KEYC-TV: Moveon visits Walz office

KEYC-TV reported yesterday Walz Petitioned to Oppose Iran War (shorter title in noon broadcast Walz Petitioned):

Activists pay a visit to Representative Tim Walz's Mankato office today Members of Moveon.org and others presented a petition with more than 200 signatures asking Walz to back a bill that would require Congressional approval for military action in Iran.

Mike Daly says, The action today, is to absolutely make sure Congress is certain if the President can take war action in Iraq, he should not feel he has war authorization in Iran. Walz says he agrees with the petitioners in principle, but that safeguards are already in place. Representative Tim Walz says, "We have more tools to make sure the President is constrained than just this. I think those are the things that the President understands his responsibility and ours are the same. But they need to be done responsibly and based on good evidence."

Walz says he's not sure that bill will make it past Congress, but he believes President Bush lacks the support to wage war in Iran.

The Political Party blog at the PB Bulletin picks up on the story with a slight rewrite, but forgot to link to KEYC-TV:

Activists paid a visit to U.S. Rep. Tim Walz's Mankato and Rochester offices Thursday. Members of Moveon.org and others presented a petition with more than 200 signatures asking Walz to back a bill that would require Congressional approval for military action in Iran.

Mike Daly said the purpose action of the action is to send an unambigious signal to the president that just because he can wage war in Iraq, he should not feel he has war authorization in Iran. Walz says he agrees with the petitioners in principle, but that safeguards are already in place. Walz said, "We have more tools to make sure the President is constrained than just this. I think those are the things that the President understands; his responsibility and ours are the same. But they need to be done responsibly and based on good evidence."

Walz says he's not sure that the bill will make it past Congress, but he believes President Bush lacks the support to wage war in Iran.

 

 

Comments

[MinnesotaCentral]

Frankly, I am surprised that it has taken this long for citizens express their concerns to Congressman Walz. I wrote Congressman Walz about his vote – Roll Call 365 May 16, 2007 – which he bolted from the Democrat majority ( including the other four Minnesota Dems) to join the Republicans. His response that I received was very unsatisfying. He embraced sanctions … which if you’ve read my blog, you know that I cite many examples of how sanctions have failed.

We need leadership on the Iran issue. After the NIE report, now is the time for a change in approach. On the national scale, the Democrats have an obvious choice … do you embrace Obama coming from the Foreign Relations Committee & negotiations or Clinton from the Armed Services Committee & more Bush-lite warmongering?

Ollie says: The petition delivery certain was not the first time citizens in the First have spoken out about this issue, as loyal readers of this blog know.

A lot of people at the four Iraq War forums this fall stood up against the possibility of war with Iran--we live blogged all four--and there was Neil Haggerud's commentary not long ago in the Fillmore County paper, which we linked to as soon as we read it. I'm surprised that you write as if the Moveon petition was the first instance.

With the NIE report about Iran in, it will be difficult for Bush to make a case for attacking Iran, and Walz's constituents should continue to let him know what's on their minds.

On the national scale, Obama and Clinton aren't the only choices that Democrats have, so setting up a false dilemma that neglects Edwards' position isn't an especially accurate statement of our choices--and given that Richardson, Kucinich and others are in the race, doubly so.