My new Congressman...
Jerry McNerney.
Congratulations to Jerry, A.J. and his capable team, Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, the CA-11 "blog team", and most importantly - congratulations to the voters of CA-11.
I was on the East Coast for election night and when I heard the early exit poll results that "corruption and ethics" was the top voter complaint - I smiled wide.
We all have a lot of work to do now. Jerry begins by helping Speaker Pelosi "drain the swamp" then turn to the business of the people rather than special interests.
Pombo's State of Denial [Iraq Edition]
Let's review some recent history...
When asked about his dogged, unquestioning support for the war in Iraq, Pombo had the following to
say:
“The men and women of our armed services have performed exceptionally in Iraq, and I will continue to support them as they complete their mission.”
Pombo hides behind the only people who are asked to sacrifice anything for our Iraq misadventure. He desperately attempts to appear strong by attacking those phantom, non-existent folks who are saying our troops are not performing well. He wields the worthy support of our troops as a political sword.
The other day, Pombo refused to verify his past statements about his family members serving in Iraq:
Pombo's family's experience with Iraq is unclear. When asked at the Tracy Press forum, "What is your personal experience with the war in Iraq, and how has it affected you" Pombo said that outside of his work as a congressman, he had "the opportunity to have a number of people, friends and family members and others that have gone over and fought."
He declined to name them.
"What I was saying is that I have family members who have served in the military, and obviously, some of them have been deployed to Iraq," Pombo said this week. "I have had family members that have served in the military, and that is as far as I'm going to comment."
Pombo may or may not have family members who served in Iraq. If indeed he does, Pombo owes that family member an explanation about why he is unable to stand up and challenge a single aspect of a clearly failed strategy in Iraq. Perhaps during that discussion Pombo can learn something about courage.
