Democracy for Vancouver

Jeff Mize for The Columbian reports:

The furor over Congressman Brian Baird’s change of position on Iraq showed no sign of abating as almost 300 of his constituents turned out Thursday to hear two anti-war speakers challenge Baird’s conclusion.

“Your congressional district, like it or not, is in the national spotlight,” said Tom Andrews, a former Democratic congressman from Maine and national director of the group Win Without War.

…

Retired Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, who spent 31 years in the military, including combat tours in Korea and Vietnam, shared the stage with Andrews during the town hall meeting at Fort Vancouver High School.

“I would say it’s more like mission impossible,” Gard said. “To expend the lives of our troops for that purpose is unconscionable. It’s time for a well-planned withdrawal of U.S. troops.”

…

Prior to Thursday’s meeting, Andrews and Gard said they came to Southwest Washington not to draw more attention to Baird’s Iraq stance but to engage his constituents.

“The fact is he has done it,” Andrews said. “And the White House and the Republican Party are using him extensively.”

Andrews and Gard made a strong case against the congressman for supporting a failed policy. It’s pretty hard arguing against someone with the national security credentials of General Gard, who’s been around the block when it comes to failed counterinsurgencies. As many are beginning to ask, when has a counterinsurgency been won by the occupying power?

What’s important to note is the number of familiar party faithful at that meeting, including one person who made 10,000 phone calls for the congressman in prior cycles. This energy is going to be missed by Baird in the upcoming election cycle, regardless of who he draws for Republican opponent. The worst case scenario for the congressman is the Republicans nominating a Ron Paul type, but of course, this being the 3rd Congressional District and all, pigs will fly before that occurs. Sadly, we’ll be left with a spectrum of discussion in the general election that goes something like this:

Baird: Support the surge! We can win in Iraq!

Republican Opponent: Bomb Iran! Bomb Iran!

What Mize didn’t cover was the invitation to build a local coalition of diverse groups to apply pressure to the congressman. I’m still not as sanguine for the prospects of further “dialog” with the congressman, since I believe he’s gone into the bunker at this point. If he hasn’t met with the peace community in over two years, what is going to compel him do that now? Offers of free candy?

It’s been observed that once a politician is unpopular with their base in-district, they go into “run out the clock mode” and just bide their time until the election. With a $700,000 war-chest, the congressman can afford to just hire enough staffers to make those 10,000 phone calls.

With today’s revelation that $6 billion of contracts for the Iraq War are under criminal investigation by the Pentagon, it’s confounding that our congressman is still in support of this illegal and immoral war.