Posted on 05/25/2007 3:57:33 AM PDT by Baladas
Laura Belin plans to take her kids to a Memorial Day parade Monday. But there, at the urging of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, the mom from suburban Des Moines, Iowa, expects to join others protesting the war in Iraq.
"Everyone knows that we're going to have to start getting our troops out," says Belin, 38. "And we need to start getting them out now."
Edwards has called on Americans to "honor the memory of the fallen by acting ... to end the war and bring (U.S. troops) home." He's also asking people to honor troops with prayer or even a word of thanks. But it's his appeal to speak out or attend holiday observances with signs saying "Support the Troops -- End the War" that has drawn protests from veterans and others.
"Memorial Day has always been a day for honoring those who've given their lives for the country," says John Sommer, executive director of the American Legion's Washington office. "It's just totally unbelievable that someone would want to politicize the day the way Sen. Edwards has."
Edwards' holiday offensive is his latest surge against the war. According to some analysts, it's also a gamble.
This month, he ran TV ads in Washington and Iowa urging the Democratic-controlled Congress to defy President Bush's veto of a bill that set deadlines for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. He dismissed attempts to compromise as a "concession."
"He more and more seems to be running as this year's Howard Dean," says Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Des Moines' Drake University. Dean, a Democrat running in 2004, became the favorite of anti-war activists, but failed to win his party's nomination.
Questionable timing
There's little doubt the war is unpopular.Polls show two-thirds of Americans oppose it. A Des Moines Register poll this week found it the top concern among likely Democratic caucus-goers in a state that's key to Edwards' hopes of winning nomination.
War supporters acknowledge the right to protest. They just question Edwards' timing.
"It shows poor taste and poor judgment to choose a day that we set aside to honor the men and women who have made the supreme sacrifice," says Bob Dionne, commander of an American Legion post in Manchester, N.H. "There's 364 other days he could choose."
On a blog, Edwards called Memorial Day "exactly the right time" to protest the war. Campaign manager David Bonior calls it "an important time to raise the consciousness of the country."
"(Veterans) fought to guarantee our freedom so people could actually express their views and raise their voices," says Bonior. "That doesn't mean we can't talk about the war and the necessity of bringing our troops home."
Charlotte's Diane Frederick agrees.
For more than two weeks, the regional coordinator for the liberal MoveOn.org has helped build and paint more than 3,400 crosses, one for every American killed in Iraq. This weekend, she and other activists plan to erect them in a Statesville park.
"We're remembering people who have lost their lives," says Frederick. "To me, it's to honor them, not to blame anybody, but just to reflect on this loss."
Setting himself apart
Even some liberals question Edwards' timing.
Joe Conason, a columnist for Salon.com, wrote that many veterans have joined the ranks of war critics. Many, he wrote, "believe that antiwar displays on (Memorial Day) are at best insensitive, reviving bad memories of the Vietnam era."
"If people are taking a look at an alternative point of view," he told the Observer, "why would you do something that repels them?"
Some see Edwards' move as a another way to distinguish himself from top rivals, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.
"(Democratic) candidates all have a strong opinion against the war," says Bill Carrick, a California-based Democratic strategist. "(Edwards) is obviously trying to assert that he has a stronger position against the war than they do."
In few places could that be as important as in Iowa.
"The contest where he absolutely must do very well is Iowa, which is a close contest ... and where the Democratic Party is pretty left," says Washington-based analyst Stuart Rothenberg. "It's about Iowa, and the peace sentiment is strong out there."
It is with Laura Belin. "Right now," she says, "(Edwards) has the strongest position on the war."
Latest Iowa Poll
A Des Moines Register Poll this week shows John Edwards leading his Democratic presidential rivals in Iowa.
It showed Edwards with support of 29 percent of likely Iowa Caucus-goers. Sen. Barack Obama was at 23 percent and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at 21 percent.
On the Republican side, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney led with 30 percent. Arizona Sen. John McCain was next with 18 percent and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani third with 17 percent.
The margin of error is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points
She is a useful idiot and is doing the work of our enemies.
And a disgrace to our state.
Our local talk radio guy replayed some of Silky Ponie’s statements from October of 2001.
He had adamant support for Bush and went on about Saddam's WMDs including the nuclear threat that Iraq posed. It was really quite stunning. Edwards said he would never drop support for Bush to make political points.
Quotes, please.
Ever notice that liberals who start off with 'Everyone knows' do not have the ability to put a truthful statement behind that.
Everybody knows = I know nothing.
"The war is unpopular" is a meaningless phrase. Of course no one likes war. It would be really nice if Al Qeada would stop killing people...then we could end this quite quickly. But the media isn't asking something like "should Al Qeada stop killing people?" because the answer is obvious. Instead they phrase their poll questions to inspire controversy and to steer public opinion.
Instead of asking "do you like this war?", they should be forthright and ask, "should America ignore the threat imposed by Al Qeada, allow Iraq to collapse into complete anarchy, allow militant fundamentalist Jihadists to disrupt our main source of fuel, forever damage the reputation of our military and mark America as a weak target which would further encourage future attacks on American citizens by leaving Iraq?"
should America ignore the threat imposed by Al Qeada Illegal immigrants
should America ignore the threat imposed by Al Qeada drug smugglers
should America ignore the threat imposed by Al Qeada The United States Congress
Shall I continue?
anyone who blindly follows things at Edwards urging is an idiot! no other way to put it. this is where the ignorant need to be educated. this is a weekend to set aside differences and honor those who made it possible for those coddled few who have no idea what it is like or the sacrifices made to go out and speak however they want.....
crass? insensitive....and just plain ungrateful and rude!
The left has no shame.
To them “it’s all about me”.
The real objection to Edwards should be that he is zanny socialist whose center piece is class warfare. Here he adds to his comic position with is ranting against the rich claiming that the wealthy do not pay their fair share of taxes. Edwards is wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of the people he is trying to fool.
Count him out.
O Bama is so far to the left he is even more radical than Teddy Kennedy and Hillary Clinton. The brutal political truth is that the U. S. is not yet ready for a black (mixed-race) president. Count him out too.
That really leaves only Hillary as the flag bearer for the Democrats. Her baggage of scandal and the fact that she has been a dedicated Marxist socialist since the 60s makes her, I believe, unacceptable to most Americans.
Remember that the mid-term elections that put Democrats in power was not a broad change in voter attitude. What put Democrats in power was the election of a few contested local district seats that gave Democrats the power to elect a Democrat Speaker of the House.
To no one’s surprise Democrats have done nothing to correct the ills they have been blaming Republicans for. The Democrat’s winning of the Congress was perhaps its last Hurrah. The party is in serious decline.
Republicans are not doing so well either except that the Republican party can be rejuvenated by a strong Reagan-like president elected in 08.
The Democrat party can be saved only by a purge of the entire party leadership and a sharp 180 turn back to the right.
I will look today...
Can you believe the Charlotte Disturber still doesn’t understand why I will never subscribe to their tabloid again.
“There’s little doubt the war is unpopular.Polls show two-thirds of Americans oppose it.”
They take a poll questioned something like, “Do you approve of the way the war is being handled”? When they get no’s they spin it to “2/3 oppose Iraq war!”.
2/3 of the country does NOT want us out of Iraq to let the place fester.
It'd be a damn shame if somebody just happened to run a bushhog up through that park after those crosses got planted. Yup. Damn shame.
These people have no shame. They'd be standing on a street corner on December 7, 1944 with signs saying "US OUT OF PHILIPPINES" and "NO BLOOD FOR RUBBER".
}:-)4
Is this the same David Belin family from Des Moines ?
Edwards is oblivious to reality, as the obvious contrast between his lifestyle and his rhetoric demonstrate.
If he uses Memorial Day to protest, he might as well fold the tent and go home.
No loss.
Thanks - I always like to be able to “smear” these guys with their own words.
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