Better yet, ever taken a vacation and felt that afterwards you needed a vacation to recover from your vacation?
I am thinking that our Congressmen and Senators are facing both those scenarios right about now.
Members of Congress are away from Washington during a month-long recess. They’re talking to their constituents, reflecting on their political careers, jetting off on fact-finding trips to Iraq and other far-flung places and sometimes enduring vicious ad campaigns designed to sway their votes when they return in September.
So perhaps it wasn’t a surprise when Rep. Brian Baird, a low-key Democrat from Washington State who has spent a career toiling away on local issues, suddenly came out in support of President Bush’s troop surge in Iraq.
Once a reliable vote for his party’s leadership on the war, Baird explained in the Seattle Times Friday that “the people, strategies and facts on the ground have changed for the better,” and those positive developments merited keeping U.S. combat troops in the field.
“A precipitous or premature withdrawal of our forces now has the potential to turn the initial errors [of the invasion] into an even greater problem just as success looks possible,” he said.
Baird, who had just returned from a trip to Iraq, now opposes any timetable for troop withdrawal.
Read the whole thing, it isn't just Democratic politicians that are suddenly switching sides and coming out with an opposite position than they had when they went on recess.
Also mentioned in that article is the Freedoms Watch Videos that have come out in a massive campaign via television ads (all four, 30 second videos can be found here)and the affect those ads are having on the public at large and on the politicians.
“Those [pro-war Freedom’s Watch] ads are running every day and they are pretty hard-hitting. People ask me is it true, is it working?”
Warner from the Republican side has come back suggesting a symbolic approximate 5,000 troops reductions, but by and large the turn around has been from the Democratic side.
Brian Baird came back and made his own statement explaining his 180 degreee turn, Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) came back from Iraq and told his local newspaper that the surge “has really made a difference and really has gotten al Qaeda on their heels”, Keith Ellison and Jerry McNerney both admitted the surge has seen excellent success, even Durbin and Casey admitted to the surges progress although they didn't change their position on time lines.
All Democrats. All during the recess.
Harry Baghdad" Reid and Nancy Pelosi must be having a complete meltdown at this point.
They have lost their middle and in Baird's case, since he has been against the Iraq war since before it started, they have even lost some of their far left.
Freedoms Watch is also not the only organization that will be affecting this debate showing support for the troops and their mission:
Remember also that Move America Forward, along with Gathering of Eagles, Families United for the troops and their mission, Vets For Freedom as well as multiple other organizations are all going to be converging on Capitol Hill in September to support General Petraeus and our troops and to counter the surrender crowds.
I do think our Politicians will need a vacation to recuperate from their vacation.
Don't you?
(NOTE: Instead of leaving you with the advertisements I usually have at the bottom of each post, I will leave you with one of the videos from Freedoms Watch) [30 second video.]
Gold Star Mother:
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