Not to change the subject from Sen. Mitch McConnell’s smearing of a 12 y.o. boy and his disastrous handling of the political fallout, but the nation is mired in war in Iraq and young Americans are dying every day as Pres. George W. Bush tries to save face from his failed military policies.

There’s a new poll out from Gallup that shows that only 34 percent of Republicans think the war in Iraq is going better.

And, from the press release below from Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, you can tell there aren’t many Republicans in Kentucky willing to stand up for this military fiasco that is breaking our nation’s armed forces.

October 17, 2007

Pro-War ‘Rally’ in Northern Kentucky Draws Few Supporters, More Opponents of Iraq War

“Vets for Freedom” Grassroots Campaign Turns Out Single-Digit Support for Bush’s Iraq War Policy as Kentuckians Call on Sen. McConnell to Bring an End to the War

Walton, KY – More evidence of the broad opposition to the war in Iraq, in Kentucky and across the country, came to light yesterday as the “Vets for Freedom” event in Northern Kentucky drew more opposition than support for the organization’s stated cause. What had been touted as a “rally” in support of President Bush’s war in Iraq [Cincinnati Enquirer, 10/4/2007] turned out exactly 21 people, many of whom were opposed to the war. In fact, opponents of the President’s reckless Iraq war policy outnumbered supporters, and much of the discussion focused on bringing an end to the war.

“Vets for Freedom” had been billed as a large scale grassroots campaign when it was launched in August in response to the mounting anger and grassroots activity against the war taking place across the country, as well as Americans Against Escalation in Iraq’s highly successful Iraq Summer campaign [Politico, 8/9/2007; The Conservative Voice, 8/14/2007]. They’ve been mostly silent since then though, and last night may have revealed why.

“As any veteran will tell you, our troops and their families have paid an enormous price for the President’s endless Iraq war policy. This summer was the bloodiest yet for our service men and women, and over 3,800 American troops have lost their lives since the war began. Kentucky’s veterans and military families have had enough of Senator McConnell’s blind allegiance to President Bush’s failed war policy, and tonight we saw this,” said Brian Smith of Louisville, a veteran of the U.S. Army who attended the event to make sure that the voices of Kentucky veterans opposed to the war were heard as well. “The groundswell of opposition to this endless war reaches all corners of Kentucky, and includes veterans and those with loved ones serving in Iraq. Senator McConnell has stood by President Bush and the war in Iraq for five years, and I think he’s probably finding it pretty lonely.”

Anger has reached a boiling point across the country as the President and Republican allies in Congress led by Sen. McConnell continue to stay the course on a failed war policy while Iraq is bogged down in a religious civil war. More than 70-percent of the American public believes it’s time to bring an end to the war in Iraq. Americans Against Escalation in Iraq harnessed that anger this summer with a nationwide, 10-week long campaign with nearly 100 organizers in 15 states and 40 congressional districts to turn up the heat on Republican members of Congress who have opposed setting a timeline to bring a safe and responsible end to the war in Iraq. In response, a couple of White House allies including “Vets for Freedom” launched PR front campaigns to try and shore up support among Republicans whose constituents want an end to the war. Although “Vets for Freedom” claimed to be organizing in 25 states [Politico, 8/9/2007, Wednesday’s Northern Kentucky event was one of the few public events they’ve held and it clearly shows that the grassroots momentum and energy remains on the side of those calling for an end to the war.

###

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Bob Moser’s excellent analysis of the development of the movement to support the troops, end the war, and ditch Senator Mitch McConnell (R) has hit the stands.

The piece is too long to block quote here, but I’ll include excerpts particularly relevant to the Kentucky progressive blogosphere. You can read the entire article here.

Kentucky at War
Bob Moser

[…]

As summer–and McConnell’s recess vacation–approached, two new sets of nontraditional allies materialized to help LPAC bird-dog the senator, who makes his home in Louisville with his wife, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. Matt Gunterman, a 30-year-old rural Kentucky native and Yale University graduate student, launched the DitchMitch blog earlier in the year, bringing together a varied band of bloggers from around the state on a composite site with a common goal. And in June, two young native Kentuckians and a Navy veteran opened an Iraq Summer headquarters in Louisville, part of a national campaign by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI) to target key members of Congress with a homegrown antiwar message before they returned to Washington to resume the war debate.

By mid-August McConnell was sending out fundraising letters complaining about being harassed by “the ’60s antiwar movement on steroids.” But as the Republican kingmaker well knew, the reality was something altogether different from that old stereotype–and considerably more formidable.

Jim Pence is a 68-year-old, Salem-smoking, pickup-driving, self-proclaimed hillbilly from economically devastated Hardin County, retired after thirty-five years in the factory at the American Synthetic Rubber Corporation. Politically inactive until 2004, when Bush’s re-election and the war in Iraq spurred him to “vow to fight with every ounce of my strength from then on,” Pence now makes some of the freshest, funniest antiwar and political videos anywhere–and as a result, he’s become the unlikely heart and soul of Kentucky’s DitchMitch campaign.

Linking from his own Hillbilly Report website to DitchMitch and YouTube, Pence puts up snappy vignettes on subjects ranging from Kentucky’s annual bipartisan political hoedown at Fancy Farm–where McConnell made a hasty exit this year after being jeered by protesters carrying signs showing him as Bush’s hand puppet–to a fanciful take on Bush and Condoleezza Rice’s relationship, set to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight,” to a hard-hitting series of exposés of liquor-industry fundraising by Ron Lewis, the holy-rolling Congressman from Pence’s district. “I don’t know, I just disappear into them,” Pence says on a dog-day August morning, navigating Louisville traffic en route to the Iraq Summer office. “I stay up some nights till 4 and 5, editing these things.”

DitchMitch creator Gunterman, whose postgraduate goal is to fire up an Internet-based “Ruralution,” connecting grassroots progressives from rural America to spur political action, sees Pence as a prime example of the passion and wit that generally go untapped by Democrats and urban progressives. “There’s no one like Jim in the entire United States,” says Gunterman. “Not with his age and his ornery attitude. He is very much a hillbilly, and he’s reinvigorated the term.”

In his three years of crisscrossing Kentucky to publicize its antiwar and progressive insurgencies, Pence has also stirred up the state’s traditionally timid left-wingers. “When I first went out with my camcorder, I’d go up to people at peace rallies and ask them, ‘Would you like to say something to Mitch?’ and they’d just go, ‘Uhhh…’ Or even if they would say anything, they’d say, ‘But I don’t want my picture taken.’ I just kept saying, ‘The newspaper’s not even going to cover this, and if TV does, it’ll be for ten seconds. Whereas this video’s going up on YouTube tomorrow.’” As Pence kept filming and posting his increasingly popular videos, the activists opened up and embraced this new mechanism for showing that, yes, the military stronghold of Kentucky has a vigorous antiwar effort. “People are stepping out more than they would a few years ago,” Pence says. “Now I can’t get them to stop talking when they see that camera. People know me now, and for the most part they trust me–whether or not they should!”

While Pence and DitchMitch have inspirited Kentucky activists, they’ve also pushed the state’s more established media to take notice of the progressive groundswell. “DitchMitch gives us the power to hold the media accountable in Kentucky for the first time,” says 24-year-old Shawn Dixon, a native of rural western Kentucky who’s just started his first year at NYU law school. In 2004, when Dixon was working as deputy policy and communications director for Democrat Daniel Mongiardo’s uphill Senate challenge to Republican Jim Bunning, he spent much of the campaign in a state of frustration over Kentucky newspapers’ assumption that the incumbent would cruise to victory. “There was no recognition that this would be a competitive election and that this guy was beatable until about a month before the election, when it became impossible to ignore.” Bunning wobbled back to Washington with a slender 23,000-vote victory, but this time around, with LPAC continually raising eyebrows and DitchMitch helping to popularize the anti-McConnell movement, “the media don’t have a choice,” Dixon says. On the same day in late July that Louisville’s Courier-Journal ran a column about McConnell’s dip in popularity (below 50 percent approval), the Herald-Leader in Lexington ran a story, sixteen months before the election, titled “McConnell Vulnerable.”

That’s music to Pence’s ears. “It’s not just what he’s done to perpetuate this war,” says the high-tech hillbilly. “It’s what he hasn’t done for Kentuckians, with all his power, on healthcare and so many other issues that really matter to folks at their kitchen tables. We’re trying to cut through the kind of moral-values crap that McConnell’s been using for twenty-five years to get himself elected. We’re doing what we can to show the emperors without their clothes. And show that the folks who don’t like Mitch, and can’t stand this war, are just regular people like me who finally woke up and spoke up.”

[…]

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Coming to a newsstand near you: The Nation with Bob Moser’s cover story entitled “Kentucky at War,” which examines Kentucky’s progressive grassroots community and how it’s reshaping the political and ideological landscapes of that state — and doing so outside the rigid, tepid, and unresponsive party structures.

It’s gonna be a hell of a read!

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How do you know when an incumbent Senator is really starting to worry about his re-election? When he is so desperate to sling mud that he calls on a group, which didn’t run a particular ad, to come out and denounce that ad.

Today Senator McConnell came out and called on Americans Against the Escalation in Iraq to denounce an ad that ran in yesterday’s New York Times. The ad was sponsored by Moveon.org.

Huh? Come on Senator, now you’re grasping at straws.

While on the surface this move may seem like the usual political posturing we’ve come to expect from McConnell, his call to AAEI tells us much more about how he plays politics. Mitch McConnell is his own worst enemy and he knows it. If the 2008 KY Senate race were held on the merits, he would lose in a landslide. By making a threat to AAEI, McConnell is trying to divert attention away from himself, and his failed leadership, by throwing mud at AAEI and attempting to establish a fictional opponent.

This sequence of events also reminds us that no matter who McConnell’s opponent, he absolutely will do everything in his power to make the race about them. If the race is about McConnell, he loses. Period.

From the Courier Journal

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s re-election campaign has called on a group running a television commercial against him to denounce a full-page ad in yesterday’s New York Times paid for by one of the group’s affiliated political organizations.

(Please take note of the desperation. Just to clarify: McConnell publicly calls on AAIE, which runs its own ads, to denounce an ad they did not run, did not endorse, and did not sponsor.)

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Daniel Solzman of The Kentucky Democrat has a great interview with Lt. Col. Andrew Horne, who has been quite active this summer with Vote Vets, assisting the Iraq Summer Campaign, and continuing to pressure Mitch McConnell on his rubber stamping of Bush’s failed Iraq policy.

Some interesting comments in the interview, such as his discussion on how KY blogs have been able to coordinate with activists, using the wildly successful protests at Bellarmine, Mitch’s apartment and Berea as examples. He also discusses the 2008 race against McConnell, and what it would take to get him to join Stumbo in the Democratic primary next Spring.

Some excerpts:

DS: Did you ever outreach to bloggers on Kos or MyDD during your campaign? Also, do you have any thoughts on the way that blogs have revolutionized politics altogether?
AH: During the campaign I never personally initiated contact directly with any bloggers. I had some contact me and I know my supporters were very active in that regard.

I was and still am impressed with the way the blogs can disseminate information in a way that mobilizes people. However, there are blogs where the participants are simply talking but not getting involved. The important synergy is between the blogs and grass roots that can turn words into passion and then into action. A good example is the Iraq Summer Campaign. The blogs disseminated information across the state and the nation so that a small group of people in Berea, KY knew they were not alone in opposing the war and challenging McConnell to bring a responsible end to it. I have no doubt that some of those 100 people in Berea were there because they heard about 800 people in Louisville, KY or 400 in Boise, Idaho, or one of the other 40+ locations across the nation. That would not have happened without the blogs. The people in Berea did not hear about other events through the traditional media and would not have heard or seen the passion without YouTube and the blogs. I believe this trend will only continue as people who participated in the Iraq Summer Campaign and other similar causes adapt these tactics to their own agenda. I would call it non-linear activism.

…..

AH: If the right race comes around I am not done in politics. Regarding 2008 against McConnell, the encouragement I am getting is humbling but that is a race that should not be taken on lightly. Because of the amount and breadth of support I am getting I will take a very serious look at it, but in the end I will base my decision on what is best for my family and whether my candidacy will be in the interests of the people.

The entire interview is at The Kentucky Democrat.

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Kentucky may be a Red State now, but it’s turning Blue fast. When, folks in Kentucky decide to hold a war protest and then march to Senator Mitch McConnell’s house, it’s a good bet that times are a changing.
Hundreds of people gathered at Bellarmine University to protest the Iraq War and then 250 of them marched to Senator Mitch McConnell’s house to send Mitch a message.
Mitch had a few of his people there to counter the protest but they cut and ran when they saw they were out numbered, what a bunch of Wussies!!!!!!
Senator Mitch McConnell are ya listening????

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Next week, Louisville, Lexington and Newport will be holding the biggest Iraq Summer events of the month. The "Take a Stand Campaign" will hold large rallies on the 27th and 28th, the climax of the month-long effort to bring our troops home safe and hold Mitch McConnell accountable for his shameful rubber-stamping of Bush’s failed Iraq policy.

The Lexington rally will be held downtown in Phoenix Park, from 5 to 8 each night. The Louisville rally will be held at Bellermine University at Frazier Hall, same time. Some great speakers will be at both events, and we should get some bigtime media coverage. There will also be a rally at Newport on the Levee, so check that out in Northern KY.

From their website:

The "Take a Stand Campaign" is a nation-wide organizing drive to demand that members of Congress and the Senate take a stand with the vast majority of Americans who want a safe and responsible redeployment of American Forces from Iraq.

Across America, over 100 "Iraq Summer" organizers are working to involve thousands of ordinary Americans in an effort to pressure targeted members of Congress to vote to bring a safe end to the war.  This "Take A Stand Campaign" will culminate with "Take A Stand" town meetings to be held on August 28th, immediately before congress reconvenes.

There are lots of ways to get involved — from attending a Take a Stand town hall in your area to helping organize and spreading the word about the event. To sign up for an event near you, CLICK HERE. For more information about getting involved, contact Cammie Croft at cammie@iraqcampaign.org.

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

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Well, it looks like we’ve really gotten under someone’s skin.

Mitch McConnell is sending out fundraising letters to supporters in which he whines about the "liberals, radicals, far-left, unions, Hillary, Schumer, etc…" who are hounding him about his pathetic record and his obedience to corporate contributers and George W. Bush rather than his constituents in Kentucky. In fact, we are "the 60’s anti-war movement on steroids!". That’s probably the greatest unintentional complement I’ve ever received. I think I’ll have that put on my gravestone/obituary: "one of the leaders of the 60’s anti-war movement on steroids".

Anyway, Mitchy even gives a big shout out to the good folks at Ditch Mitch!

"Liberals on the internet have already created a website called "Ditch Mitch," and 6,000 radicals from across the nation have already signed up."

Hey, Mitchy, glad to see you’re reading the site! We feel humbled by your presence.

And as far as being a "radical", I wish. I don’t think you can have an 8-5 Mon-Fri non-political office job and be defined as "radical". But I aspire to prove you right someday, Mitchy. And we’re FAR more than 6,000, I can guarantee you that.

On second thought, maybe I’ll have "the leader of 6,000 liberal radicals" on my gravestone/obituary, that’s even better. (Though that honor technically should go to Matt Gunterman or Aniello, amongst a few others.)

And look what we have here. Why it’s Mitchy’s full faundraising letter, in all of its paranoid glory. It’s funny, you can almost smell the desperation in here. For Christ’s sake, have a little more dignity Mitchy.

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

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In today’s Enquirer, Patrick Crowley covers yesterday’s memorial service for Kentucky’s fallen soldiers in Iraq by the anti-war group Americans Against Escalation in Iraq. Crowley noted that the ceremony, which was held in front of Senator Mitch McConnell’s regional offices in northern Kentucky, “was simple yet somber.”

Sounding off on Shawn’s comments below about the importance and centrality of on-the-ground, grassroots efforts to defeat Mitch McConnell, this type of action is what will bring down this corrupt man in the end.

McConnell opponents protest
Focus is on his support for war
BY PATRICK CROWLEY

The ceremony was simple yet somber.

A dozen or so people standing in front of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Northern Kentucky office, holding gladioli and reading the names of the dead.

Justin Sims. Gregory Billiter. Christopher Warndorf. Jason Bishop. Ronnie Williams. Justin Scott.
ADVERTISEMENT

All U.S. soldiers from Northern Kentucky, all killed serving their country in Iraq.

They were recognized Wednesday afternoon - along with the other 52 fallen soldiers and Marines from Kentucky - as part of a protest aimed at McConnell, the Senate GOP leader and a supporter of the war.

The protest was organized by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, an anti-war group that has been distributing red signs around the state that read, “Support the Troops, End the War.”

Standing in front of the Fort Wright office building that houses McConnell’s field office the protesters took turns reading the names of each of the dead. They then took the 60 flowers - one for each of the soldiers - to McConnell’s third-floor office.

McConnell was not there; the protesters left the flowers and their names after talking briefly with one of the senator’s aides.

Laurie Wolbertom of Louisville, mother of a soldier deployed in Iraq, came to Northern Kentucky Wednesday to let McConnell know it is time to end the war.

She said her son, Cecil Wolbertom, is a 27-year-old first lieutenant. He landed in Iraq in October and his tour was recently extended to 15 months.

“He’ll be there two Thanksgivings, two Christmases, two New Year’s,” she said. “Our soldiers are put in a situation that is not winnable. Those people want to fight. We’re bogged down in the middle of a civil war. There’s no evidence to me that there is any way for success.”

The protest also was designed to put political pressure on McConnell, who is up for re-election next year.

“Mitch McConnell does hold a responsible position within the Congress,” said protester Edison Farmer of Louisville, a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

“We know he is not going to (change) on his own,” Farmer said. “If he is going to change at all it is for political reasons. We are trying to show him that it is in his best interest politically to get on board with the effort to bring a responsible end to this war.”

McConnell’s campaign has pointed out that Americans Against Escalation in Iraq has a political agenda to defeat Republicans, adding that some of its funding comes from organized labor and left-leaning groups such as MoveOn.org.

McConnell is also aware that he is being targeted.

Last week, when McConnell announced he had tapped U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis’ chief of staff Justin Brasell to run his re-election campaign, McConnell acknowledged the opposition’s efforts against him.

“Even though I don’t have an opponent, clearly I have opponents,” he said. “I don’t like allowing opposition campaigns or opposition in general to run with any response.”

Matt Gunterman, the developer of an anti-McConnell Web site, www.DitchMitchky.com, said the senator’s opponents are having an impact even though McConnell has yet to draw a Democratic opponent.

“We have demonstrated to the nation’s progressive community that there is staunch resistance to McConnell in Kentucky,” Gunterman said in an e-mail.

“Showing them that has reassured them that the goal of taking McConnell out is a worthy and reachable one.”

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(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

As Jim shows in his greatvideo below, protesters made a little visit to the Louisville home of Mitch McConnell yesterday. In fact, Mitch himself was home and able to witness this himself.

Additionally, Mitch would not leave his apartment because he was too much of a coward to even be seen by these protesters. The protesters stayed in front of his apartment from 11am to 11pm, and Mitch chose to hide there all day and night. Here are some of the details from an Iraq Summer press release yesterday below.

UPDATE: Iraq Summer is still there today but there are now counter-protesters. Yes, Mitch has called in the last few people that aren’t ashamed of him, because he’s so afraid of Iraq Summer. So if you’re in Louisville right now and want to be heard, go to the 2300 block of Dundee and join the fun.

UPDATE #2: The “counterprotesters” showed up 5 minutes before the news crews got there, and left immediately after the news crews left. But Iraq Summer has been there non-stop for McConnell’s entire weekend stay in Louisville. A righty site is reporting that Mitch supporters “drowned out” his supporters this weekend, which is laughable and typically dishonest. Jim will have a video up later showing the overwhelming support that the protesters had from those passing by. And unlike the fake counterprotesters, Iraq Summer will not let up on Mitch in August.

Kentuckians Picket at Mitch McConnell’s Doorstep Calling for an End to the War in Iraq

Anger has Reached a Boiling Point in Kentucky as Sen. McConnell Continues to Support the President’s Reckless War Policy; Sen. McConnell’s Solution – Stay Inside

 

Louisville, KY – In a preview of the anti-Iraq war fervor Senate Republicans will face over August recess, Kentuckians went door-to-door in Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Louisville neighborhood today, distributing yard signs urging Sen. McConnell to stand up to President Bush and bring an end to the reckless war in Iraq.  As part of the Iraq Summer campaign, constituents also stood outside Sen. McConnell’s home, holding up signs and greeting passersby.  The Kentuckians first arrived at McConnell’s house at 11 am Saturday morning and found Capitol Police standing guard outside the home. Nine hours later, Sen. McConnell has yet to come out from his home, apparently preferring to duck his constituents than address their concerns about his continued support for the President’s unending Iraq war policy.

 
Many of Sen. McConnell’s own neighbors came out to express their support for the Iraq Summer campaign and collect yard signs calling on the Senator to end the war in Iraq.  Cars driving by have been honking all afternoon to urge Sen. McConnell to bring our troops home.

 
“As Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell has led Republicans in blocking an end to President Bush’s failed Iraq war, so we came to him to show just how much anger there is in Kentucky over his continued support for an unending war in Iraq,” said Aniello Alioto, Kentucky Field Director for the Iraq Summer campaign, who was at Sen. McConnell’s house.  “The Iraq war has cost too much – in money, in resources, in lives.   After more than four years, over $400 billion spent, and the deaths of more than 3,600 American troops, it’s time for Sen. McConnell to bring our troops home.  Kentuckians are fed up with the President’s failed Iraq policy, and they’re fed up with Sen. McConnell failed leadership.”

 
Sen. McConnell’s continued support for the President’s Iraq policy and his obstruction of an end to the war have hurt his standing with voters back home.  A Survey USA poll released this week shows that Sen. McConnell’s approval has dropped below 50 percent for the third time this year.  Only 48 percent of Kentuckians approve of the way the senator is handling his job, while 44 percent disapprove, according the poll.  The Senator’s approval rating is now at its lowest point in two years of Survey USA polls.

 
“Sen. McConnell may think that if he just hides inside long enough, his constituents will just go away, but that’s not going to happen,” added Alioto.  “Opposition to Sen. McConnell’s support for this war is too high – anger has reached a boiling point in Kentucky, and across this state, people are demanding Sen. McConnell take a stand and end the President’s reckless war.  We’ll be rallying, holding events, writing letters and dogging Sen. McConnell all summer long, urging him to bring the troops home.  Sen. McConnell isn’t going to be able to duck his constituents forever.  If this is how he planned to deal with opposition to the war, he’s in for a long summer.”

 
“Senate Republicans should be quaking in their boots. The anti-Iraq war fervor is not unique to Kentucky. All across the country Senators who blocked an end to the war will be forced to face the consequences of their spineless votes during August recess. The only homecoming parade greeting these Republican Senators will be the parade of constituents demanding an end to the war in Iraq,” said Moira Mack, national spokeswoman for Americans Against Escalation in Iraq.

“Iraq Summer” is a nationwide, 10-week long campaign with nearly 100 organizers in 15 states and 40 congressional districts to turn up the heat on Republican members of Congress who have opposed setting a timeline to bring a safe and responsible end to the war in Iraq. The effort will culminate with a national “Take a Stand” day on August 28th, when members will have the opportunity to explain their stance on the war to their constituents in a town hall setting.

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(Crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

This morning the Lexington Herald-Leader ran a story about the immense strain that the Iraq War has had on the Ft. Campbell community. Once an area of uniform support for Bush and McConnell, military families are now beginning to question the nonsensical policies of Bush/McConnell. The 101st Airborne is now preparing for its 3rd deployment to Iraq, a rather remarkable fact, considering the war has only lasted a little over 4 years. And now these military families, that have sacrificed so much, have their Senator, Mitch McConnell, voting against and organize the filibuster of the Webb amendment, which would finally give our soldiers the proper rest and rotation they deserve before they are sent to Iraq. Scores of wounded soldiers all around the country, including Ft. Campbell, are getting injured in Iraq, coming home, and then finding out that they’re going right back to Iraq. It’s shameful what Mitch McConnell is doing, and the Ft. Campbell community is beginning to speak up against it. From the article:

A few days after the Sept. 11 attacks, Bo Ward put these words on the sign at his 12-chair barbershop near the main gate at Fort Campbell: "President Bush, show no mercy. Kick their ass!"

But almost six years later, and after more than four years of war in Iraq, Ward’s no longer so sure.

"Soldiers are tired; wives are tired; families are getting worn down," Ward said. "I know these boys can’t just pick up and come home from Iraq, but we need some kind of exit plan."

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s recent visit to Fort Campbell highlighted the emotional strain and frustration this southwestern Kentucky military town is feeling as the 101st Airborne Division prepares for its third deployment since the Iraq war began.

…

Pressure back home

McConnell, who is up for re-election next year, also faces increasing pressure in Kentucky from Democrats. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a national group, launched commercials this week that are highly critical of the senator’s leadership on the war and are aimed at eroding support in his home state.

Kentucky has given heavily to the war effort. Fort Campbell’s latest round of deployments will push to 23,000 the number of soldiers from the post serving in the Middle East conflict.

At Fort Campbell, the place Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, once called home, feelings about ongoing efforts in the Middle East and Republican leadership during the war are mixed.

On any given weekday, Ward’s barbershop, the fort’s largest, is a place where privates and senior officers sit side by side waiting for a trim. Ward chats with these soldiers as he snips away. And he says he thinks many of them now would be happy to see Washington set a date for leaving Iraq.

"Right now, you’ve got first sergeants and sergeant majors and E-7s and E-8s that are getting out of the army right and left," Ward said. "They’re saying ‘I’ve been deployed three times, I’m pressing my luck, I’m not going to give up my life and my family for something where there’s no end to it.’"

Karla Tucker works at a furniture store just down the street where many military families shop. She also says that many soldiers, exhausted by repeated deployments, are deciding not to "re-up" as their enlistments end.

"These young men and women are coming back with all kinds of problems; some of them are on anti-depressants; their marriages are in trouble," Tucker said. "There are families right and left that are deciding not to hang around; they’re leaving here and going home. I personally have not heard anyone say they’re going to re-enlist. It’s sad."

…

"Mitch McConnell is on the floor of the U.S. Senate every day standing in the way of changing policy in Iraq," said DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller. "He is the face of the party. When the party marches lock-step with the president’s policies, then in 2008 the voters will hold them accountable."

Mitch, who displayed how remarkably out of touch he is with his constituents on CNN last week, is going to hear this discontent more and more this summer, especially from Iraq Summer and VoteVets, as Kentucky veterans follow his every move.

Meanwhile, Marine vet Jim Webb shows how you deal with a repetitive talking point regurgitator and Bush enabler on Meet the Press.

Can you imagine Mitch McConnell having to debate a tough Marine veteran like this in his Senate race next year? Someone that actually has a DISTINGUISHED military record and can speak for the veterans and their families that have paid such a heavy price for their sacrifice to their country in Iraq?

Perhaps we can make that happen, eh?

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Wow. WOW. This ad is powerful. This hits Senator Mitch McConnell hard.

The press release is below:

Americans Against Escalation in Iraq

http://NoIraqEscalation.com

For Immediate Release
Contact: Moira Mack
July 12, 2007
(202) 261-2383

Congress Rebuffs Bush’s Rosy Progress Report
Passing Timeline to End the War
AAEI Launches New Ad Campaign

WASHINGTON – Thursday the U.S. House of Representatives voted 223-201 to pass a binding timeline to redeploy troops out of Iraq, but the vast majority of House Republicans rejected the wishes of their constituents by voting against the measure to bring an end to President Bush’s reckless Iraq policy. Instead of standing up to President Bush on his failed policy as demanded by the American public, House Republicans voted to continue endless war.

“AAEI is encouraged that the U.S. House of Representatives voted for a binding timeline, bringing us nearer to ending the reckless war in Iraq. After more than four years, over $400 billion spent, and more than 3,600 American deaths, the time is long passed due to bring our troops home safely from Iraq,” said Americans Against Escalation in Iraq spokeswoman Moira Mack.

“Unfortunately, the vast majority of House Republicans chose party loyalty over their constituents and the security of our country and they will pay the price back home. It is no longer simply an anti-Iraq war movement, this is an anti-Iraq war country and the American public won’t take this lying down,” warned Mack. “Through the ‘Iraq Summer’ campaign, Americans Against Escalation in Iraq will turn up the heat to an unprecedented level on endless war Republicans. We’ll be knocking on doors, continuing our Call Congress campaigns, holding rallies outside member offices and placing signs on lawns across this country demanding an end to this reckless war.”

More than seven in 10 Americans favor removing nearly all U.S. troops from Iraq by next April. [ USA Today 7/10/07]

“Despite the glaring failure of the Bush war policy and the overwhelming anti-Iraq war fervor sweeping the country, House Republicans once again voted for endless war proving they are woefully out of touch. Public opposition to President Bush’s policy of endless war in Iraq hardened months ago, but House Republicans continue to obstruct an end to the war. It is ludicrous that House Republicans would vote to continue the Bush policy of endless war the very same day the Bush administration confirmed its policy failed by every measure,” said Mack.

“As eyes turn to the Senate, AAEI is sending a clear message to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell with a paid advertising blitz ahead of the Senate vote. It is time that McConnell and his colleagues stop obstructing the timeline to responsibly end the war that the American public is demanding,” added Mack.

The new TV ad targets Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for his support of Bush in Iraq and for threatening to block a vote on a measure that would set a timetable for the safe and secure exit of US troops from Iraq (the Levin (D-MI) Reed (D-RI) Amendment). The ad, which will air in the Louisville and Lexington media markets beginning tomorrow, was released tonight by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq.

The ad shows footage of Bush from this morning’s press conference in which he states “We’re making progress” in Iraq – followed by several clips of him saying the same phrase at various points beginning in 2003. It then flashes reminders of the mounting American casualties and the cost of the war that accompanied this “progress.”

[…]

“Iraq Summer” has dispatched nearly 100 organizers to 15 states and 40 congressional districts to turn up the heat this summer on Republican members of Congress who have opposed setting a timeline to bring a responsible end to the war in Iraq. The intense10-week program is modeled on the “Freedom Summer” civil rights project. Organizers are operating in fifteen states from Nevada to Maine