A Study in Courage
There’s a magnificent blog post by Marc at Michael Van Der Galien’s blog titled A Study in Cowardice that, ironically, also highlights the remarkable courage of Congressman Brian Baird of Washington state during a town hall meeting:
“We don’t care what your convictions are,” said Jan Lustig of Vancouver. “You are here to represent us.”
Some of the angriest comments came from Vietnam veterans. “I was part of another surge in 1968 (in Vietnam), based on another pack of lies,” said Vancouver resident Bob Goss, who served in the Army there. “I really think it’s time to get out.”
As the evening wore on, Baird repeatedly insisted that Iraq would descend into worse chaos if the U.S. withdrew precipitously, with Iran gaining greater influence. “I think the probability is 95 percent if we withdraw prematurely, in our hearts we will live to regret it,” he said.
Baird said industries are starting to reopen and things are starting to get better. “We’re putting people back to work and that is good news,” he said.
“I am truly impressed by Brian’s willingness to stand here and take it gracefully,” said Joy Overstreet, a Vancouver writer, as the meeting passed the two-hour mark. But she said she would consider voting out the congressmen next year if there is a “viable alternative.”
“It could well cost me the next election,” Baird said at the end of the meeting. “That’s alright.”
Original blog post is at Black Shards. (Note this post was edited 9/2/07 to assign authorship correctly and provide this link back to Marc’s blog.)
The rest of Marc’s blog post is wonderful, where he deftly answers the objections to staying in Iraq posed by the Center for America Progress’ (CAP) recent study entitled How to Redeploy: Implementing a Responsible Drawdown of U.S. Forces from Iraq” (link opens a PDF file).
But the courage of Brian Baird is what caught my eye. Its a principled stand, one that is made not with an eye to an election. That is rare in American politics today.
Thanks for the link and the kind words – the author of the article, Marc not me, will more than appreciate it I am sure.
Yes, courage like that is rare in American politics these days. Politicians are interested in winning elections, not about doing the right thing.
Thanks, Michael … and an apology is due to Marc; I don’t know how I missed his byline at the top of the article. I’ll provide an edit to include his info as well.