hand of failure and turn to candidates who are not afraid to address the pressing issues of war and democracy now confronting the United States.

I strongly suggest that you find Robert Barry’s article (I found it on Tompaine.com) and read it. Then, implement its suggestions, by supporting Air America and other progressive media outlets.

The Democrats simply have to stop “ignoring” the Iraq War and the GWOT, and get behind John Murtha, John Kerry, Al Gore and others, and call for a serious national discussion about the Iraq War and the GWOT. John Murtha, in particular, is a strong and effective speaker on the subject, and is no anti-war “namby-pamby.” He has over 30 years of service with the Marines, fought in Vietnam, and has the credentials, intellect and ability to communicate effectively, and more important, persuasively. Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman virtually stand alone in the Democratic party with their “stay the course” rhetoric, and are probably the proud parents of Kerry’s “stronger, more effective War on Terror” theme that failed so miserably in 2004.

The Democrats also have to stop ignoring the Bush Administration’s blatant disregard for the law in prosecuting the GWOT, especially the NSA wiretapping program. There’s no reason that Feingold’s Censure Resolution should not be brought before the full Senate PRIOR to the election, even if the Resolution is doomed by the current Republican majority. The NSA Wiretapping program, if allowed to continue, is one step down the fascist road.

As Sen. Barack Obama’s recent speech at the “Take Back America” conference noted, progressive values ARE mainstream values, not left-wing or some other false characterization. It’s a mainstream value to not go to war under false pretenses, and to conduct a GWOT in a fashion that will produce less terrorists, not more. It’s a mainstream value to address the out-of-control health care of this nation, to address how to get money out of politics, and making sure that elections are free, fair and accurately counted. It’s a mainstream value to address both the issue of global warming and the dwindling supplies of fossil fuel, which will bankrupt this nation, and permanently poison the world (making it too warm) in the very near future.

For the sake of the future of this country, I urge you to shake the “don’t offend anybody, ever” approach to politics, and get in touch with the candidates that express the values that made this nation great, the John Murtha’s of this world. I will not continue to support a Democratic Party that refuses to stand up to Bush and say, “enough is enough!”

Sincerely,

John Farbstein