A Principled Dissent (John Nichols of The Nation)

[marmar]

BLOG | Posted 03/23/2007 @ 6:29pm
A Principled Dissent
John Nichols


Of the handful of House members who cast conscience votes against further funding of the war in Iraq Friday, the most unexpected may well have been New York Democrat Michael McNulty.

A moderate Democrat from ther Albany area, McNulty voted in 2002 to authorize President Bush to attack Iraq. And he continues to be more identified with domestic issues -- such as protecting Social Security -- than foreign policy.

Unlike most of the other Democratic House members who refused to go along with Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plan to provide Bush with funding for the continuation of the war -- while adding benchmarks and a timeline as tools to begin setting the course for an exit strategy -- McNulty has never been identified as an anti-war activist in the House.

On Friday, when Pelosi's bill came up for a vote, Democrats generally voted "yes" while Republicans generally voted "yes." Only a Democratic handful of members broke ranks to make a clear anti-war statement.

The "no" voters included Democrats such as Ohio's Dennis Kucinich, Georgia's John Lewis, Maine's Mike Michaud, and Californians Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, Diane Watson and Lynn Woolsey, and Republicans such as Texan Ron Paul and Tennessee's John Duncan. ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15

[bread_and_roses]

1. A principled and moving statement from

someone who's "been there" in a sense. As one old enough to remember the latter Vietnam war years, I salute those who have the courage to take an unequivocal stand to put a halt to this monstrous invasion and savage, Imperialist occupation.