Archive for the 'VoteVets' Category

Jon Soltz: Horne is taking down McConnell

Joe Sonka December 13th, 2007

Jon Soltz, Chair of VoteVets, has a column up about how he thinks Andrew Horne is going to stomp all over our boy Mitchie next year. His post is also up on DailyKos, so go recommend it, if you’re so inclined)

As an Iraq war veteran, today is pretty exciting for me and all the other vets I talk with. Today, one of our own took the first step towards knocking off Senator Mitch McConnell in 2008. Iraq War Veteran Andrew Horne jumped into the race.

Andrew Horne, who had to step down as a Senior Advisor to VoteVets.org to run this race, not only has a good shot to beat McConnell, he has a tremendous shot. That’s got us Iraq veterans pumped because not only will we have a voice in the Senate that comes from our own ranks, but we’re also going to take down the guy who is the single most responsible person in Congress for the war in Iraq, as well as the defeat of pro-troop, pro-veteran legislation.

Let’s take just a small walk through the record of Mitch McConnell (Warning: Hold your nose):

• He led the filibuster of the Webb-Hagel “Dwell Time” amendment that would have given our exhausted troops as much time at home as in the field.

• He led the all-night filibuster of legislation that would have set us on a real change of course in Iraq, that would have allowed us to give Iraqis more responsibility, while freeing U.S. forces to take on the real threat to America — al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

• He consistently worked his side of the aisle against the same veterans he’s been fighting tooth and nail to keep in Iraq, beating back amendments to ensure a funding stream for veterans’ health care, increase Veterans’ medical services by closing corporate tax loopholes, and guarantee full-funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

• And, most recently, he callously quipped that we ought not feel too bad about those who died in Iraq, because, afterall, “remember, these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers.”

Andrew Horne is going to serve Kentucky well. I’ve known Andrew for a couple of years now, and he’s one of the brightest, toughest guys I’ve ever encountered. But, more importantly, he’s fiercely loyal. At any point over the last couple of years, he could have broken away from the veterans movement and tried to make a name for himself. But, he didn’t. He felt a profound sense of responsibility to those he was fighting alongside, something that we all feel in the military. Kentucky can trust that he’s never going to abandon them and “go Washington” like Mitch McConnell.

But, more importantly for the readers on here, Andrew’s candidacy represents the best shot beat the largest obstruction to veterans care and responsible use of the military that Congress has ever seen.

For all McConnell has done to hurt troops and veterans, how sweetly ironic it is that it’s going to be an Iraq War Marine that sends him packing.

That’s why, today, I’m truly, truly excited.

Read more about Andrew and consider making at donation at www.AndrewHorne.org

Moser: Kentucky at War

Matt Gunterman September 13th, 2007

The Nation Cover “Kentucky at War”

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.”

[...]

VoteVets: Petraeus doesn’t know; what does that tell us

Matt Gunterman September 12th, 2007

Here’s a video put together by VoteVets; it captures the frustration of some choice Republican senators towards General Petraeus, along with the general’s now-infamous response to Senator John Warner’s line of questioning: “I don’t know.”

KY Democrat Interviews Potential 2008 Challenger Lt. Col. Andrew Horne

Joe Sonka September 6th, 2007

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.

Next Week: Big Iraq Summer Protests in KY

Joe Sonka August 21st, 2007

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:

Sign Up for Take a Stand DayThe "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)

Horne on MSNBC, Standing up for Troops

Joe Sonka August 17th, 2007

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

Lt. Col. Andrew Horne was on MSNBC last night, speaking about the 26-year high in suicides rates among soldiers. It is an absolute tragedy the way our government has treated our soldiers, those willing to give their lives in order to protect our country. From a government that started the war on political calculation and deception, to the abysmal planning and comprehension of the type of warfare our troops would be faced with, to the stubbornness of our president and Congress to admit their errors and set up an exit strategy, to the continual deployment of soldiers for their FOURTH tour of duty already. They deserved better.

And Mitch McConnell has been there rubber-stamping Bush’s folly the entire way. Filibustering timetables, and even worse, filibustering the Webb Amendment to give our troops the proper rest and rotation between tours of duty that they deserve. This is what is causing so much strain on our troops. They are continually torn away from their families in order to be thrown into the middle of a religious civil war in intense and confusing urban warfare. The stress this has caused is just staggering. Last year 99 active duty soldiers in the Army killed themselves and over 900 tried to kill themselves.

But Mitch McConnell would rather filibuster legislation to restore proper troop rotation. Sick.

And once again, it’s great to see a prominent KY public figure standing up for our troops. Kudos to Horne. I really wish he would have some more help from our public officials.

Mitch is too scared to face Iraq Summer protest

Joe Sonka July 29th, 2007

(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.

Mitch Continues to Lose Military Support Back Home

Joe Sonka July 15th, 2007

(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?

Jim Webb Andrew Horne Slams McConnell on his Military Readiness Amendment Vote

Joe Sonka July 12th, 2007

Today, Kentucky Marine Andrew Horne showed how you fight back against chickenhawks like Mitch McConnell. Here’s today’s press release by VoteVets.org:

July 11 2007

MARINE LT. COL. (RET.) ANDREW HORNE, IRAQ VETERANS NATIONWIDE SLAM

KENTUCKY’S SEN. McCONNELL FOR VOTE AGAINST MILITARY READINESS

NEW YORK - The largest political group of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, VoteVets.org, today slammed Kentucky’s U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell for voting against a bipartisan measure offered by U.S. senators Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) that would have helped guarantee American troop readiness. The amendment to the annual defense authorization bill in the Senate, would have guaranteed that our troops received as much time at home as the length of their deployment, and that National Guard and Reserves received three years at home following one-year deployments.

The GOP Senate minority, led by McConnell, held the bipartisan amendment hostage via filibuster, and McConnell voted against breaking the filibuster, thereby disallowing consideration of the amendment on the floor.

“Senator McConnell is a disgrace to those of us in uniform,” said Iraq war veteran Andrew Horne, a Kentuckian and senior advisor to VoteVets.org. “The amendment he shot down was pro-troop, pro-military and pro-national security. It would’ve helped ensure that we ease the burden on our men and women in uniform, at a time when our military is breaking. It would’ve helped rebuild our forces, which have far too many units that are not combat ready. And it would’ve allowed us to retain more National Guard units here at home, to deal with the next Katrina or tornados in Kentucky, or a terror attack.

“Those troops with extended deployments who are turning right around to go back overseas know that today, Senator McConnell laughed in their faces,” Horne added.

# # #

VoteVets.org is a pro-military organization committed to the destruction of terror networks around the world, with force when necessary. It represents the Voice of America’s 21 Century Patriots - those who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. It primarily focuses on nonpartisan education and advocacy on behalf of troops, veterans and their families.

Does Andrew Horne sound like a current kick-ass Senator from the demographically similar Southern State of Virginia?

Have we found our challenger to Mitch McConnell next year?

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)