Foster's decade over Iraqi Kurdistan

From Foster's current position on Iraq,

The deep religious conflicts in Iraq have led many to believe that the most promising strategy for the Iraqis is to partition their country into separate religious and tribal enclaves. Should the Iraqis embrace this strategy of separating the religious groups, the U.S. could play a supportive role - much as the American lead NATO effort did successfully in Bosnia, or the "no-fly zone" that protected the Kurds for the decade [Baar's emphasis] between Gulf Wars . Under all circumstances, American ground forces must begin the process of coming home as soon as possible.

Except for the Air Force over Kurdistan I guess, but go ahead and read the full position though, and compare it with this exchange between Laesch and Foster during the election (HT Illinois Review)

"'John, you believe wrong. I am fully committed to getting our troops out of Iraq, and I am fully committed to using the power of the purse intelligently to accomplish it. And the way you do it is to put a bill on President Bush's desk, the next time a supplemental comes through, would have explicit, rifle-shot language, that says, 'these, this money is not to be used for ongoing combat operations, patrolling the street of Iraq, getting our kids blown up, day in and day out.' You can attach very specific language to an appropriations bill, and we should do it. And we certainly, that will be what I vote for, and I will support, when I am in Congress four months from now.' [1]

[1] Kane County Democrat Forum, October 23, 2007. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoFaP_iUugE

Compare the positions, then and now, and I think you'll find Foster, as Carl Davidson wrote of Barack O'Bomb 'em: a triangulator par excellence.

Colonel Morgenthaler wrote,

The men who did terrible things to the Kuwaitis, especially the Kuwaiti women are very similar to the men we are fighting. As people get upset about Abu Ghraib, one thing that should never be forgotten: these are men who have murdered Americans and would continue to murder Americans if given the opportunity.

I'm not convinced the men abused at Abu Ghraib were terrorists, but I'm convinced we fight a foe in Iraq who will continue to murder Americans if given the opportunity.

Bill Poscoe's quoted over at IR condemning the early Foster position for raising the white flag just as General Petraeus's new strategy is working.

Triangulation is worse than raising the white flag though. If the war is the wrong stratgy, the only sane solution is get out now. That's an honorable stand.

But if Morgenthaler right, and we face a murderous foe committed to our destruction, than too triangulate as Foster does now, is not worthy of an America at war. It plays politics about an enemy we can't redeploy from to safety behind our shores..

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Daily Herald: Fight still left in Laesch

Daily Herald with this and then Downtowner over at PSB on Laesch's press conference yesterday. From the Herald,

Among those encouraging Laesch to keep fighting was state Sen. Mike Noland. The Elgin Democrat, who referred to Laesch as "Cinderella Man" and compared him to presidential hopeful Barack Obama, lost two state legislative races by close margins before finally winning in 2006.

"It's so close, we have to do it," Noland said. "The fight goes on. No matter what the result, young man, you have an extremely bright future."

All the energy and money devoted to Pera running in the southwest side as pro-abortion and pro-embryonic stem cell research, when you could have betted on running Laesch against Oberweis in Elgin and Aurora on immigration.

A lot of progressives underestimated their own lured by a guy with money and slim experience. Read Lisa Smith: Group questions Foster's experience

Highlighting a Foster campaign mailer describing how Foster was "serving on Murphy's congressional staff" before deciding to run for office himself, the Washington-based Majority Accountability Project claimed that House payroll records don't list Foster's name anywhere on Murphy's staff. Foster's news release clarified that Foster "was an unpaid staffer after Murphy's election." But working for free for a member of Congress could be considered a violation of House ethics rules, Majority Accountability Project pointed out Friday.

Laesch may have some quirks, but compared to Oberweis's own quirks; that'll be a wash. Foster's puffing will be tougher to shake.

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Mark Pera's campaign

Considering the energy posting for Pera here and here, you have to wonder if it was time really misspent due to a badly flawed understanding of the issues and voters in Illinois's 3rd district.

Take a look at some of the postings on why Pera's campaign made so much sense and you really have to wonder if Pera's supporters aren't way out-of-touch.

Compare their disconnect in the third with many of these same folk's abandonment of John Laesch in the 14th --a guy who I think would stand a chance against a widely disliked Oberweis especially with Obama at the top of the ticket in November-- and you really have to wonder about their political horse-sense.

The silence on Pera, or worse: WestsideGirl in Kos, doesn't auger well for progressivism.

So seduced by a millionaire's money as the path to power, they'll dump their political principles. That McCain doing just the opposite and winning should tell us something about 2008.

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Fighting John Laesch

I heard Laesch at the League of Women Voters describe how he was sent to Africa with the Navy after the USS Cole bombing and he conjured a Rambo image of a guy single-handedly out for Osama bin Laden.

Let's see how long he hangs in on this fight. Given the history of snafus in Kane County, and the complicated two ballot voting, he may have a case. From NPR,

The election in Illinois' 14th Congressional District was anything but cut and dried. Voters had to cast two ballots: one for November's general election, then another one for the March 8th special election. That's needed because Hastert resigned before his term was over.

Former Fermilab scientist Bill Foster claimed victory in the special election. But the general's not so clear. Carpenter John Laesch is barely behind Foster and says he's not giving up yet.

LAESCH: We're gonna make sure every vote's counted, recounted if possible, and certainly we're gonna make sure all the provisional ballots and absentee ballots are counted. So, we're gonna be hiring a lawyer and this will go on a couple days.

Foster spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money on the primary. He faces Republican Jim Oberweis in the special election.

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Beacon News: Pat Quinn to endorse John Laesch

This is big. Quinn weilds a lot of influence among the Democrats in the 14th.

From the Beacon News,

AURORA -- Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn will be in town this morning to throw his support behind John Laesch in the Democratic primary in the 14th Congressional District, Laesch confirmed Tuesday.

Quinn will join Laesch for a press conference at 10 a.m. today at Laesch's campaign office on Downer Place in downtown Aurora.

update: A picture and link from Leasch's site.



And Archpundit who thinks Laesch will get pinged by Dems for opposing the Alternative Min Tax....

I don't think so.

Update: Noam Chomsky for Laesh too. Chomsky a guy who has issues with the taxman too, so Laesch on the AMT may not be such a problem....

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Laesch handouts on Oberweis investments in China

Laesch supporters were handing these out last night.

With regard to the post below on Iraq as the only issue, Laesch is Out Now on Iraq, but he did get worked up about Bin Laden and told how he was sent to Africa in the service after the two embassy attacks in 1998.

His intensity conjured up an image from the movie Independence Day where the President climbs into the cockpit of a jet fighter to take on the alien space invaders himself. I have the feeling Laesch would do the same with Bin Laden. This only half- in-jest. Laesch is if anything intense.

My next thought was what the heck did we really do instead back in 1998.

Not enough maybe. No one ordered into the cockpit. The Al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan was destroyed with cruise missles instead because of faulty intelligence.

Anyway, here's the ever passionate Laesch taking on Oberweis in a mailer he lacks the funds to mail. It's hard to have warm and fuzzies for a less than Democratic China. Oberweis might want to review a lot of investments.

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Bill Foster files for the special in IL-14

Bill Foster will file 1,832 signatures this morning for the special election in IL-14. They like to point out that's after a week with two ice storms and 8 inches of snow. I like to point out that it's a perfectly sufficient number to avoid a challenge.

I think they needed 870 or so, so 1,832 pads their total nicely and they were still able to do other stuff the past week.

I was out helping the Foster campaign in IL-14 yesterday. I was struck by a few things.

Something I had wondered about with the Foster campaign early on was whether or not they would be able to expand their base and their volunteer pool sufficiently. As I read through their volunteer board on the wall of the office yesterday, I really got it that they are doing the right things to diversify their support. I suspected they were doing all the right things before and I had no reason to think otherwise, but yesterday seriously cemented it in my brain.

Like every campaign should, they started out building upon Bill's personal and professional relationships for financial and volunteer support. One of the things that I look for in candidates is whether or not the candidate's former colleagues like and respect him or her enough to invest time and money in the campaign. Bill certainly passed that test with flying colors! How many candidates can you think of who have world class scientists (and their families) writing checks AND pounding the pavement for them?!

The Foster Scientific Brigade have continued to be out in full effect for Bill and the campaign has managed to recruit many new, enthusiastic supporters form very diverse communities! I've met college kids from Aurora University and Northern Illinois University. I saw several of the Fox Valley Forge strikers and their families. Teachers from Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and Elgin. Nurses from DeKalb, Aurora, and Oswego. At least two Kane County Board members and several other elected officials and their families. And, perhaps most importantly, many people who I know from firsthand experience who have the ability to influence large chunks of the voting bloc.

Couple this with the fact that Bill has raised the most money of any Democratic or Republican candidate (aside from his personal contribution) and has picked up some very impressive endorsements (AFSCME Council 31, Planned Parenthood, Senator Dick Durbin, and 19 Nobel Laureates among them!) and things are looking pretty good for the Foster campaign. I'm pretty happy with their progress thus far.

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Throwing Laesch under the bus

A comment by Carl Nyberg over at Prairie State Blue on Planned Parenthood's endorsement of Foster in the primary.

A significant number of key people have decided they can't back Laesch. In fact, some of them have decided they will oppose Laesch no matter what.

I feel like these judgments have been rendered unfairly in most cases.

I also think that the attacks on Laesch are unfair enough that it will create a real problem for Foster.

Foster probably should do something to de-escalate the nastiness, especially the unfair attacks on Laesch.

If Laesch is denied the nomination by b/c people perceived that key players won't work with Laesch, Laesch's supporters have a certain incentive to jam Foster on that very point.

Laesch not my kind of Democrat. He's the now pervasive kind of Democrat who's taken over, and made it impossible for Lieberman style Liberals to find a home there.

But Laesch has been a tireless campaigner for Progressivism in Il-14 --as Progressivisms now become-- and it seems he deserves a little better.

He's your party Democrats, with a program more consistent with where the party's been the past six years, than the candidate those key people want to field in Il-6.

Maybe the Lieberman Dem's don't belong in the party, and Lieberman Liberals should leave it to the Laeschites, but those muddling key people, who's principles sway with the winds of polls, seem the least appealing of all. I hope Laesch supporters do, as Carl wrote, jam Foster on that point.

xp Bill Baar's West Side

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John Laesch Running In Congressional 14th - Announcing At Firedoglake Saturday

[Cross-posted at WurfWhile.com]

I recently suggested that 2006 Democratic nominee for the 14th Congressional District John Laesch did not seem likely to run in 2008. I based that partly on what I was hearing in early March, but things have gotten more definite since then. In the last couple of days I heard from two independent sources (one of them here) that John Laesch may be throwing his hat in the ring again - so I called John tonight and he confirmed that he will run for congress in the 14th district in 2008 (Laesch's 2008 campaign website is here).

John Laesch told me he will announce his entry into the congressional race Saturday, May 26 on the Firedoglake blog. He also plans to be at the DeKalb Democrats meeting this Thursday, and believes there may be other 14th Congressional candidates there too. Through the end of June, in addition to getting married (congratulations John!) he plans to fundraise. Campaign appearances will follow.

John Laesch will face Geneva attorney Jotham Stein in the Democratic primary and possibly Aurora State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia and Geneva businessman Joe Serra. While this may be the whole field, it's early enough that other Illinois Democrats may join the fray in the fourteenth.

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