Playing Politics

Tim Saler writes about the proposed "Get out of Iraq" petition that Jannie Blackwell would like to see on November's ballot.

[W]hat does the actual referendum say? Here’s an excerpt: “to begin an immediate withdrawal of [American] troops from Iraq, beginning with the National Guard and Reserve and ending with a total withdrawal of all U.S. forces by the end of 2006.” Fair enough, but an important question presents itself: what is the purpose of having a referendum to that effect on the ballot November 7th?

Even if unofficial returns were used as guidance in “sending a message” to Washington, there would be less than two months remaining in 2006 for all U.S. forces to have been withdrawn. That timeframe is quite obviously unrealistic.

Could there be another reason why a liberal Philadelphia Democrat like Jannie Blackwell would want to put a referendum like this on the ballot? Indeed, there is: such a referendum would turn out liberal Democrat voters in the city of Philadelphia who would subsequently vote for Democrats up-ballot. That means Governor Ed Rendell and State Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. would both benefit in their competitive statewide races against Lynn Swann and Senator Rick Santorum respectively.

So what do we have here? We have a ballot referendum with no actual authority or weight scheduled at the end of the year, making its contents virtually irrelevant by the time the election results would be officially certified, that just so happens to appeal to left-wing Democrats that might otherwise be inclined to stay home rather than vote for the pro-life, pro-Second Amendment Bob Casey Jr.

This is the very definition of playing politics with our troops. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior. Our brave soldiers in Iraq are being yanked back and forth by public acts such as the one being instigated by Councilwoman Blackwell. Our troops must know that we support them and will not accept or tolerate these shameful acts.