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April 25, 2008 - 8:18am
News
Novick: It's all about the word courage
By Lauren LafaroOne of the issues that has reared its head in the debate between Steve Novick and Rep. Jeff Merkley is the candidates' initial stances on the war in Iraq.
Merkley has accused Novick of being MIA back in 2003, while Novick has criticized Merkley's vote to support House Resolution 2, which acknowledged the "courage of George W. Bush" as well as that of the men and women of America's armed forces.
Here's the rub: another major issue in the campaign has been Novick's willingness to criticize other Democrats. Merkley's campaign dug up resolutions from the U.S. House and Senate (the former reached the floor on the same day as the Oregon resolution, while the latter was heard a day earlier) which were very similar to the one Merkley voted for in the Oregon Legislature. The Senate resolution was co-sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, and the House resolution received the support of Reps. Peter DeFazio, Earl Blumenauer, Darlene Hooley and David Wu. So would Novick take on the entirety of the Oregon Congressional delegation for their votes?
"Neither praised the war as an example of George Bush's courage," said Jake Weigler, Novick's campaign manager. "There are a variety of ways to express support [for the troops] without praising the courage of George W. Bush."
In fact, the Senate resolution "commends and supports the efforts and leadership of the President," while the House version expresses appreciation of the "President as Commander-in-Chief for his firm leadership and decisive action in the conduct of military operations in Iraq..." Both continue on to praise the Armed Forces.
"Since the beginning, we have been clear that Steve would not have supported such language; Jeff is the only candidate in this race that has voted to praise courage of George W. Bush," Weigler said.
Related topics: Steve Novick, Jeff Merkley
Syndicate
How does that old poem go? "Credit goes to the
man in the ring, not to the man who points out how the strong man stumbled?"
How about having your man Novick actually run for public office where he would actually have to take a stand on something, instead of just catcalling from the sidelines where he's nice and cozy? Where's the "courage" in that?
The full poem, by none other than Theodore Roosevelt:
It is not the critic who counts
Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled
Or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit goes to the man who is actually in the arena
Whose face is marred by dust and blood
Who strives valiantly
Who errs and comes short again and again.
Who knows great enthusiasms
The great devotions.
Who spends himself in a worthy cause
Who at best knows in the end
the triumph of high achievement
And who at the worst, if he fails
At least fails while Daring Greatly
So that his place shall never be
With the timid souls
Who neither know victory or defeat.
~Theodore Roosevelt
guess what
Steve IS running for office, and next time he will have a voting record to run on. But I am prepared to believe that Steve has the good sense not to vote yes on crap like that.
Novick's hypocrisy
is that his campaign has sent out fundraising emails claiming that he too was against the Iraq War from the very start. Only thing is... where's the evidence?
Merkley, Wyden and DeFazio all had the COURAGE to take public stands against it when it was being launched. Novick waited until August 2003 when public support for the War had dropped significantly before he ventured to publically oppose it.
Novick's supporters will say, "he wasn't an elected official so the newspapers weren't asking for his opinion." That's nothing more than a lame StrawMan argument.
The fact of the matter is that newspapers all over this state publish letters to the editor every week. Many of them also publish guest Op-Ed columns from regular citizens (i.e., not elected officials). Had he wanted to take a public stand then he could have. He chose not to and it's the height of hypocrisy for him to denigrate elected officials who arguably had a great deal more courage than he did.
Remember, public sentiment was at a fever pitch in support of the Iraq War when Merkley spoke out against it.
Novick was marching against the war
... in March or April 2003. We have corroboration of that published in the Oregonian now, Anonymouse/Kevin/karmaman. Steve was voting with his feet while Jeff Merkley was voting in favor of commending the courage of George W. Bush.
"he would actually have to
"he would actually have to take a stand on something,"
Yeah, Lord knows you just can't get Steve Novick to take a position on anything.
There is no record of Merkley taking a public stand against the war, by the way. His speech on the floor did not declare opposition and in fact deferred "the debate" over the war to "another day."
And last Friday Merkley finally dumped the mystery "anti-war column" he claimed to have written in 2003. A quick read reveals not even that kind of equivocation as in his floor speech; he simply asks for George Mitchell to go to Iraq before Bush drops the bombs.
I would say the definition of hypocrisy is attacking your opponent for (allegedly) not doing something that you yourself have not done. Novick has NEVER asserted Merkley backed the war. Merkley has claimed he was against it from the start--if he did, it sure wasn't in what he has provided on the subject. So it appears that the only serious indications of anti-war sentiment come from Novick, not Merkley.
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