Red-Light Cameras Not So Special?
Cubs Combat Casino
PHOTOS: Peaches And Amanda Blank At Metro
The Return of The Chicagoist Reader Meet-Up
County Sales Tax Rollback Vetoed - Here We Go Again
With the Democratic primary election in the 14th Congressional District all but settled, Bill Foster and Jim Oberweis are duking it out over Iraq. Oberweis is accusing Foster of politicizing the Iraq War in his bid to take the seat that Dennis Hastert vacated by retiring. Foster says he won't support any policies that don't "change the course in Iraq and do it now."
Oberweis's campaign says that view is out of touch with voters in the 14th Congressional District. "Bill Foster wants to cut off funding for our troops right now. He wants to withdraw from Iraq right now," Oberweis campaign spokesman Bill Pascoe told the Daily Herald. That "puts Foster out of touch with the residents of the 14th District, who strongly support our troops, and believe they should be withdrawn gradually," Pascoe said. Pascoe may be right in his assessment, according to an Associated Press article that cites economic worries as the bigger issue for Illinois voters. With less than four weeks until the special election in the 14th, we'll see if this issue gains Foster any traction in the race.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I am not sure whether Foster is out of touch or not, but I am curious about how quickly opponents of the Iraq War think our troops can be withdrawn, and how easily they thinnk this will happen.
I see the withdraw as much more complex and dangerous than the initial invasion and occupation because of various logistical and political reasons--in essence, we will be attemping a fighting retreat, unless a miracle happens and Iraq's government establishes stability. I think more than a few anti-war people (and I do think this war is an even bigger mistake than Vietnam was) think, for instance, that if Obama gets in, he will snap his fingers and the troops will return home within months. I find that highly doubtful. I imagine we will have at least 50,000+ troops in Iraq through most of the next president's first time, and at least 30,000+ there for some 10-20 years, if not 50.
The Iraq War: the gift that keeps on giving, I guess.
I agree with matilda, but I wonder how much difference on Iraq there really is between Bill Foster and Jim Oberweis outside of semantics. According to the linked-to article Oberweis thinks that bringing the troops home has already begun (has it really?) and that he seems to like that policy.
What they're websites reveal is that Jim Foster thinks that Iraq is the issue that will get him elected (so 2006 of him) and that Iraq is nowhere on Oberweis' radar and that he's still obsessed with Mexicans and parrots the usual Republican mantra of tax breaks and benefits for the wealthy.
The 14th district seems to have dug this mantra and I wonder if Bill Foster's overemphasis on Iraq over his wise-if-vague fiscal policies will cost him.
Interesting questions, TourismBoard.
Sorry to be a nit-picky commenter, but the AP article you cite doesn't really line up with Pascoe's statement that "Foster [is] out of touch with the residents of the 14th District, who strongly support our troops, and believe they should be withdrawn gradually." That statement suggests Bill Foster doesn't support the troops. The AP article just suggests that bread-and-butter issues are more important to voters than the war.
Sorry to be a nit-picky commenter...
Touche!