August 30, 2007

WA 03: The Dreaded 'L' Word

Despite voting against the original authorization for the war and against FISA reauthorization, the netroots are considering making Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) the poster child for their 'Bush Dog' campaign designed to pressure Dems into standing up to Pres. Bush. Open Left's Matt Stoller makes the case against Baird:

What makes him more Joe Lieberman than Ben Nelson? ... Here are the three keys to Baird's Bush Doggedness. 1) Baird serves as a useful idiot: 2) Baird has taken a Broder turn: 3) Baird hides behind American exceptionalism. ... It is extremely unlikely in the near term that we'll ever have another Democratic politician as bad and high profile as Lieberman, but Brian Baird definitely patterns his career after Lieberman. It's all there: the useful idiocy, the Broder turn, and the hiding behind American exceptionalism.

Judging from The Ridenbaugh Press' Randy Stapilus reports on a 8/27 townhall in Vancouver, WA, Baird's constituents may agree with Stoller: "The audience atmosphere was a little Pentacostal ... Cries of "impeach Bush" or "end the war" and similar calls punctuated questions, answers and everything else. In the two hours we were there, not one questioner - out of perhaps 20 - expressed anything other than disgust and outrage at Baird's new take on Iraq. To judge from audience reaction, a portion of the crowd of perhaps 400 to 500 (those that were inside - the room was filled solid and others couldn't get in) supported him, but that portion was surely less than 10%."

Open Left's Chris Bowers adds: "I just got off the phone with Ciaran Clayton, Brian Baird's press secretary. I asked her if he's going to support the $50B supplemental request, and she said 'he probably will'."

Posted by Conn Carroll at August 30, 2007 12:52 PM