Bill Young Fails to support the Troops - Again

Once again Congressman Bill Young (R-Fl-10) has failed to support the troops. It was horrific to learn that Young knew of the wretched conditions for the troops at Walter Reed Hospital and did nothing. Now just yesterday, Young has failed to support our troops once again.

Young voted no yesterday on the Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act. This bill reads in part:

1) the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 ... authorized the President to use the Armed Forces ... in order to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by the Government of Iraq at that time;

(2) the Government of Iraq which was in power at the time the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 was enacted into law has been removed from power and its leader indicted, tried, convicted, and executed by the new freely-elected democratic Government of Iraq;

(3) the current Government of Iraq does not pose a threat to the United States or its interests; ...

Requirement- The Secretary of Defense shall commence the reduction of the number of Armed Forces in Iraq beginning not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and shall complete the reduction and transition to a limited presence of the Armed Forces in Iraq by not later than April 1, 2008.

Young voted with 190 other Republican Members of Congress to keep our troops in the middle of the civil war in Iraq. So once again, Bill Young has failed to support our troops.

I'm not sure if Young believes that the current Government in Iraq is still a threat to the national security of the United States or not. What I do know is that if Young really believed in supporting our troops, he would have voted to get them out of Iraq as quickly and as responsibly as possible. Instead, Young voted no.

A Good Look at 2008 Congressional Races

There is a very interesting look at potential Dem US House seat pickups in 2008 over at Political Truth. progressiveflademocrat gives a good rundown on some of the potential pickups. Vern Buchanan, Ric Keller and Tom Feeney (he of the newly minted legal defense fund) lead the list.

Also getting mention is Bill Young. There is the inevitable question about retirement. However, I firmly believe that Young will have to be carried out of the Capitol in a box. That does bring up a very interesting prospect however. Death in office requires a special election to be held. That could actually be very good news for the Dems. FL-10 is still a very tough proposition for any Democrat despite the Districts top of the ticket voting pattern. However, with a special election, FL-10 would likely get a ton of attention from the DCCC. This District would be hard pressed to ever get that kind of DCCC support in a regular election cycle.

Just some food for thought.