Friday, July 13, 2007

Rep. Gillibrand - Opposed or In Favor of Iraq War?

A month and a half ago Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand voted to continue the Iraq War.

Now I get an email with her bragging about being calling for withdrawal of the troops.
Dear Friends,

I wanted to make sure you saw yesterday's Iraq vote in Congress. Kirsten voted to require the Secretary of Defense to commence the redeployment of U.S. combat troops within 120 days, with the goal of completion by April 1st, 2008. The bill passed 223 to 201 and marks a big step forward in forcing the President in a new direction Fresh off her trip to Iraq Kirsten was an original co-sponsor of H.R. 2956 the "Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act."
Is it because her 'yes' vote has triggered a possible primary challenger? Morris Guller said:
“To vote ‘yes’ to supply additional funds to prolong the suffering and deaths of American troops and Iraqi citizens, to break your promise to help bring a quick end to this war … is devastating,” said Guller in a letter to Gillibrand. “You will have a primary race in ’08.”
Guller ran as an independent in 2004 and dropped out of the 2006 race where he was endorsed as the Liberal Party candidate.

Congress has only one effective way to end the Iraq War and that is the power of the purse. Bush will simply ignore and/or veto anything else.

1 comment:

Brian said...

Oppose or in favor?

I think it's obvious the answer is yes.

It was clear to me even during her campaign that she was purposely ambiguous on this question. Trying to have it both ways. I think many people voted for her based on their hatred of Sweeney or feeling that defeating him would send a message to Bush so they blinded themselves to or overlooked this ambiguity. For years, most Democrats were like this. They wanted to appeal to the anti-war crowd by blasting Bush's HANDLING of it but without actually having the guts to call for a withdrawal. I don't hate her but I see her for what she is.