Hugh is shrugging off his apologetic side for the NRSC and doubling down with a revamped Not One Dime style pledge.

If the United States Senate passes a resolution, non-binding or otherwise, that criticizes the commitment of additional troops to Iraq that General Petraeus has asked for and that the president has pledged, and if the Senate does so after the testimony of General Petraeus on January 23 that such a resolution will be an encouragement to the enemy, I will not contribute to any Republican senator who voted for the resolution. Further, if any Republican senator who votes for such a resolution is a candidate for re-election in 2008, I will not contribute to the National Republican Senatorial Committee unless the Chairman of that Committee, Senator Ensign, commits in writing that none of the funds of the NRSC will go to support the re-election of any senator supporting the non-binding resolution.

Its nice to see him do this, a week ago I heard him spewing the ‘but we need to do anything to get the gavel back and if that means supporting a less than perfect RINO…’ line.

Take the pledge, and tell the NRSC:

NRSC
Ronald Reagan Republican Center
425 2nd Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202.675.6000
webmaster@gopsenators.com

Then e-mail Senator McConnell and Senator Ensign, and tell them too. Senator McConnell’s phone number is (202) 224-2541. Senator Ensign’s phone number is (202) 224-6244.

Get to work. Why? They are taking us for granted and sending the wrong kind of message to our enemy.

GOP activists and donors built the GOP senate delegation, as well as the majority that was punted away. They can disassemble it as well, and GOP support for a neoappeasement resolution is exactly the way to start that process.

The Congressional GOP has to realize it cannot have it both ways –you can’t be for victory after you were against it.

And GOP senators –alone or as a group– definitely cannot count on the support of the base if any of them vote for appeasement.

For Minnesota readers, you may want to focus on Sen. Coleman. He is up for reelection, and seems to be wavering on the issue of supporting the commander in chief and the Generals on the ground to win in Iraq. He’s not a full blown appeaser, but his support could be seen as wavering and with the pressure (relentless media) that will be on him to cave to the left, we have got to make sure he hears from the right.
You can contact Sen. Coleman at:

Official Side
Washington Office:
320 Senate Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Main: 202-224-5641
Email form
(You can also find local Minnesota office phone numbers here)

Campaign Side (which may prove more fruitful)
7300 Hudson Boulevard, Suite 270A
St. Paul, MN 55128
(651) 645-0766

Senator Coleman was almost NRSC Chair last cycle, so he understands its role. Under Sen. Dole, the NRSC was ineffective and the focus of angst by upset conservatives as the 55 GOP Senators were rather (er, almost completely) ineffective at pushing a conservative agenda. With just 48 GOPers in the US Senate, now is not the time to appease the anti-war Democrats or our enemy in the war on terror.

Who ever the Democrat nominee is to run against Sen. Coleman he/she will easily out left him on the war. Any move he makes to slide toward appeasement will be used against him by the DFL. Clarifying the “Two clear different visions for the future”, is what a certain person told me is the best way to win elections once. Let’s try to make sure Sen. Coleman’s vision stays close to our vision.

For the Party loyalists who may say I am picking on Norm: Yes we have 2 Senators, but Klobuchar has 6 years before she has to even listen to voters and she’s already made her mind up. She does not even want to be in Iraq, let alone win there. I expect Norm to act entirely different. I’m not saying he is an appeaser, but I am not sure he won’t cave to the immense pressure to wave the white flag in Iraq.

Update:

Hugh has another post up in which he names Sen. Coleman as a possible defector to the Democratic ‘no-confidence’ vote, also known as signalling defeat and retreat.

The senators most likely to rethink their support for such a resolution after the testimony by General Petraeus that such a resolution would be an encouragement to our enemy are Minnesota’s Norm Coleman, Maine’s Susan Collins and Oregon’s Gordon Smith. All three are serious senators and good people, but they need to rethink possible support for the resolution in light of the Petraeus testimony and the president’s speech last night (and the reaction among Democrats –there is no middle ground between retreat and victory.)

What’s funny is the Democrats almost seem to be living out a scene from Star Wars than they are taking the defense of teh nation seriously.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 24th, 2007 at 10:11 am and is filed under 2008, A-Klo, A.R.O.R.A., Know Thy Enemy, MN US Senate, National, Politics, War on Terror. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.