Jason Altmire PA-4

After posting a short article reminding Pennsylvania's progressive voters to support our candidates before the end of the quarterly reporting period the blog got quite a few hits from people supporting Jason Altmire. I decided to get a bit more familiar with him by doing an article. While perusing his website I see most of the good positions we progressives seek to determineif someone is really progressive. While somewhat weak on healthcare (HR 676 folks!!!) I really like what he says about Iraq:

President Bush and Vice President Cheney have led this country into war based upon facts that were simply untrue. There were no weapons of mass destruction; we were not greeted as liberators; and Iraqi oil proceeds have not paid the cost of the war. American involvement in the war has killed more than 2,500 American servicemen and women, and wounded 20,000 more. It has cost the country half a trillion dollars, irreparably damaged our credibility around the world and allowed Osama bin Laden to evade capture. The President went to war without a clear strategy for victory and has ignored the experts on the ground in Iraq.

We need a Congress that will fulfill its constitutional responsibility for oversight and accountability. Our troops were sent to war without the equipment they needed and Congress shortchanged veterans benefits even as a whole new generation of veterans has been created. Rather than simply accepting sound bites and photo-ops, Congress must ask the Administration to produce a clear and realistic set of goals that will measure progress on the ground and the ability of the Iraqis to take control of their country as soon as possible.

Not that many candidates have come right out and said Bush lied about the war. There's no bigger issue than this in 2006. Iraq is the issue Democrats of all stripes are going to win with, be they John Murtha, Tim Holden, Chaka Fattah or Jason Altmire. Many of these Dems still haven't come out strongly saying the kind of thing Jason says. Bravo, he "gets it." (What are some of them waiting for???) This is what the voters are looking for. They understand what Bush and Cheney did and how their Congressmen supported him. They're looking for leadership that will put an end to this nightmare and people like Jason Altmire are stepping up to provide that decisive leadership.

His opponent Melissa Hart opposes embryonic stem cell research, a woman's right to choose, equal rights for all Americans, bankruptcy protection for middle class Americans facing health crisis, oil drilling restrictions in ANWR, funding of the UN to help secure peace and avoid genocide, and supports trade agreements like CAFTA that are costing working families their jobs, the Patriot Act which is restricting your civil rights, the energy industry, the banking industry, the insurance industry, the reckless foreign policy of President Bush, and the rest of the extreme right wing Republican agenda.

We must send Jason Altmire to Congress and replace this radical extremist.