Support for Dems Faltering on Multiple Fronts: UPDATED

Cross Posted from Wake up America.

First Front: Our Military along with Gold and Blue Star parents and families.

Gold Star parents, for those that are not familiar with the term, are parents that have lost a child in a time of war.

The organization was named after the Gold Star that families hung in their windows in honor of the deceased veteran.

After years of planning, June 4, 1928, twenty-five mothers met in Washington, DC to establish the national organization, American Gold Star Mothers, Inc.

The success of our organization continues because of the bond of mutual love, sympathy, and support of the many loyal, capable, and patriotic mothers who while sharing their grief and their pride, have channeled their time, efforts and gifts to lessening the pain of others.

We stand tall and proud by honoring our children, assisting our veterans, supporting our nation, and healing with each other.

Blue Star refers to families that have members in the military or that have been in the military.

Mothers volunteered throughout the tough times of World War II. They worked in hospitals, train stations, packed care packages for soldiers and were an working part of homeland security during times our time of war. The organization waned in size over the years but has held together by mothers showing pride in both their children and country. In recent times we have began to grow in strength. Being attacked on our own soil has once again started mothers hanging flags in their windows at home proclaiming pride in the fact that we have children protecting our freedom during at time of war.

Yesterday I showed a video from a meeting between Gold and Blue Star parents and Rep. Paul Hodes (D), the theme of the meeting is represented in this one quote (below), although the video is 9 minutes and should be watched in order to understand the anger these parents feel toward the Democratic party as a whole, at this time.

"My son will never come home," an angry Natalie Healy said of her son, Dan, who was killed in Afghanistan in June 2005. "He would be horrified and ashamed of this country for what it has done to the troops. You can take that back to Congress and tell every single one of those men and women."

Click the link above and watch this, these parents have had it and really ripped into Hodes, with good reason.

Then we have yet another video, shown HERE, where Veterans rip into Harry Reid, telling him that the Democrats are "playing political football" with our troops and that it is "unacceptable", right before Harry Boy lies to their face in response to these accusations.

Families United for our troops and their mission are also comprised of Gold and Blue Star families as well as Iraq and Afganistan Veterans and active military, they have a petition they are collecting signatures for, to send to congress.

This is the wording of the petition:

Whereas, we understand the War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring stability to the Middle East and protect America from further attack; and

Whereas, we believe that victory can and will be achieved by U.S. and Iraqi forces fighting together for liberty and democracy in Iraq; and

Whereas, we believe all Americans should be united in our gratitude and appreciation to our military men and women for the risks and sacrifices they endure in the protection of our liberty and unalienable rights; and

Whereas, there exists amongst the citizens of the United States, disagreement regarding the appropriateness of the war on terror being waged in Iraq; and

Whereas, as Americans, we recognize that voicing these divergent views is guaranteed and protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, granting Freedom of Speech; and

Whereas, we further understand that these views have been appropriately voiced and debated by our Congressional Representatives; now

Therefore be it resolved

We the under-signed are indicating in the strongest of terms that we stand proudly in support of our men and women who are fighting to defend our nation and Liberty and Democracy in Iraq; that we believe victory can and will be achieved by U.S. and Iraqi forces; and we strongly oppose the efforts by some to harshly criticize and undermine the mission of our military engaged in the field -- heightening the danger that our fighting forces face on a daily basis; and

We stand with our men and women in the military to ensure that they and their families receive the support and respect they deserve here at home, and furthermore we support legislative efforts to improve the level of support for military and their families, especially those killed or injured while in action.

SIGN THE PETITION.

There is also the VWF ( Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States) issuing this statement:

LAS VEGAS, April 3, 2007 – The number two leader of the nation’s largest organization of combat veterans has called upon Congress to temporarily set aside their troop withdrawal language so that emergency funding can be approved for the troops fighting the war in Iraq.

At a press conference earlier today, George Lisicki, the senior vice commander-in-chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., said that everyone knows that President Bush will veto the emergency war supplemental that Congress passed last month. .

“The funding package contained artificial troop withdrawal deadlines that would ultimately break the morale of our troops in the field and directly jeopardize their safety,” said Lisicki, who ascends to national commander in August and was here today to host a meeting of future leaders from the VFW’s 54 departments.

“I am calling on all the members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives to, for now, reserve further debate and provide the funds needed by our troops to prosecute the Global War on Terror,” he said, noting that Iraq was clearly the centerpiece of that war on terrorism, and that the House and the Senate funding packages were also loaded with extraneous spending not related to the war on terrorism.

“This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue. It’s about American men and women tasked with fighting a war, and who are now being told their effort and sacrifice doesn’t matter because a date on the calendar will send them home whether they’ve finished the job or not,” he said.

Lisicki, Vietnam veteran from Carteret, N.J., said that when Congress reconvenes, they need to approve funding for war-related requirements only, and debate the other issues in separate legislation.

“We ask Congress to never cut or withhold funding for troops deployed or being deployed to a war zone,” he said. “They must ensure that those who are sent to war have the best equipment and our strongest support. Give them the tools necessary to complete the mission you sent them on, and do it without further delay.”

Along with Lisicki, VFW Commander-in-Chief Gary Kurpius was also disappointed to hear today that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) may introduce legislation that would immediately cut off funding for the war.

“By proposing this type of legislation, Senator Reid would be abdicating his responsibility to help protect and defend our nation, and his responsibility to the men and women serving in our armed forces,” said Lisicki. “Simply put, it’s reckless and tantamount to waving a white flag of surrender to the enemy.”

Lisicki said that if such legislation is introduced, the senator can be assured that the VFW will strongly urge its membership to work to defeat its passage.

The American Legion is also speaking out on this issue:

Supplemental Deadlines Unacceptable, Blueprint for Disaster in Iraq

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 16, 2007 - The National Commander of The American Legion Paul A. Morin voiced his organization's strong recommendation that Congress consider the President’s FY 2007 Defense Emergency Supplemental Appropriations request, minus any additional amendments.

Yesterday, the Appropriations Committee marked up and passed, as amended, the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health, and Iraq Accountability Act. The funding requested in this bill is now some $23 billion more than the President’s initial Defense Emergency Supplemental Appropriations request.

However, even more disturbing is the fact this proposed legislation contains specific provisions that attempt to direct the conduct of military operations in Iraq, a task The American Legion unalterably believes rests with the Commander in Chief and the military leadership.

“This is an attempt to implement a congressional strategy by imposing timelines for the withdrawal of military personnel from combat zones through a “slow bleed” process by eventually reducing military funding,” Morin said. “Rather than the President's and General Petraeus's reinforcement policy that is making progress in securing Baghdad.”

The American Legion is supportive of many of the other provisions contained in the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health, and Iraq Accountability Act, but we strongly believe the President’s initial request is not the vehicle for these provisions, especially the specific language that sets congressional deadlines and mandatory troops movements. The other emergency funding recommendations to the FY 2007 budget should be openly addressed in a subsequent appropriations package in a timely manner.

“The men and women of the armed forces in the theater of operation are dependent on this emergency funding to sustain and achieve their military missions,” Morin explained. “Members of Congress should not be armchair generals.”

“Recognizing our history as a Nation, The American Legion supports the Commander in Chief, the commanders on the front lines, and the men and women serving in harms' way," Morin said. "We entrust Congress to do the right thing in supporting our military men and women who are fighting to protect our values and way of life.

Thank God there was no mandated timetable after the Battle of the Bulge or Iwo Jima. Thank God, there was no mandated withdrawal or imposed exit strategy at Valley Forge or our Country would have lost the American Revolution.”

Absent the removal of the restrictive language designed to influence military operations, The American Legion calls on all Members to defeat the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health, and Iraq Accountability Act.

To see the letter that the National Commander sent to the Speaker of The House, please click here for MS Word or here for PDF.


Then we have our Active Military with the Appeal for Courage:

The wording of the Appeal is:

As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.

If you are active duty, reservist or national guard, please Sign this Appeal.

Other organizations include The Gathering of Eagles, Rolling Thunder, and Move America Forward.

The Second Front in which the Democrats are losing support, is their own anti-war, anti-military base:

Let us start with the David Obey incident, caught on video and blasted on YouTube where he calls liberal anti-war activists "Liberal Idiots" and tells them "they don't know what they are talking about" and tells them to "quit screwing it up". (Video is provided here, as well as the full transcript of this amusing "discussion", for lack of a better term.)

Moving right along to the Code Pink members that planted themselves outside of Nancy Pelosi's home in March, although from the news article linked, Pelosi was not the only Democrat being targeted for protests:

The rally is the most recent "occupation" activists have staged in lawmakers' offices on Capitol Hill and in their home communities. U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel's office in Chicago was targeted on Thursday, and peace activists dressed in pink showed up recently at the Senate offices of presidential hopefuls John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Other recent protest targets include Reps. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and David Obey of Wisconsin and Sens. Richard Durbin of Illinois and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. All four Democrats voted against the 2002 measure authorizing the war.

The article ends with this:

Organizers count more than 140 arrests so far nationwide. Most involve charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct.

Hint to Dems here... having your own base arrested might not be the best idea if you plan on keeping their support.

Just a hint.

It isn't just the war on terror that the Democrats are losing support though.

The Third Front is in the article from the Political Wire showing how the Dems are alienating the evangelicals.

A March 30 press release entitled "DNC Offers Passover Greetings" included a joint statement by Chairman Howard Dean and DNC Vice Chair Susan Turnbull. The release was appropriate and timely and included their definition of the event, though it ignored the religious aspect. "On Monday night, Jews around the world will begin celebrating Passover, a week-long holiday that commemorates the Israelites' freedom from persecution and slavery."

Then, a week later, the DNC celebrated Easter with another statement from Dean, including his definition of the holiday. "Easter Sunday is a joyful celebration. The holiday represents peace, redemption and renewal, a theme which brings hope to people of all faiths."

Dean's Easter statement seems to bend over backwards not to mention Jesus and demonstrates either a misunderstanding of the evangelical community or a fear of alienating other voting blocs with religious talk.

"This press release, absent any reference to Jesus, without whom the Easter resurrection story is meaningless, is apparently a sad reflection of a 'lowest common denominator' religious outreach of the Democratic party," said Richard Cizik, Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, "Wake up and smell the Easter lillies! This kind of outreach will not pass the smell test of any evangelical."

Frankly, Webster's New World Dictionary, which is not regarded as a particularly spiritual or political source, has a better definition of Easter: "an annual Christian festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus."

The DNC statement is striking, particularly since Democratic outreach to evangelicals is on-going (including Dean's speech at Eastern University just last week) and the importance Democratic strategists have put on using the right language to appeal to evangelicals. Democrats like to point to recent conservative evangelical leaders' attacks on Cizik as evidence that they are making progress, but based on Cizik's comments, evangelicals aren't moving en mass toward the Democratic Party anytime soon.

Dean and the DNC simply missed the target this Easter. The press release was astonishing because it's sole purpose was to acknowledge a religious holiday, yet it was painfully-worded to avoid being religious. If this press release was part of the Democratic Party's outreach to evangelicals, they probably would have been better off just skipping it altogether.

The Fourth Front is the Labor Groups as shown from The Hill:

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean will fly to Denver today to try and put out a political fire that has led labor groups to threaten to withdraw support from the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

In urgent meetings with union leaders and members of the convention host committee, he will attempt to take action to head off the threat that Democratic delegates attending the convention next year will have to cross picket lines to get in.

Read the whole thing...

A group called RE-create ’68 is already planning to protest Dean’s visit and rally. It is also planning protests for the convention, but it does not mention the labor issues as a reason on its website.

This is what the main page of their website says:

Welcome to the "Re-create 68" website, your virtual activists' Convergence Center for the Denver Democratic National Convention of 2008. This website was created for all the grassroots people who are tired of being sold out by the Democratic Party.

From what I gather, and I fully admit that I do not know much about this group, but they are a anti-war organization that is planning to recreate a massive protest from 1968, in Chicago, which from doing google and yahoo searchs, ended up being a very violent and chaotic protest.

From what I see on their site on the Listing of Action and Events, I really don't envy the Democratic party.... these folks seem a bit unhinged, but that is just my opinion, because anyone that wants to recreate a protest that caused so much harm, in my mind, cannot be altogether "there" mentally.

I might be misreading this group, so look into them yourselves.

The Fifth Front where Democrats are losing support is from their own politicians.

Carl Levin has already been quoted as to this statement, by ABC:

"We're not going to vote to cut funding, period," Levin said. "But what we should do, and we're going to do, is continue to press this president to put some pressure on the Iraqi leaders to reach a political settlement."

[...]

"We're going to fund the troops. We always have," Levin said. He added, "We're very strong in supporting the troops, but we're also strong on putting pressure on the Iraqi leaders to live up to their own commitments without that political settlement on their part, there is no military solution."

Barack Obama has also split with Harry Reid and Pelosi by stating:

Senator Barack Obama yesterday defended his votes on behalf of funding the Iraq war, asserting that he has always made clear that he supports funding for US troops despite his consistent opposition to the war.

"I have been very clear even as a candidate that, once we were in, that we were going to have some responsibility to make it work as best we could, and more importantly that our troops had the best resources they needed to get home safely," Obama, an Illinois Democrat, told reporters in a conference call. "So I don't think there is any contradiction there."

All in all the Democratic party is getting hit from all sides, from the military, to the veterans and the military families, their own anti-war base is turning against them, they cannot make any headway with the evangelicals, the Democratic National Convention of 2008 has the potential of turning into a nightmare, Labor Groups are faltering in their support as well as some Democratic politicians understanding that some members of their own party might be going to far to the left and they are separating themselves from members such as Reid and Pelosi.

The fourth month in to their taking the majority in Congress and the Senate and things are already falling apart on multiple fronts.

I wonder what the next year is going to bring for them.

[Update] . Debbie over at Right Truth has an exclusive article written by Albrecht Gero Muth, former Special Adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in Iraq,....

Little teaser here:

I remain optimistic that, with the goodwill generated these past two months permitted to grow, the momentum gained can be transformed into victory.

Into victory in Baghdad.

Into victory in Iraq. And, beyond.

I remain personally committed to the goal of helping the United States Army achieve an early victory in Baghdad, with the objective of subsequent re-deployment out of a position of post-victory and strength. I am not greatly concerned about failure in Baghdad, or even in Iraq. The United States can readily adapt and the fallout inherent may even prove beneficial to the long-term U.S. national interest. I am, however, concerned, about the potential adverse fallout, should the United States Army be perceived as having failed in Iraq. That could invite serious miscalculations on the part of a more serious adversary in the future.

Please read the whole thing.

[End Update]