Finding A Primary Challenger For Ric Keller

If you would be willing to support a primary challenger to Ric Keller, Republican from Orlando, a candidate who was for victory in Iraq, as well as experienced in both war and government and with an advanced degree in political science, please send me an e-mail stating the amount you would be willing to commit to immediately send to such a candidate upon his announcement of candidacy.

I think Ric Keller is in big trouble for having joined the White Flag Republicans. I was sent this this afternoon:

About an hour ago I read your post and followed the links regarding my congressman, Ric Keller. I am mad enough to spit nails, and sent him this email: ++++++++++ I have voted for you consistently since 2000 as a resident of the 8th district of Florida.

This past November when you broke your promise and decided to run for another term after this one completes, my faith in you began to waver. To me that signaled you were no longer "one of us" but have become just another typical political hack, of which Washington DC seems to have all too many already (And yes, I know exactly what that means having lived and worked in New Jersey until moving to Orlando in 1998. Due to the NJ State related job I had at the time, I was able to see the 1993 gubernatorial campaign by Jim Florio from the inside, and I did NOT like what I learned - about either party).

Unfortunately your speech yesterday (Feb 14, 2007 regarding the Iraq Surge) confirmed that for me in no uncertain terms.

Reference: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/14/AR2007021401576.html

Your pandering to short term, media driven, popular opinion does not win any points with educated and thinking constituents like myself.

I particularly found your comment "The body bags were permanent" to be offensive and quite frankly, stupid. For a moment I thought I was listening to DNC talking points.

You were sent to congress by people like me because of our belief you would support the president and this nation's foreign policy by making decisions and laws, as well as keep the machinery of the federal government moving. This means that in a time of war you need to be serious, refrain from grandstanding and work to keep our troops supplied with the material and morale that they need to get the job done. Your speech yesterday accomplished none of these objectives and was a waste of hot air and good time.

Your comments yesterday broke faith with the commitment of this nation to a war we are involved with whether you like it or not and that we must win. This is a dereliction of your duty and you are no better than a Clinton administration that utilized opinion polls to determine foreign policy. For the record, this is my "single issue" and I want you to know that you have lost my confidence in your ability and as such my vote.

Our troops are well aware of the debate going on in this country. Our enemies are watching very closely too and surely you have to be aware of this. If not, you are either a liar, or too stupid to hold further office. You did no good service to our country yesterday Mr. Keller, and I am ashamed I voted for a shallow fool like you.

I will under no circumstances cast a vote to send you back to congress in 2008 and very much look forward to supporting a primary challenger to supplant you. I have never spent a dime to support a political candidate, but I definitely will now - for your future opponent.

This is what I wrote to him:

It was with abject horror that I heard today that you have voted for this colossal insult to our military, president, and the general idea of doing something productive as my representative in the United States Congress. I am referring of course to the "non-binding" (translated cowardly) resolution against a troop surge in Iraq. I am an American, and the thought of losing a war because of stunts such as this bill disgusts me. I have voted for you two times and I expect you to represent the values that you ran on, and I mean the conservative values. Because I am away at the University of Florida, I have not been able to monitor everything you have been doing as of late in the Congress, however news of this vote made it all the way up to the national level.

In addition to writing this email, I have also called your office and spoken with one of your staff. They explained to me that you support the military but you feel that the Iraqis must take responsibility themselves. Well if you feel that way then you need to introduce a binding resolution to defund the war. If I had wanted someone acting like a Democrat in Congress for me then I would have voted for the authentic article. I am beside myself with every synonym of the word disgust over this. You have embarrassed myself, this party, our president, our military, and most of all, the principals that this country was founded upon.

I have never been provoked to write a letter before to my congressman but this was unavoidable. As I am writing this I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that you voted for it. The military needs to stabilize Iraq. Iraq can care for themselves when they don't have to worry about their recruits getting murdered in terrorist attacks. The way for this to happen is for our presence to be of the nature as to overwhelm the enemy. If we need to send 20, 30, 40, or 100,000 more troops to get the job done then you should vote to do it. Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odiern have asked for these troops. I would surmise that a general and a lieutenant general have a good idea about what they are talking about, Mr. Keller. Or do you know better about running a war than generals do?

This is the United States of America, not France, and we win wars and finish the job. We do whatever it takes to finish the job. Would you have had us pull out of West Germany because they couldn't take care of themselves against the Soviets? I doubt you would so why are you are advocating to run away from pathetic insurgents when the Iraqis need us the most? We did not start this war but we will finish it and I seriously hope you reconsider your position for the future of whatever you choose to run for because I would rather write in the Orlando Sentinel editorial board for a race than someone who would side with Nancy Pelosi when the lives of millions depending on our military hang in the balance.

Then there is the issue of voting on anything non-binding. This is a waste of time. You are there to vote for things that are meaningful and by that, I mean you are there to make law. You are not there to say what you think about things, you are there to make things happen. So, if you want to tell the Iraqis to take care of themselves, then you need to vote on binding resolutions. You need to make laws that defund this war. Do I want you to do that? Absolutely not. But I can at least respect you for standing up for what you believe if you do.

As the editorial cartoonist of the Independent Florida Alligator, I am going to draw a cartoon about this debacle for Monday's edition. You will be able to view it at this address:

http://www.alligator.org/pt2/opinion.php

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, it will likely sum up my opinions better than this simple email. And there will be 35,000 copies of it in circulation.

Then there is the issue of terrorists hearing that people like you are saying that we should not send in more troops to take care of the job. You think that does not encourage them? You are unwise to not see that such political stunts as this one are perfect propaganda for those who would be planting IEDs on the road blasting the blood of your fellow Americans all over the sand.

We must keep our resolve and we must not show fear or any unwillingness to make sure that every single enemy of a free Iraq and a free civilization will be put in the ground. If I were an Iraqi and I saw that you were saying that we were leaving, I would NOT want to sign up for the military. Would you? I cannot answer that question but I think that you should probably think that one over.

Again, I cannot stress how much I am embarrassed by this vote but now I am repeating myself. Here's to a more conservative and productive continued service for you as my representative.

Respectfully

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