[Peace-discuss] Town Hall Tuesday, August 28

[C. G. Estabrook]

That proportion seems about right for the Democratic party front group 
that's organizing the event -- 2 parts Democrat, 1 part liberal and 1 
part -- what?  My guess is that the fourth robocall was from the AAEI 
(from their D.C. headquarters? -- the RSVP has a Washington area code) 
and paid for by, say, the SEIU, a major Democratic party funder.

This would be fine if the money and organization really build effective 
opposition to the war, but I've been afraid all along that the "Iraqi 
Summer" was primarily an effort to co-opt anti-war sentiment for the 
Democrats.  What, specifically, are they demanding of Rep. Johnson when 
they say they want to hold him "accountable for his record of supporting 
the War"? What do they mean by a "timely [sic] end to the war"?

Are they demanding that Johnson not vote in favor of any more funding 
for the war?  That's the method, all admit, whereby Congress could 
exercise its constitutional power to end the war, but that hasn't been 
AAEI's position.  Are they asking him to support impeachment? Again, no: 
the Congressional Democrats have put that off the table.  Is it even 
clear that they're asking him to condemn plans to attack Iran?

I actually wonder why Rep. Johnson was one of only several dozen 
congresspeople across the country (all Republican, of course) that AAEI 
chose to spend some of its Democratic party millions on.  Perhaps they 
think that they have a chance to replace Johnson with a Democrat in 
November of 2008.

If so, I doubt it will be David Gill, who's now run two campaigns 
against Johnson without support from the state or national Democratic 
party.  It's much more likely that the model for what the Democrats will 
do here in Illinois' 15th Congressional District is what they did in 
2006 in the 6th.

(The national Democratic party spent a lot of time and money to 
undermine the antiwar movement in the IL 6th CD in 2006, as it did 
elsewhere.  In 2004 long-time Republican Rep. Henry Hyde ran for 
re-election for he last time.  Surprisingly, an unknown anti-war 
Democrat, Christine Cegelis, did well against him, without help from the 
party, and ended up with more than 40% of the vote. With Hyde out in 
2006, she looked certain to take the seat, in a Democratic year.  But 
her mild antiwar stance was too much for the national Democrats, and 
they parachuted in a pro-war Iraq veteran, Tammy Duckworth, along with a 
million dollars to contest the Democratic primary against Cegelis!  Even 
with the money, Duckworth barely defeated Cegelis in the primary -- and 
then lost the general election to a rookie Republican, probably because 
some anti-war voters stayed away in disgust.  Can the DNC have Cegelis' 
fate in mind for David Gill?)

Bush is now comparing Iraq explicitly to Vietnam, and such co-optive 
movements were common as opposition to the Vietnam war grew, 40 years 
ago.  Incidentally, the administration has just set up their own 
astroturf group ("Freedom's Watch") with even more money that the $6.9 
million AAEI has (for the summer alone) from Democratic funders: 
<http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/pro-war-group-spends-millions-
on-ad-campaign-2007-08-22.html>. --CGE


Karen Medina wrote:
> Dear Peace Discuss,
> 
> No less than 4 calls have come to the house where I am housesitting
> announcing the Town Hall meeting. 2 from the Champaign County
> Democrats, 1 from the ACLU, and 1 from another group.
> 
> Interesting choice of speakers:
>> * Paul Wisovaty, Vietnam Veteran's Against the War member * Father
>> Tom Royer, St. Mary's Church Pastor * Mike Lehman, GEO Grievance
>> Officer * Charlie Smythe, Urbana City Council member * Robert
>> Naiman, Just Foreign Policy, Senior Policy Analyst * Shara
>> Esbenshade and Cody Bralts, high school students
> 
> -karen medina ---- Original message ----
>> Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:36:41 -0500 From: "Robert Naiman "
>> <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com> Subject: [Peace] You're invited: “Take A
>> Stand” Town Hall Tuesday, August 28 To: peace
>> <peace at lists.chambana.net>
>> 
>>> From Citizen Action:
>> ... Dear Friends,
>> 
>> You are invited to take part in the "Take A Stand" Town Hall
>> meeting next Tuesday, August 28.  This meeting is an opportunity to
>> hold Representative Johnson accountable for his record of
>> supporting the War in Iraq and learn more about the reasons for a
>> timely end to the war from a variety of excellent speakers.
>> 
>> Event Details
>> 
>> What: "Take a Stand" Town Hall Meeting
>> 
>> When: Tuesday, August 28 at 7:00 pm
>> 
>> Where: Page Hall at University Place Christian Church, 403 S.
>> Wright St. Champaign
>> 
>> Why: Representative Johnson needs to stand with the people and stop
>>  supporting the endless War in Iraq!
>> 
>> The evening's program will be moderated by Urbana Mayor, Laurel 
>> Prussing.  Topics will include the social and economic cost of the
>> War in Iraq, the possibility of a draft to support the endless war,
>>  recruiting in local high schools, and a religious perspective. 
>> Speakers will include:
>> 
>> * Paul Wisovaty, Vietnam Veteran's Against the War member * Father
>> Tom Royer, St. Mary's Church Pastor * Mike Lehman, GEO Grievance
>> Officer * Charlie Smythe, Urbana City Council member * Robert
>> Naiman, Just Foreign Policy, Senior Policy Analyst * Shara
>> Esbenshade and Cody Bralts, high school students
>> 
>> Please plan to attend the "Take a Stand" Town Hall to add your
>> voice to the rising cry to bring an end to the War.  The larger our
>> numbers, the stronger our message.  This Town Hall is an
>> opportunity to hold Representative Johnson accountable for his
>> voting record of supporting the War in Iraq and demand that he
>> stand with his constituents and act to end the War in Iraq.
>> 
>> The "Take a Stand" Town Hall is sponsored by the Iraq Summer
>> Campaign, Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, and Citizen
>> Action/Illinois. For more information or to RSVP contact (202)
>> 425-0805 or illinois1 at iraqsummer.org. or visit www.iraqsummer.org.
>> 
>> 
>> -- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy 
>> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org
>> 
>> Just Foreign Policy's current estimate of Iraqi deaths due to
>> violence since the U.S. invasion - now more than a million: 
>> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html