Democratic Congressman Brian Baird took a pounding the other night at a town hall meeting in Vancouver, Washington. Baird recently flip flopped on the Iraq War -- he was against the war and now he is apparently for it -- and a lot of his constituents aren't real happy about it. You can watch some video highlights of the town meeting here.
I think Baird saw this as a chance for him to get some national exposure, but his plan backfired because he clearly misunderestimated the backlash he would receive here in the Pacific Northwest on this issue. And since all politics is local, he may have just pissed off enough people to make a 2008 reelection bid a lot more difficult than it would have been otherwise.
For God's Sake, even Oregon GOP Senator Gordon Smith realized long ago -- well, eight months or so ago -- that he had no chance for reelection in 2008 unless he flip-flopped with regard to the Iraq Debacle (which he did do). Smith had enough sense to recognize that a "stay the course" position would be politically impossible for him to maintain during the run-up to next year's election.
Baird, however, clearly lost touch with how people feel locally about the U.S. Catastrophe in Iraq, which is pretty funny because it would have been so easy for him to say nothing, given that most people in this country now favor a withdrawal from Iraq.
UPDATE: My new favorite phrase: Green Zone Fog.
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