After my representative, the honorable Baron Hill, voted to condemn "in the strongest possible terms" a large number of his volunteers from the last few campaigns, I decided to write him a letter.
In my letter, I wrote (in part):
Earlier this week, you voted to approve a measure "condemn[ing] in the strongest possible terms" me, my wife, and hundreds of those who have given of their time, effort and money for your previous campaigns. In that case, we pointed out that an active US general was betraying his military uniform to deliver a partisan message on behalf of the President.
In this case, Mr. Limbaugh is engaging in vicious personal attacks on the men and women who are brave enough to fight for our country. Surely his comments rise to the level of condemnation by our Congress.
Baron's response after the jump...
Dear Mr. [Ironheel],
Thank you for contacting me about the controversy surrounding comments made by syndicated conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter.
Regardless of Mr. Limbaugh's thoughtless and inappropriate comments, I believe that this issue takes away from the real business of Congress, such as the war in Iraq. Though I may disagree with some of his beliefs, Mr. Limbaugh is still a private citizen and, as all Americans, has the right to exercise his freedom of speech. Should a bill addressing this issue come before the full House for a vote, I will certainly take your thoughts into consideration.
Thank you again for contacting me about this legislation. Please feel free to contact me at 202.225.5315 in the future regarding this or any other issue. If you would like to receive periodic email updates on my congressional activities, please visit http://baronhill.house.gov.
Sincerely,
Baron P. Hill
Member of Congress
Let me paraphrase: Baron Hill thinks that Mr. Limbaugh's comments are thoughtless and inappropriate, but are protected by the First Amendment aren't worth wasting the time of the House over. (I happen to agree, so far.) But just in case it comes up for a vote anyway, he will think about it.
But put into the context of his vote to condemn MoveOn, this means that condemning me and the rest of the MoveOn members is a worthwhile use of taxpayer-funded House resources.
I'm not being that simplistic about this - I know there are issues that make this touchy.
One, he can take cover under the fact that he only condemned an organization (read: many individuals working together), and I'm asking him to condemn an individual.
Two, MoveOn attacked a general - a commander. Rush was only attacking ordinary enlisted soldiers, with maybe a smattering of NCOs and non-career track officers.
With friends like these... Democrats like this make it harder to get volunteers to help at the local party level, and hurt downticket Dems. Between FISA, SCHIP, CAFE Standards, etc... even a yellow-dog Dem like me is starting to wonder if there's a difference.