"Just putting it in self-interest terms, how would I have had the enthusiasm and the fight if I had actually cast a vote I didn't believe in?" he asked. "I couldn't do that." - Paul Wellstone explaining why he was one of 23 members of the U.S. Senate to vote against the Iraq War in 2002.
Five of those votes are relatively safe votes considering those representatives come from downstate districts that are fairly Democratic. But Massa's vote is worth acknowledging. Massa has been targeted by the NRCC for his vote as was given anti-troop and anti-veteran labels for that vote. It's not something that is a safe political move for Massa, but it is something he has done based on principle.
That cannot be said for the other representatives in New York. While three of the remaining 23 representatives who voted for the supplemental are Republicans, 20 of those are Democrats. A few are in similar positions as Massa, but most are in districts where they don't have anything to lose.
Tomorrow is another key vote on the war supplemental. The progressive movement is going all out, as FireDogLake and Brave New Films are advocating for "no" votes on the supplemental.
Here is a video from Robert Greenwald asking you to contact your representative and call on your member of Congress to vote against the supplemental.
It should be noted that the New York representatives who signed the 2007 pledge are the following: Rep. Clarke, Rep. John Hall, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Rep. Gregory Meeks, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Rep. Charles Rangel, Rep. Louise Slaughter, Rep. Towns, Rep. Velazquez and Rep. Weiner. Hall, Hinchey, Maloney, Meeks, Nadler, Rangel and Slaughter all voted in favor of the war supplemental in May and should all be targeted this time around and reminded that they pledged to not vote for a war supplemental which does not include a timeline for withdrawal.
FireDogLake has a tool to use to record what happens when you call your respective representative. You can use this tool to post the response you get from your representative's office when you ask them where your congressman or congresswoman stands on the supplemental.
Jane Hamsher from FDL believes we are close to having the votes we need. There are plenty of New York representatives on the list of undecideds who should be firmly opposed to this.
If Congressman Massa can stand up on his two feet as a 24 year veteran of the Navy and a member of the House Armed Services Committee and say that he is strongly opposed to this war supplemental, then there should be other representatives willing to do the same. As a reminder, here is what Massa said on May 15 when he explained his vote against the supplemental:
"I will not have my vote held hostage by line items to fund military projects while at the same time funding the UN. These are two very different issues and I will not vote to combine them. While I did support several line items in the bill, there were a few specifics which deeply troubled me. For example, during the recession, I cannot support sending $836 million to fund the United Nations, $109 to train and equip Palestinian security forces and up the to $429.5 million in foreign aid to Pakistan.
"For over four years prior to being elected to Congress, I promised to vote against any additional funding for the Iraq war without a clear and immediate plan of withdrawal," said Congressman Eric Massa. "Regardless of which party is in power, I could not in good conscience vote for any additional Iraq war funding. The Iraqi people want us to leave and I think we should begin redeploying American troops out of Iraq immediately. I've always promised to stand up to my party when I disagree with them, but yesterday I had to stand up to both political parties."
This supplemental needs to be defeated. Let's make sure that those representatives who say they are progressive stay true to their word and vote against this supplemental. Call your representative and get them on the record about this. This will be voted on tomorrow and we need quick action. So when tomorrow morning comes, start making some phone calls.
