Did anyone else notice the list of staff members soon-to-be sworn-in Congressman Peter Welch (appointed to the powerful Ways and Means Committee) has hired to handle his Washington and Vermont offices?

One name of note is Jon Copans, the immediate past Executive Director of the Vermont Democratic Party, who is now one of the  Congressman’s “outreach specialists.”

More names to know if you want to get through to the Congressman after the jump.

Other names to conjure with: Bob Rogan (chief of staff), Andrew Savage (press secretary), Rachel Seelig (staff assistant & case worker), Molly McFaun (outreach specialist). McFaun’s dad is state Rep. Topper McFaun of Barre Town. Looks like all these folks are moving from the Green Mountains  to the Marble Mausoleums to become Washington office staff, augmented by some DC veterans, including a steal of Claire Benjamin from Sen. Leahy’s office, and Constance Dougherty, formerly of Sen. Bob Kerrey’s staff.

Two other names to know: Molly Gray (keeper of the appointment book), and Calvin Garner (press assistant).

Vermont office folks include Tricia Coates (director), a Vermonter by birth, residing in New York state when hired; Susan Elliot (outreach specialist); Mary Sprayregan of Charlotte (business liaison).

To someone who participated in the Franklin County Women 4 Welch organizing, it’s initially encouraging that there are plenty of women on his staff.

But the name that caught my notice was former Democratic E.D. Jon Copans. The job is likely up his alley: lots of detail work and follow through. Although I’m surprised he’s signed on for another such job, given the level of burnout he seemed to be experiencing through the election. Maybe the move to Washington is enough to restart his engine.

BTW, the Times Argus reports that Welch’s famous four-footed furry friend Pepper is staying with a friend in Vermont where he can run the fields.

NanuqFC

Oopsie-daisy! Reality sneaks in (followed by a chuckle and a hasty retreat) as Newsweek Senior editor Michael Hirsh is interviewed on the Air America Radio program, The Young Turks.

Co-host Cenk Ugyur posed the following question to Hirsh, asking about Bush’s plans to escalate the war in Iraq with the addition of some 30,000+ troops:

What happens at the endgame here? We’re talking to Michael Hirsh of Newsweek. Bush says, “Alright, I’m gonna put more troops in.” He does. He doesn’t have a plan for what they’re supposed to accomplish, which is what [sic] it appears. There is no political equilibrium that we have reached. There is no unity government that is a a real partner for peace with us. This thing gets worse and worse, and I guarantee you it will, and Bush never changes course.

[…]

Do we get to a point where people have to pull him aside and say, “You can’t do this anymore?” And who would that be, and how would that work? I mean, how do we get a President that won’t listen to reason under control?

Hirsh’s response?

Impeachment. [Then he laughs, sheepishly.]

I mean, there aren’t many means, you know? This is the great flaw in the American system. We often say of ourselves how lucky we’ve been to have leaders who have stood up in times of crisis, but, you know, we haven’t considered what happens when we get very, very unlucky, and I think you have a leader who is a complete mismatch for the moment in history that we face here. And we kind of have to grit our teeth, hold our nose, and wait out the next couple of years. There’s nothing else to do.

Now, maybe it’s unfair to make Michael Hirsh into an impeachment advocate. He’s clearly uncomfortable with the subject. But boil down the exchange, and you can see just what kind of trouble we’re in here.

If Hirsh’s chuckle is meant as a dismissal of the idea of impeachment, what are we left with?

Q: How do we get a President that won’t listen to reason under control?

A: We kind of have to grit our teeth, hold our nose, and wait out the next couple of years. There’s nothing else to do.

The day when it becomes incontrovertible that Bush “won’t listen to reason” is coming sooner than Hirsh or anyone else in the media thinks. Those additional troops, it seems, are going to Iraq. And they’re going with no mission in mind, contrary to the warnings of Jim Baker, Lee Hamilton, several Republican Senators, and now even Gerald Ford, not to mention a staggering 89% of public opinion.

Vermont, followed by people all over the country, has another chance to show the mainstream media that they needn’t chuckle to deflect their discomfort any longer. But the folks in the media are going to have to be a bit braver than this if we’re to get through this intact.

Here’s hoping you’ll lend them your courage.

It occured to me that we are constantly struggling against the WRONG ideas, those ideas which have already been dismissed by most people as “unvirtuous” or “unworthy of consideration.”

The current push to “surge” the troop levels is such an idea.  WE THE PEOPLE have already spoken on this idea in the last election. It was a clear and pointed message: GET OUT OF IRAQ.  Now the exact reserve action is being contemplated:  GET INTO IRAQ MORE!

This is how it has been under Republicans, particularly President Bush and his ilk.

We are doing the WRONG THING first and then having to turn around and do the RIGHT THING.  The resistance to doing the right thing is immense and unrelenting, even after WE THE PEOPLE have spoken clearly and definitely.

Societies can evolve when the good ideas are heard and appreciated at the highest levels of social organization …. government, business, religion, etc.

When good ideas are dismissed or obscured by bad ideas being pounded into us by leaders and media and money …. then we have a hard time at proceeding at the task of evolutionary progress.

Progress is a good thing. It should not be encumbered by disruptive or delaying tactics.  It should be sought by everyone all of the time.  The idea that some people want things to “stay the same” should be the idea which is challenged.  Things are always changing, that’s the one constant in the universe we can certainly proclaim as truth.  The question becomes one of HOW they are changing … for the better or for the worse .. and this becomes the focus of progressive leadership: change things for the BETTER.

THe more time and energy we spend overcoming resistance to change for human progress the less human progress we are able to achieve in any given amount of time. 

Republicans have been so abusive to America recently.

Never vote Republican.

Steve Moyer
http://stevemoyer.us

( – promoted by odum)

Although it still hasn’t crept fully into the public consciousness yet, there has been more talk of the idea of defunding the war as one of the only viable options in putting the brakes on it, even though Nancy Pelosi has seemingly dismissed the idea.

Peter Welch and Patrick Leahy have both come out now with the message that any surge escalation of troops can be countered with the defunding option:

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, is having discussions with other senators about legislation that would restrict the president’s use of the military. He said the “only way” a withdrawal would occur is through the budget process.

“I don’t know anyone who believes we’ll see an end to (the Iraq war) the way we’re doing it now,” he said in an interview. “It’s time to get out of there.”

“What will the president do? That’s the $64 million question,” said Congressman-elect Peter Welch, D-Vt.

“I would oppose adding troops,” Welch said in an interview. “And I would support steps to deny funding for adding more troops.”

If Leahy and Welch are serious, I think this is a step in the right direction. Let’s just say they pull it off, and it goes over well with the public. It suddenly doesn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea as a way to stop the war.

If it happens, it’s crucial that it is done in a way to insulate it from the expected ‘Dems don’t support the troops’ attack that will come from the right-wing noise machine. As I understand it, this could be done by continuing to fund personnel – and nothing else, no money for new operations, anything. The troops would be sitting around camp all day, but it’s a much better option than getting blown up. And it’s also very easy to counter by simply asking the Repubs how sending more troops to die is supporting them.