Prologue: Mat Marshall snapped this photo as we moved through Castle’s very nice neighbor hood chanting. It put me in a great mood in advance of delivering my remarks, and I think it gave everyone a bounce in their step.
Here are my remarks from yesterday’s march and protest. It is n’t a verbatim transcript but is pretty close to what I said while standing on Castle’s driveway last night.
Well I’m not surpirsed that there is nobody from the news journal to cover us “extremists.” 45 extremists demanding some accountability from our elected officials I guess is not big news.
If you ask me, the extreme position on Iraq right now is to continue to support President Bush. That’s extreme.
But the News Journal Editorial Board and Mr. Castle say that we are the extremists. They think it is extreme of us to be upset about the fact that think that this war was fraudulently foisted on us, incompetently managed, and long overdue for ending.
They wish we’d just go away – and stop talking about the war.
You know, after we leave here, if anyone from the press bothers to ask Mr. Castle for his thoughts on these “extremists” coming to his house he’ll probably say soemthing very moderate soundign and sensible. He might say that the thing we don’t understand is that he “HAS differences with Mr. Bush.” He says that alot.
He might even say something very sensible sounding like what he said after voting to give Bush his most recent blank check: “While I believe strongly that we must change course in Iraq and bring our men and women home,..”
You just know a big HOWEVER is coming right? There is always a big HOWEVER or BUT or “yes, but no” when he talks.
There sure was a big however – he said that the Democratic proposal was “SYMBOLIC” and that he wants a BI PARITISAN APPROACH to ending the war.
Mr. Castle, if you are in there, there IS a bipartisan consensus building in Congress to end the war and you are NOT part of it. Join your moderate Republican collegeus and start voting to end this war.
Congressman Castle says that he has OPPOSED the President, but saying it is easy…what has he DONE to oppose the President? What votes has he caste? Let’s ignore Castle’s words for now and look at his actions:
HJ Res 114 – The original Authorization of Use of Force Against Iraq (even though well all know this was bogus) – CASTLE VOTED WITH BUSH
Woolsey Amendment on Authorization bill – Asked President to develop withdrawal plan – CASTLE VOTED WITH BUSH
HR 1559 – Supplemental Fiscal 03 / $77 billion – THE FIRST BIG BLANK CHECK, CASTLE VOTED WITH BUSH
HR 3289 – Supplemental Fiscal 04 / $86.6 billion – THE NEXT BIG BLANK CHECK – CASTLE VOTED WITH BUSH
HR 1268 – Supplemental Fiscal 05 / $73.7 billion – ANOTHER BIG BLANK CHECK – CASTLE VOTED WITH BUSH
HR 4939 – Supplemental Fiscal 06 / $91.8 billion – EVEN AFTER THREE YEARS OF COMPLETE INCOMPENNCE – ANOTHER HUGE BLANK CHECK – CASTLE VOTED WITH BUSH
HR 1591 (vetoed): Supplemental Fiscal 07 (vetoed). Included withdrawal timeline AT LAST SOME ACCOUNTABILITY – NOPE – FAILED BY TEN VOTES BECAUSE CASTLE VOTED WITH BUSH
HR 2206 (pre-conference) Post-veto Supplemental Fiscal 07 included 3-months of funds with mandatory July 07 vote on withdrawal. – CASTLE VOTED WITH BUSH
HR 2206 (signed) – Supplemental Fiscal 07 / $95 billion. Benchmarks – Compromise BLANK CECK – CASTLE VOTED WITH BUSH
HR 2237 McGovern bill – All funds used to withdraw from Iraq in 6 months – CASTLE VOTED WITH BUSH
And just a few weeks ago, H.R.2956 – Mike Castle Votes to Support George Bush Yet Again
Ladies and Gentleman, there is only on conclusion you can draw from looking at this voting record, Mike Castle is lying when he says that he opposes George Bush.
His record is crystal clear on that question. He has voted with George Bush on Iraq 91% of the time (ten times out of 11).
Yes. There was one Democratic bill that he voted for. Are you curious about the time Castle mustered his courage and voted against the President?
It was the expressly symbolic vote to pass a non-binding resolution to reject the troop surge. How’s that for irony? The man who deplores SYMBOLIC VOTES – said “NO” to Bush one time and it was the meekest most symbolic vote possible. Pitiful.
————–
You know, not too long ago I was able to ask Mr. Castle a direct question – and you can look this up. I asked, “Do you regret supporting the President for re-election?” He said unequivocally, “NO.”
Can you imagine that? Let that sink in for a second – knowing everything we now know – he still does not regret supporting the President. That’s incredible. No regrets. He’d do the same thing again. Unreal.
It left a big impression on me because I had never heard him make a simple unequivocal statement before. His statements are usually very noncommittal and he likes to give himself a lot of wiggle room.
LOOK – Castle’s words are wishy-washy – BUT his voting record speaks CLEARLY.
Every time there is Congressional action to end the war – Mr. Castle stands with George Bush.
Castle supported Bush for re-election, he supports him now, and unless we make one hell of a ruckus – he is going to support him in the future.
We have to remind Mr. Castle that he does not work for George BUSH. – HE works for us!! The people of Delaware. He is our employee – but I think he lost sight of that along the way (he’s been in government so long.) Don’t you lose sight of it. Don’t be fooled by this nice house and this nice neighborhood. HE WORKS FOR YOU. Your EMPLOYEE lives in that nice house and he is doing a terrible job.
Some folks who never lost site of “who works for who” were the founding fathers of this great country. That’s why the Constitution starts off WE THE PEOPLE.
The founding fathers had a lot of faith in us extremists. That’s why WE THE PEOPLE are the boss.
Castle thinks he can ignore us – or belittle and demonize us by saying that we don’t have any compassion for the Iraqis. He can hide behind spin and say that we aren’t even Delawareans. I‘ve heard some of that spin already. And it makes me mad. I know some of you guys have been protesting the war since the beginning. But he can hide behind the spin that is a bunch of agitators from DC.
He can do all of that, but there is one thing he cannot do. He cannot continue to believe that HE can’t be fired.
He can be fired – based on his voting record he should be fired. And if he continues to support George Bush, he will be fired.