Another promise kept by Peter Welch

Counting down (0.00 / 0)

to the word 'weasel' making it into the comments on this post... 5,4,3,2,1...

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by: bmike @ Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 15:27:12 PM UTC

Kudos to Welch for doing the right thing on this one... (4.00 / 1)

I've been critical of him recently, but here at least he showed the courage to properly represent the sentiments of a majority of his constituents (and the good ol' common sense) to vote against throwing good money after bad.

Now, if he and the rest of the progressive caucus could only force the rest of the D's to put forward a bill that would actively end the mess we're in with our pointless engagement in Afghanistan... but for now, too many of them appear eager to be seen as hawks, because they apparently think that killing people and blowing up shit thousands of miles away will play so well with their target audience of laid-off and struggling voters in the coming mid-terms. Go figure.  

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by: thingwarbler @ Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 16:09:39 PM UTC

I'm prepared to put the ACORN vote behind Welch. (0.00 / 0)

It was an ill-advised knee-jerk which unfortunately has long lasting implications. However, getting Welch to concede that at this point is probably just misspent energy.  If nothing else, it may have been a learning experience for the freshman Congressman.

It's great to see that he is stepping up to vote bravely on this.  Let's hope this signals a major gut-clinch moving forward.

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by: Sue Prent @ Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 16:53:30 PM UTC

Problem is ... (2.50 / 2)

the weasel stands by the lies he used to attack ACORN in the first place.

So you go ahead and put it behind ... but welch will keep performing the same dance with his radical right wing buddies of the lie and smear machine.

It's over at http://ramabahama.net ... only it's still under construction (but so is the rest of my life)

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by: Rama Schneider @ Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 18:02:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Much More to Do (0.00 / 0)

Okay, great, Welch voted against this round of war funding. Thank you, Congressman Welch.

But there's much, much more he can and must do to atone for his previous war-funding votes and his continued belief in the fairy tales of "timelines" as proscribed by the new Dems of war (read: Obama and Congress).

So, yes, thank him for this vote, but push him to go further-- much further. And he could start by joining the "Out of Afghanistan Caucus" and its many initiatives to not only stop the war funding but bring the troops home now. He could also join those who are seeking an investigation into the thousands of innocent civilians that our so-called "honorable troops" have been killing in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  

When people stop pushing, politicians like Welch stop making his baby-steps toward sane policies.

Keep pushing. And hard. I think they call that Democracy.

Words without action are the ruin of the soul.  

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by: LeftField @ Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 18:14:36 PM UTC

On the issues (4.00 / 1)

I work on, there's not a better Congressman in Washington. Doesn't just vote the right way, he does the hard work to be effective. Can't say enough good things about him and his staff.

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by: bill mckibben @ Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 19:28:16 PM UTC

Well, Bill... (0.00 / 1)

... you're lucky you're not an inner-city organizer who was funded by Acorn, or an innocent Iraqi civilian who was killed by a Welch-backed vote or a Welch-backed federal grant to a Vermont-based munitions maker, or an environmental activist who doesn't find joy in half-measures and glad-handing because, well, folks like that aren't all that thrilled with Welch's congressional actions or (more like it) non-actions.

It might feel mighty nice to have Welch return your phone calls, stroke your ego and otherwise pay attention to you but what has he (or his party) done concretely to address the issue that you claim (rightly) that is threatening all of civilization?

Frankly, I've never understood how such a committed activist like yourself can both educate the public about an issue like "The End of Nature" and then feel satisfied with Welch-like solutions that amount to little more than a band-aid on a volcano.

It's what I like to call "Activist Malpractice." It makes for a fine career (and plenty of returned phone calls from the political elite) but, sadly, it doesn't even come close to addressing the issues you've sounded the siren on.

Take a gander at Welch's stock portfolio sometime and then tell me what you think about his commitment to what we'd have to agree to be among the biggest contributors to global warming: greed, over-consumption and oil.

And keep enjoying those returned phone calls (read: spin, baby, spin).

Words without action are the ruin of the soul.  

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by: LeftField @ Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 20:50:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

actually (4.00 / 1)

I'm not sure I've ever had a phone call with Welch. I just admire his work in the place he finds himself. I'm not a Congressman so I push for every possible action, even some I know won't be adopted soon--I'm in no way satisfied with any of the solutions Congress offers, as anyone who knows either my writing or my activist work knows. But I admire those who push whatever institution they're in as far as they can and remain effective. So, for instance, I admire evangelical leaders who work with us at 350. They don't go as far as I go, but within the context of their communities they are courageous. I push them, I push the president, I do my best to push Congress. But when people do more than the people around them, they deserve credit. Welch is in that category on global warming. And my guess is that most people who work hard on urban poverty consider him one of their allies as well.

And can I just say, I don't admire people who make personal attacks on others as you did on me, especially when they do it anonymously. I may be guilty of activist malpractice, whatever that is, but it's not in the interest of career-making. I've taken not a penny from StepItUp or 350.org, the two largest global warming campaigns anyone has built. We haven't succeeded in any way--climate change continues to ravage the planet (see, for instance, today's new report on plankton productivity in the oceans, a truly desperate piece of news). But we have done our best, and will continue to do it--not for careerist reasons, but because we can't do otherwise. Whoever you are, I hope very much you will join our campaign, or start one of your own.  

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by: bill mckibben @ Wed Jul 28, 2010 at 23:52:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Activist Malpractice (4.00 / 1)

Hey Bill. "LeftField" is my handle here - created years ago with a link to my website, Broadsides.org. For some reason, the link is gone. But most people know who I am around here: Michael Colby, formerly of Food & Water, Inc. and now a horse logger, homesteader and freelance writer and organizer. "LeftField" was the name of my column at Seven Days, in which I featured your work on a number of occasions.

I asked for concrete examples of what Welch and the Dems had done to adequately address the issues you've (rightly) identified as dire and potentially life ending. You supplied none. And I would highly doubt that there are any.

I guess I'm old school when it comes to Congress and our Democracy in general: I believe in sounding off and demanding action, not rhetoric, from those who are supposed to represent us. And when Welch and the Dems keep serving up one rhetorical-pie after another on the essential issues of the day, I think we should call them on it.

I realize there's a strong tendency to dislike Congress but like your congressperson (especially in Vermont where we love, love, love our own) but it's this mentality that leads to the do-nothing nature of it all. We become satisfied with familiarity/likeability rather than results. And, again, when it comes to the issues you so eloquently write about, I don't think we can afford to become satisfied with years and then decades of what amounts to political jive.

I believe in what you write. That's why I bring a sense of urgency to the solutions and have little patience for the nonsense that gets passed off as "action." Frankly, I believe the solutions/actions must be as radical as the problem. And when "the end of nature" is the problem, Congressional dithering shouldn't be praised or tolerated - even if it's "one of our own."

Finally, to set the record straight about "Activist Malpractice," here's a link (http://www.ejnet.org/rachel/rehw413.htm) to my original essay about it. It was published by Peter Montague's Environment & Health Weekly in 1994.

Good luck to you and your campaigning.


Words without action are the ruin of the soul.  

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by: LeftField @ Thu Jul 29, 2010 at 12:29:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I don't disagree with you that Welch has disappointed on more than one occasion; (4.00 / 1)

but you really must resist that impulse to personally attack other commenters...
especially when it sounds like you're pretty much on the same page with regard to most of the issues.  

The ACORN vote was a huge miscarriage of justice, but Welch was just one of many Democrats who got snookered into supporting it.  It doesn't define him once and for all, as far as I'm concerned.  I'm not happy with him for choosing to lend his name to a fight against Walmart in another state but refusing to get involved right here in his home state when Walmart targeted prime agricultural soils to locate a 160,000 sq.-ft. box store in the tiny Town of St. Albans.  Yes, I know that that "other" Walmart was proposed to be located near a Civil War battlefield where Vermonters died in large numbers;  but I can't help thinking that preserving the ability to feed folks locally right here in living Vermont should be held as just as high a priority.  

So, you see; I too have some very particular issues with Peter Welch.  But I want to applaud him when he does the right thing in the sincere belief that we can give him greater confidence to do the right thing in the future.

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by: Sue Prent @ Thu Jul 29, 2010 at 01:20:53 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sue ... Welch was NOT snookered ... (4.00 / 1)

to this day he claims he did the right thing and stands by every bit of the lies he originally used to attack ACORN.

Hell, he even promised on the Mark Johnson Show to review the evidence. According to his response he literally never did this as the next time welch was on the MJ Show he simply repeated the litany of lies.

My point is simple: welch is dishonest and lacks judgment and is absolutely untrustworthy, and he has shown an absolute resistance to correcting this. The weasel does not belong in congress ... period.

It's over at http://ramabahama.net ... only it's still under construction (but so is the rest of my life)

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by: Rama Schneider @ Thu Jul 29, 2010 at 09:31:49 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I respect your position. (4.00 / 1)

I just have decided it's more productive for me to move on.  I probably wouldn't keep anyone in Congress if I ran a full litmus test on every decision they made.  And yet, in order to eventually represent a tiny state like Vermont effectively, a Congressman has to survive past that freshman first term.

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by: Sue Prent @ Thu Jul 29, 2010 at 13:20:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yes, well... (0.00 / 0)

...I applaud Peter's vote on the appropriations.  But why did he vote against Dennis' resolution to withdraw troops participating in our "secret war" in Pakistan?

Become a fan of our grassroots campaign on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/todd4v...

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by: ntoddpax @ Thu Jul 29, 2010 at 00:32:27 AM UTC

that's the question to ask him the next time he's in your neck of the woods... (0.00 / 0)

...as Bill and LeftField can at least agree, the challenge is to firmly push our elected representatives to truly represent us, and to step waay outside the surreal comfort zone of the DC Beltway, and face the harsh realities of the real world.

I was deeply disappointed by Welch's epic fail on Acorn, but I'm not sure it would be productive to keep rubbing that in his face -- I'd rather push him on other issues and force him to act as a genuinely constructive progressive on his next vote.  

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by: thingwarbler @ Thu Jul 29, 2010 at 02:36:01 AM UTC

[ Parent ]