"House challengers on the Responsible Plan for Iraq" (with video)

Goldy@HorsesAss.org, with video (00:53):

Darcy Burner and nine other Democratic challengers will introduce their “Responsible Plan To End The War In Iraq” today at 2:30PM PT in the nation’s capital. And I sure hope our local media is paying attention, else they find themselves scooped.

The Kennebec Journal (Maine) already writes:

“It is not just to separate myself from the pack,” [Chellie Pingree] said. “We candidates are coming in with what we hope will be a very strong mandate for change.”

Pingree said the candidates want to “get elected on a wave of change” and “send a signal to Democratic leaders that there are a lot of candidates who are frustrated that the Congress does not look responsive to the public.”

[…] Burner drafted the manifesto while the candidates contributed thoughts and edited drafts, Pingree said.

When the Republicans announced their “Contract For America” in 1994, it was a top-down affair led by then-Minority Leader Newt Gingrich, in which the NRCC urged their candidates to sign on. But the Responsible Plan is a grassroots effort, initiated by Burner, drafted by her, her fellow challengers and their military advisers, and organized outside the purview (and wishes) of the DCCC. If that’s not political leadership, I don’t know what is.

“I wholeheartedly endorse this plan as a responsible and forward looking plan for ending the war in Iraq. As Burner and her colleagues correctly note, bringing our troops home is the first, but not the only step that must be taken to ensure a debacle like Iraq never happens again,” said Dr. Lawrence Korb, former assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. “This plan addresses the root causes that allowed the Bush Administration to lead this country into this mess, and sets us in the right direction. I applaud their efforts on this ambitious and sound strategy. This is progressive strength on national security in action.”

Darcy Burner has long been a netroots superstar. The rest of the nation is about to discover why.