Senator Merkley pushes for an end to Afghanistan nightmare

Hats off to Senator Merkley.

On Wednesday, Oregon's junior senator and 23 others signed and delivered a letter to President Obama, urging an accelerated withdrawal of US military forces from Afghanistan.  Then, yesterday, the full Senate adopted the letter by a vote of 62 to 33.  Perhaps as an indication of the degree of war-weariness dragging on the country, the "ayes" included 13 Republicans.

(Although Oregon's senior senator, Ron Wyden, signed the original letter, for some reason he did not participate in the full Senate vote.  Sigh.  Aren't you getting ready to retire, Ron?  Maybe that would be for the best...)

The administration has already set a date, the end of 2014, as the goal to complete the withdrawal from Afghanistan.  If it adheres to that schedule, we will have been militarily engaged in that country for 13 years --the longest war in the history of the United States.  As explained in the letter, the United States is spending $10 billion per month on the effort in Afghanistan, which is not to mention the 2000+ casualties we've sustained since the obscenely-named "Operation Enduring Freedom" began.  (And should I mention the nearly 13,000 civilian casualties?  Or would that be in poor taste?)

This letter reminds and remonstrates the President:  Part of the reason you were elected is because supporters believed you would get us untangled from the Afghanistan nightmare.  It is time to make that happen.

Will it make a difference?  Hard to say.  In its first term, the Obama administration stuck pretty closely to the playbook advocated by top brass military.  Undoubtedly and perhaps despite his personal sentiments, President Obama played it that way in order to avoid the typical Republican "national security" attack when he ran for reelection.  Well, as we all know, that bird has flown, so the President has more of a free hand when it comes to these matters.

But, perhaps and at the very least, Senator Merkley's advocacy for a quick withdrawal is symptomatic of something else.  Might it be that liberal and progressive lawmakers are growing more assertive, pushing on President Obama from the left?  If so, that would be an unlooked-for but welcome result of this month's sweeping repudiation of the political Right in the national election.

Thanks, Senator Merkley.  Keep up the good work!

Adieu, Senator Hatfield

Oregon lost one of her favorite sons yesterday.  Former Governor and Senator Mark O. Hatfield passed at the age of 89.

Senator Hatfield was a lifelong Republican and a native Oregonian, hailing from Dallas.  He was a veteran of World War II, where he saw combat at Iwo Jima.  No doubt as a result of the horrors he witnessed at that battle, Senator Hatfield remained a pacifist throughout his political career.

Hatfield served two terms as Governor of Oregon (1958-1966) then was elected to the US Senate in 1966 where he remained for 30 years.  He was a strong opponent of the Vietnam War, which he called the “sin that scarred the national soul.”  In 1991, the senator bucked his own party and president (Bush the Elder) by voting against military action in the first Gulf War.

In 1995, when the Republican Party was pushing for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution (part of Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America"), Senator Hatfield faced down enormous pressure from his own party and cast his vote against the amendment which fell one vote short of passage.  When then-Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole tried to persuade Hatfield to reconsider, Oregon's senator offered to resign rather than compromise his values.

Although I never voted for him, I did admire Senator Hatfield for his courage and his deep personal convictions.  It is hard to imagine that a man like Senator Hatfield, a liberal Republican, a pacifist, could succeed in today's GOP.   

Senator Ron wants to play with the big boys

Senator Ron Wyden: Never one to waste an opportunity

It's crunch time in the US Senate. President Obama has imposed a deadline for passage of some kind of national health care reform. He has publicly expressed his wish that something happen before Congress adjourns for its August recess. That's not even two weeks away. Well, after all, he came into office with a big, big vision and he's definitely not backing down.

Whenever things get tight like this, Senators smell opportunity. The parliamentary procedures of that body are such that each Senator has the ability to gum up the works in various ways unless other Senators make some concessions to him or her. It is one of the facets of the Senate that I find so fascinating: an ever-shifting landscape of alliances and enmities. Decorum must be maintained in spite of betrayals, threats, and hardball politics.

Max and Chuck: Like little lovebirds

One big player in the game is Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He is resistant to the idea of a public health care option, ostensibly because he wants bipartisan support for the bill. That excuse can almost fly. After all, Baucus has been around long enough to know that, although the Democrats have the majority in the Senate at the moment, a couple bad elections could demote him to ranking minority Senator, playing second-fiddle to his GOP counterpart, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA). (Never mind that Senator Baucus received $1.5 million in campaign contributions from health-related companies and their employees in 2007-2008. What are you? A cynic?)

The various caucus leaders are wheeling and dealing, too: Senators Harry Reid (D-NV) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) for the Democrats and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) for the Republicans.

But now, Oregon's own Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has decided that it is time for him to make his move. In spite of his having been in the Senate since 1996, he is still something of a back bencher in the Democratic caucus. He's tired of it, apparently.

Senator Wyden has been pitching his own idea for health care reform for years now. His idea, as I understand it, is to tax employer health care benefits while providing incentives for employers to raise their employees' salaries to compensate. (I hope I'm being accurate with this characterization). No real public option. To me, this idea seems like yet another sop to the health care insurance industry. And a quick internet search reveals that one of Senator Wyden's top campaign contributors is none other than Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

But, as I said at the beginning of the post, it is crunch time in the US Senate, and now is when senators have maximum leverage. President Obama is going to need every vote he can possibly get. And so now, Senator Wyden has formed a group of so-called "centrist" senators demanding delay on the passage of a bill. Besides Senator Wyden, the group consists of Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Icky Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME). These senators wrote a letter to the leaders of both caucuses urging delay. (You can read the letter here).

Whether or not they succeed is anybody's guess at the moment.

But I'll tell you this much: I really resent Senator Wyden's opportunism. President Obama has stated that he believes any delay may very well destroy hopes for reform. And the GOP is licking its chops at the possibility that the administration might fail. In fact, Senator Jim Demint (R-SC) stated:

This health care issue is D-Day for freedom in America. If we lose this, we’ll probably have half of our economy in some way controlled by the federal government. We can’t allow that to happen. And on the other side of it, if we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him. And we will show that we can – along with the American people – begin to push those freedom solutions that work in every area of our society. -Sen. Jim Demint

I've supported Senator Wyden in the past and I wouldn't mind seeing him gain a rank or two in the leadership of the Democratic caucus. But if he plays a part in killing real health care reform, and thereby seriously undermines the Obama agenda, I'm going to remember it.

Merkley-Smith debate and welcome to nephew Gino

Jeff Merkley and Gordon Smith

Last night, KGW held a debate between the two leading candidates to represent Oregon in the US Senate, Republican incumbent Gordon Smith, and Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley. The moderator was Tracy Barry, and questions were posed to both candidates by Oregon media personages Pat Dooris, Jeff Mapes, and Bill Wright.

When compared with the formats used in the two presidential debates, and the vice-presidential debate, this debate seemed rushed and the candidates were much more constrained in their answers which were limited to one minute each with an opportunity for a 30 second rebuttal.

Over the course of the debate, it seemed that each candidate had a theme that he wanted to hammer home, regardless of the question posed to him.

For Gordon Smith, he stressed "bipartisanship," expressed a desire to "reach across the aisle," and warned that Jeff Merkley would raise taxes on everyone. Smith mentioned George Bush and Dick Cheney hardly at all. And when he did mention Cheney, it was in a negative light. He admitted to supporting John McCain for president, which I imagine made him swallow hard. But he mostly dropped a lot of Democratic names (Barack Obama, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Carl Levin, Joe Biden, Ron Wyden, and Ted Kulongowski) as evidence of his independence from the Republican party. Frankly, it sounded a little desperate. Smith also promoted himself as an advocate for rural Oregon and tried to portray Merkley as exclusively "urban" in his perspective.

Jeff Merkley repeatedly tied Smith to the Bush administration, especially with Smith's vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq. He also pointed out that Gordon Smith is the chairman of the Debt Reduction Subcommittee in the US Senate and that, far from reducing the debt, has overseen an explosion, to the tune of $10 trillion, of our national debt. The course he would take as a senator followed the template laid out by the Obama campaign in the Democratic National Convention: alternative energy, education, health care. Merkley also pointed out that he is from Myrtle Creek, Oregon, and, therefore, no stranger to rural Oregon.

All in all, I didn't feel that either candidate had a clear advantage over the other. Smith started out with a disadvantage, carrying as he does the stink of the Bush administration. But, in spite of all the mean things I've said about Gordon Smith, I don't necessarily believe he is evil. And, in any case, he's a saint compared with beasts like Cheney or Junior. I was moved and touched when Senator Smith spoke, with passion, about his commitment to mental health parity, while never mentioning his own personal tragedy in this regard. In all, I believe Senator Smith is a basically decent man who just got swept up into a very bad crowd.

Of course, I'm supporting Merkley. I've met him (Merkley) and he comes across as sincere. I am satisfied that he will be honest and fair. His priorities, which he outlined last night (energy policy, education, health care) are in line with my own. And he gave me his personal assurance that he would pursue any misdoings of the Bush administration should he be elected to the Senate.

The two candidates have one more debate scheduled. We'll see what happens.

Benvenuto, Gino!

Little Gino

Yesterday, my sister Mia gave birth to my second nephew, Gino Cariaga Humphrey, named for Mia's maternal grandfather, Gino Carnini.

Well, nephew, you come into this crazy world with many, many blessings including a wonderful mother, a noble father, a devoted grandmother, and many loving aunts and uncles.

I welcome you with all my heart. I extend my hand and my heart and my life to you from now until forever.

Gordon Smith: Negrero

¡No sea engañado! Gordon Smith, el senador menor de Oregón, lo quien esta en un combate duro para reelección, no es un amigo de la gente corriente. Cada cuatro años, èl finge que es un republicano moderado, pero este año, los votantes de Oregón saben la verdad. Nosotros tenemos un candidado mejor en Jeff Merkley, el democrato. Ojalá Merkley gane.

Recentemiente, el periódico semanal local, Willamette Week, publicó un cuento, se llama "Señor Smith." Este cuento dice que la compañía de Smith, Smith Frozen Foods, empleó indocumentados a trabajar en las envasadoras. Claro, Senador Smith y su campaña lo niegan.

Willamette Week documenta los hechos completamente, y yo no tengo duda que el cuento es verdad. La hipocresía no es una cosa nueva a Gordon Smith.

Pero, una parte del cuento que tiene el más interés es esta (traducido del inglés):

Mucho del trabajo paga acerca de $8 per hora. Es irregular; trabajadores no saben de una semana a la promxima cuántas horas que ellos serán necesitados. Si hay demasiado lluvia, los granjeros no pueden cosechar sus campos y no hay suficiente trabajo. Si el maíz no está listo para ser cosechado, también no está listo para ser empaquetado.

Los trabajadores no osan buscar un segundo trabajo, muchos de ellos dijeron. Ellos pueden ser despedidos si en más de una ocasión ellos no están disponibles trabajar cuando ellos son llamados al deber.

Y empleados sólo de todo el año, acerca de la tercera parte de la fuerza de trabajo general de Smith, son ofrecidos seguro de enfermedad.

Además, Smith Frozen Foods maneja sus empleados con un sistema de puntos, lo cuál que los trabajadores caracterizan como degrandando. Se da ellos billetes para infracciones, grandes y pequeñas, como llegando tarde, o fallando de obtener una nota del médico para explicar una ausencia para cuidar de un niño enfermo. Algunas infracciones ganan a un trabajador un desmerecimiento. Otras, más. Diez puntos en un año y usted es fuera. --Willamette Week, 10 Septiembre, 2008

Esta es la manera que Senador Smith les trata a sus trabajadores: en la manera de un negrero. Además, Smith ha luchada contra levantar el salario mínimo a través de su ocupación en el Senado EEUU. Ya podemos ver la que signifca la importancia de la familia con Smith.

Con sus adviertos de campaña, Smith esta tratando parecer como un moderado, contra de los republicanos más atroces. Pero, aparte del asunto de las practicas ilegal del empleo, él demuestra una insensibilidad a gente que revela su carácter verdadero.

Smith es un negrero.

La mejor elección es Jeff Merkley.

(Perdóneme por favor para mi español malo.)

Senator Gordon Smith: Oregon's weak sister

Senator Smith, your act is wearing thin

Like the runt of a mongrel litter, poor Senator Gordon Smith has been pushed away from the teat of real power and is shivering out in the cold. It's not really his fault; Gordie is just not mean enough or greedy enough to succeed in today's Republican party.

While the big pups (Bill Frist (R-TN), Trent Lott (R-MS), and Ted Stevens (R-AK), for example) were gorging on Mama Graft's swollen udder, Gordie had to content himself with whatever was left over. Despite being in the Senate for 12 years, Gordie remains a GOP back-bencher that gets dragged out in front of the cameras every so often when they have a specific task for him.

And now, in his milk-toast, spineless way, after 12 years of being the GOP leadership's man-servant, he is trying desperately to erase Oregon's collective memory of how slavishly he has devoted himself to the Republican agenda.

Check out this ad, that he's been running on Oregon television.



Notice, Gordie talks about how he worked with John Kerry and Barack Obama. No mention of his party's nominee, mad Johnny McCain. Only one mention of Junior, and a negative one at that. And here's the kicker: the ad does not ever mention Gordie's political affiliation. (Can you blame him? He's a Republican.)

In fact, just yesterday, Gordie stepped down as the honorary state campaign chairman for the GOP presidential campaign this year. And he's already stated that he will not attend the GOP convention in Minneapolis next month.

If you need a refresher on Senator Smith's real record in the Senate, check out this post I wrote about a year ago: Senator Smith: Moderate? Hardly!

Well, since this blog is all about balance (ha ha!), I've run a Smith ad, so I suppose I'm compelled to post an ad for Jeff Merkley, Gordie's opponent.



Go Jeff!

Senator Gordon Smith: Moderate? Hardly!

Oregon's junior senator, Gordon Smith, likes to pretend he is a moderate, in line with the mainstream views of his (relatively progressive) constituency. But the truth is that Gordon Smith is really a hard-line "conservative" that will, when push comes to shove, knuckle under to Republican party leaders.

On Iraq

Of late, Senator Smith has made statements expressing exasperation and even outrage at the lack of progress in Iraq and the seeming futility of the war. But let's not forget that even as Oregonians were turning out in massive numbers to protest the pending unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation in 2003, Gordon Smith had already expressed his willingness to ignore international law and throw his lot in with Junior Bush by voting for the war resolution on October 11, 2002.

Senator Smith has never bothered to explain how or why he was so woefully befooled by administration claims of all manner of nasty illegal weaponry at Saddam Hussein's fingertips, including mobile labs for creating biological weapons and unmanned drones that would carry out poisonous attacks on American cities. Some of these claims were preposterous on their faces. Did Senator Smith honestly believe them? Or did he take the easy way out and vote with his party in spite of doubting some of the administration's most outrageous claims? At this point, it doesn't really matter: Senator Smith showed either an amazing gullibility or a shameful lack of independence.

On oil-drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)

For many years, it seemed as though Gordon Smith was in line with the vast majority of his constituency regarding oil-drilling in ANWR. He even voted to kill the ANWR drilling legislation in 2003.

But that was before Karl Rove put the screws to him, apparently. When the chips were down for the administration's 2nd term domestic agenda, Gordon Smith backed off on a campaign promise to protect ANWR, and cast the tie-breaking vote to allow ANWR to go forward. One can only hope that, when the Senator got the phone call from Rove's office, he held out for something and didn't just roll over.

His post-vote comments were unapologetic and hint at the "depth" of his principles. According to Alexander Bolton of the Hill:

Smith said drilling in the reserve “is not the lightning rod it once was. That’s a fact,” he said. “Even in Oregon.”

Are we then to infer, that since ANWR is not a "lightning rod," Senator Smith is justified in changing one of his supposedly deeply-held convictions?

On equal rights for GLBT citizens

I haven't forgotten how, during the Senator's reelection bid of 2002, the grieving mother of Matthew Shepherd appeared in Senator Smith's campaign advertisements, stating that she was sure Matthew would have viewed Senator Smith as a friend because of the Senator's advocacy for gay rights. The poor woman was, I'm afraid, bamboozled.

After his reelection, Senator Smith quickly betrayed his gay and lesbian constituency by voting to end debate on (and thus, clear the way for passage of) the "Protection of Marriage" amendment that defined marriage as being between one man and one woman. One hopes that any so-called "Log Cabin" Republicans in Oregon won't be fooled by Senator Smith's frequent appearances on the organization's web site.

Towing the line for GOP Senate Leadership

Most of the time, Senator Smith is little more than a back-bencher in the Senate Republican Caucus. But GOP leadership can always count on him to come out publicly with some manufactured outrage when it is most useful. As a so-called "moderate" he lends the appearance of centrism to the hypocrisy that Republican law-makers continually peddle to the American electorate.

Two brief examples:

When former Clinton national security adviser Sandy Berger came under criminal investigation for removing classified documents from the National Archives, Senator Smith found his way in front of the cameras to express his outrage. Outrage over the incident is, I suppose plausible. But consider this: Mr. Berger was involved in John Kerry's campaign for president, and the polls were tight. Was Senator Smith (the "moderate") trotted out to distract from the fact that Tim Russert was at that time being compelled by a federal judge to testify about what he knew regarding the leaking of the name of a CIA agent by a high-level member of the Bush administration? And where was Senator Smith's outrage over that sordid incident?

And, going all the way back to the impeachment trial of President Clinton, when certain moderate Republican senators publicly stated that they would vote for acquittal, who was it that appeared at the side of then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, to announce that he would vote to convict, and thereby kept the impeachment effort from collapsing? None other than Gordon Smith.

On accountability in government

Senator Smith will generally respond to written inquiries addressed to his office. I've written Senator Smith many times, and he has always responded (albeit with the placation and vagaries that all politicians use). There is one inquiry I posed, however, to which Senator Smith has never responded, despite repeated letters and messages:

Do you believe there is an appearance of a conflict of interest in that Vice-President Dick Cheney is receiving a salary en absentia from his former employer, Halliburton, at the same time that Halliburton and its subsidiaries are being awarded no-bid government contracts for work in Iraq?

If you believe that there is the appearance of a conflict of interest, will you call for investigations and congressional oversight of the situation? If you do not believe there is the appearance of a conflict of interest, can you please explain your position?

One can only wonder why the Senator finds these questions unworthy of response.

Summa

Oregonians need leadership that reflects our independence of thought. We do not need a senator that meekly follows the line dictated by GOP leaders, straying only when it is safe to do so. I hope our state will recognize how poorly she is served by her junior senator, and vote next year to remove him from office.