While doing some research the other day I was looking at some newspapers from 1965, and there was a quote from McNamara, the Sec. of Defense: The US is no longer losing the war. Sounds all too familiar.

I understand his voting because I do live in his district… the southern Utah part of his district… and I’m here to tell you, the people who live in these Southern Utah Counties are just getting used to the idea of a Democrat. I think he treads very carefully on his votes because the majority of people down here still support the war and think that George Bush is a good man, inspired by God. I don’t think that the vast majority of Utah liberals really *get* what we deal with down here in very bright red Southern Utah.

You make some reasonable points, but I think it’s still true that he voted the way he sees things, and other reasonable, thinking people have deep misgivings about the wisdom of setting a timetable. Todd was much more effective in expressing why he supports Matheson–I wish I’d let him go first. Although I’m a Republican, I support Matheson for many of the same reasons as Todd.

I can see from this discussion why moderates have difficulty getting re-elected: never pure enough for the base of their own party, never quite good enough for the base of the other party.

Jim Matheson is a Democrat, an independent thinker, an advocate for Utah and his constituents, and a man who can be trusted to keep his word.

As a Democrat, I am proud to support Jim Matheson and thank him for actually doing what he said he would do — even if I disagree.

As for Matheson not wanting to reflect a “left-wing mentality,” he should be able to reflect a view of the reality of a war that was misconceived and has gone downhill from there. If someone in Congress just votes all the time in agreement with the majority party from his state, does he even have his own brain? And if a Republican like Chuck Hagel can reflect a “left-wing mentality,” then Matheson as a Democrat should have the guts to do so, too. Up until recently, the Democrats have shown an absence of guts altogether.

After all, even in bright red Utah a majority of people no longer support the war.

Finally, msteele, this is not about misreading “feelings,” it is about not getting all fuzzy in the feelings department, talking vaguely about “core values” and forgetting that foreign policy should be based on cold, hard facts.

A U.S. Congressman, no matter whom, should represent doing the right thing based on correct information readily available to him and his staff as you say, “regardless of party affiliation.”

I’m sure Matheson also clearly understands that he is a Democrat elected from a Republican-majority district, and that his votes on key issues must not reflect a left-wing mentality. You all could be extremely right that he has misread feelings about the war, even in Utah, but I think generally he has reflected his core values in his votes, and his core values have resonated with his constituents, regardless of party affiliation.

The Bush administration, with exaggeration, deception, and outright lies sold the necessity of the war to Congress, the press, the American people, and even to Great Britain. This has to be the greatest triumph ever of Madison Avenue.

Those in the media who asked questions and got readily available answers that proved the madness of going forward were marginalized, shunned, and had their patriotism questioned over and over.

One of the chief archtects of this blitz of misinformation, the face of evil incarnate, Vice President Cheney, is speaking today at BYU to “inspire” graduates there. I have never been so ashamed of my church as I am this day, but I am also ashamed of the American public, the press, and people like Matheson, who still think this is a war to be won. It should never have begun, so we must get out of there now, as Muslims all over the Middle East want us to do!

President Bush still has no plan for successfully occupying Iraq, much less reconstructing their political system and economy. The forces we are deploying are not enough to secure a country of 25 million, but more than we can afford to send.

General Petraeus is improvising, and so far has only promised us more American casualties. Iraqi civilian deaths are mounting month by month as we increase the level of violence in Baghdad. The fourth anniversary of “mission accomplished” is on Tuesday.