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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Responsible Plan, one week later

Last monday, Darcy Burner and a cadre of excellent congressional challengers unveiled the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq (PDF). In doing so, they also unveiled a website where you, me, and anyone else who cares to can endorse the plan themselves.

Now that a week has gone by, I thought it would be good to check in and see how things are going. Here are some selected portions of Darcy's response:
Whenever I speak to voters in the 8th District, they ask me what I intend to do to end the war in Iraq. At first I did not have a good answer. I kept waiting for one to come out of Washington, DC, but it did not happen. I got tired of waiting.

We've been waiting for five years for a top down solution, and at this point it is painfully obvious that it is not going to happen. Just yesterday we passed another grim milestone: 4,000 dead. Almost 30,000 other Americans have been injured, and well over 100,000 Iraqis have died. So I decided to initiate an effort to change the conversation on national security. That conversation has been limited for far too long by discussions of military tactics, such as the surge, instead of the real conversation that American public and our public officials need to have.

Where do we go from here? How do we bring our troops home, and redirect the hundreds of billions that are being spent on the war to solving the many problems we face at home? How do we correct the mistakes that led to this mess? How do we get out of Iraq responsibly? This is the conversation the public has been hungry for.

That is what this plan--and this effort--sets out to do. Last Monday in Washington, DC, I put forward "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq". Nine other congressional candidates from around the country had input into the effort, and several of them - Donna Edwards from Maryland, Chellie Pingree from Maine, Tom Perriello from Virginia, Jared Polis from Colorado and Sam Bennett from Pennsylvania-- joined me there. Others, like George Fearing here in Washington State or Eric Massa in New York, were unable to attend but have been early and enthusiastic supporters.

Since Monday, the response to the plan has been very overwhelmingly positive. The number of candidates that have endorsed the plan has been growing daily. Currently, 33 candidates have now endorsed the plan, including several U.S. Senate candidates. Both Democratic Senate candidates in Oregon have signed on, and the Republican incumbent there, Gordon Smith, has expressed agreement with much of it through his spokesperson. Some top national security experts, like Rand Beers, who served on the National Security Council under Reagan, Clinton and during both Bush presidencies has reacted positively. People are hungry for a responsible way out, and this plan offers that.
Of the 33 candidates she mentions, I would like particularly to call out Jeff Merkley of Oregon.

Jeff, for those who don't know him, has been in the Oregon legislature for some time now, most recently as Speaker of the House. Presently he is pursuing a bid to capture the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Gordon Smith.

I want to single out Mr. Merkley for particular recognition because he was one of the first candidates to step up and endorse the plan after it was released.

He did so one week ago today, less than twenty four hours after the plan went public. In a nation where we expect candidates to be cautious, circumspect, and poll-driven, Mr. Merkley showed the kind of leadership and true courage of his convictions that is a hallmark of our latest crop of House and Senate challengers: showing leadership even before being elected, having ideals that truly reflect the constituencies they hope to represent, and understanding that the only way to advance those ideals is to stand up for them publicly and without hesitation.

Jeff had this to say upon announcing his endorsement of the Responsible Plan:
"I opposed this war publicly from the very beginning. It's now long past time to bring our sons and daughters home, repay the debt we owe our veterans, and restore America's standing in the world," said House Speaker Jeff Merkley said. "Gordon Smith and the Bush Administration led us into this war and have never offered a plan to get us out. Smith has manipulated and confused the media and the public and done nothing to bring an end to this war."
Speaking of Senator Gordon Smith--after reading through the Responsible Plan, Smith spokesman R.C. Hammond said, that it "read like Gordon Smith wrote it." Which I can only say begs the question of why, then, didn't he?

We need more, many more, folks like Darcy Burner and Jeff Merkley in Congress. If you can, please show them some love. Here is Darcy's donation page, and here is Jeff's.

UPDATE (Andrew): Our Oregon readers already know this, but I want to clarify for our Washington readers that there is a contested Democratic primary going on down in Oregon which will be decided on May 20th.

The two main candidates are Speaker Jeff Merkley and activist Steve Novick.

Novick has also endorsed the Responsible Plan; his campaign issued their news release at about the same time Jeff Merkley's campaign did.

Darcy's campaign has told NPI that they believe the argument over whichever candidate was "first" is irrelevant - they're just happy both candidates are signed on to the plan. From their perspective, both candidates joined the effort simultaneously, so no one was "first" in that respect.

Since Darcy's campaign put this project together, we'll echo their sentiment in regards to this dispute. I have changed the wording of the post above slightly to note that Merkley was "one of the first" to sign on The Responsible Plan, because we know that's indisputable. I've linked to Novick's site in this update to be fair.

As to the matter of who started talking to who first - that's something we can't settle even if we wanted to.

Merkley and Novick supporters are free to discuss this in the thread, but please be respectful...we don't want to have to delete any comments.

Comments:

Blogger PDXPerspectives said...

I could have sworn I read that Merkley's primary opponent, Steve Novick, was actually the first US Senate candidate anywhere in America to sign onto the plan.

That would have put him ahead of Merkley.

Novick's donation page could use some love too.

March 25, 2008 11:05 AM  
Blogger Torrid said...

The first to announce their support was actually Steve Novick, not Merkley. Novick had been in discussions with the group for several days before the announcement, and in fact had many of the plan's details in his own, pre-existing war-ending plan. I'd ask you to redirect your praise for quick response to Mr. Novick, or at least note the correction.

March 25, 2008 11:52 AM  
OpenID bdunn said...

Nice try pdxperspectives torridjoe as the article says Merkley was the first Senate candidate to endorse the plan and had been talking with the Burner campaign before its release.

"i could have sworn" isn't really credible evidence.

Thanks Jason for pointing out a truly deserving US Senate candidate in Jeff Merkley who has the national security experience to know both how to get us out of Iraq and prevent stupid wars in the future.

March 25, 2008 12:24 PM  
Blogger Carla said...

The Burner Campaign confirmed for us the night before our announcement that Jeff Merkley is the first U.S. Senate challenger to sign on to "A Responsible Plan".

This is all "inside baseball" campaign stuff, obviously. In any case, those are the facts.

Incidentally, I made personal overtures to the Burner campaign on this months ago, when I first heard that it was going to be drafted.

Carla--Netroots Outreach, Jeff Merkley for Oregon.

March 25, 2008 12:33 PM  
Blogger Torrid said...

bdunn, what are you talking about? There is no debate regarding who announced their support first. Read the Oregonian's account to note that Merkley followed Novick's announcement. Whether Merkley had been talking with Burner before release isn't really relevant; as I pointed out the Novick had been doing so for a week as well.

In any case, you are contradicting the writer of this post:
"he was the first candidate to step up and endorse the plan after it was released. He did it one week ago today, less than 24 hours after the plan went public."

That's exactly when Novick did it--only earlier. :)

March 25, 2008 12:35 PM  
Blogger Chris Greiveldinger said...

I was pleased to see how quickly Merkley signed on to the Responsible Plan, and it's great that he's getting recognized for it here. If Gordon Smith is so in touch with the plan why hasn't he signed on to it himself? I'm looking forward to putting Speaker Merkley in the U.S. Senate so he can work to end the war--something Smith hasn't done.

March 25, 2008 1:09 PM  
Blogger Portlandia said...

Shouldn't it be a matter of record who was first to announce support for the plan?

We shouldn't even be arguing about it.

And I would say this: I'm a known Novick supporter, but I commend Merkley for jumping on this so quickly. If they did it within hours, kudos to them both.

But let's not pretend that only Merkley stepped up and endorsed the plan, or than only Merkley is entitled to "some love."

March 25, 2008 1:33 PM  
Blogger Kevin said...

What matters is the plan to get us out of Iraq.

One interesting little bit of trivia is that the Council for a Livable World endorsed both Darcy Burner and Jeff Merkley - two of only fifteen such endorsements in this year's Congressional races.

March 25, 2008 5:57 PM  

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