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| California Democrat seeks vote on Iraq war |
| 2007-04-06 |
| California's top Democratic legislator called on Thursday for voters to call for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in a ballot measure for the state's 2008 presidential primary election. "We do not have to be on the streets of Berkeley or on the streets of Oakland," state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said. "We can now use the ballot box." During the Vietnam War, both Northern Californian cities hosted frequent anti-war demonstrations, but with students today not threatened by a draft as they were in the 1960s, the Iraq war has not sparked the same level of public response. Polls suggest, however, that a growing percentage of the public favors an end to the U.S. involvement in Iraq. A Field Poll report released on Thursday said disenchantment with President George W. Bush's handling of the war has pushed his approval rating among California voters to its lowest level since he assumed office and near a record low scored by President Richard Nixon in August 1974 shortly before he resigned from office in the Watergate scandal. Perata said he would introduce his bring-the-troops-home measure on Monday. To make the ballot, the measure requires a majority vote in the state Senate and Assembly, each controlled by Democrats, and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Don Perata is chief whore for the CA donks. He's trying to suck up to the moonbat Nor Cal base so when redistricting and term limits are shot down by the Dems, the moonbats will have his back. Here's a take from Chris Reed's blog, editorial writer for the San Diego Union Trib: Perata's ploy: Slick, insincere and likely to work This press release just came out: PERATA ANNOUNCES PLAN TO "VOTE US OUT" OF IRAQ California Ballot Measure Allows Citizens to Voice Demand for War's End BERKELEY - California would become the first state in the nation to call on President Bush to immediately withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq under legislation unveiled today by Senate President pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland). Frustrated by the Bush Administration's failure to end the war after more than four years, Perata announced plans to place an advisory measure on California's statewide ballot as part of next year's February 5th presidential primary. Whether or not you think the advisory is a good idea, no one should have any illusions about why Perata wants this put on the ballot. Obviously, he expects to win vast kudos from his party's base with little effort and no expenditure of political capital. But I also think he's hoping to insulate himself before his pending double-cross on redistricting reform. After saying in late 2005 that he would work to get a redistricting fix on the ballot, he sabotaged it in the closing days of the last legislative session. Now the governor and Fabian Nunez say they want to pair redistricting reform with a relaxation of term limits in measures to be put on the February 2008 ballot. But polls show public hostility to any term limits change, and Perata and many of the Dems who control Sacramento worry about a worst-case scenario in which redistricting reform passes -- meaning there are far more contested Assembly and Senate races -- but not a relaxing of term limits. So watch for Perata to sabotage redistricting reform yet again and keep it off the February 2008 ballot. He will then be bashed by all of California's editorial pages, from the Kumbaya types to the doom-and-gloomers. How does he keep some of his luster? By portraying himself as an anti-war crusader with another measure on the February 2008 ballot, one that will generate such a hullaballoo that the good government set's whining will be drowned out. It's slick, insincere and has a good chance of working. The public doesn't care nearly as much about redistricting as it should. Posted at 10:29 AM |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-04-06 16:24 |
| #2 Yeah, Joe. That's what the Russians would say. But look at the record of Soviet weaponry in the hands of Muslim Middle Easterners whenever it's come up against US or Israeli weapons. |
| Posted by: Elmereter Hupash6222 2007-04-06 13:35 |
| #1 GLOBALRESEARCH > SUICIDAL AMERICAN STATECRAFT > PLANETARY MOVEMENT - George W. Bush resides over the end of his own Presidency; + FREEREPUBLIC/ PRESS TV > RUSSIAN GENERAL > IRAN's air defenses are VERY STRONG + capable of inflicting losses = repeling any US air attack. RIAN > Russia to deploy S-400 Triumf [SA-21 Growler], i.e. S-300/400 family, ADS around Moscow. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-04-06 02:03 |