In 2007, Ed Pastor signed the pledge in 2007 not to vote for any war funding that does not include troop withdrawal provisions. But now that he’s part of leadership, I guess that’s all out the window:
Democratic vote-counters headed into the weekend assuming a worst-case-scenario that no Republicans will back the bill this time around, said Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., a chief deputy majority whip.
"The expectations are that we can pass this with just Democrats," said Pastor, though he would not say if the vote-counting within the party supports that optimism.
In the end, Pastor said, "I really think we’ll get some Republicans supporting it, since it deals with the troops."
"It’ll be very hard for some of them to go back to their districts and say, ‘we did not vote for the bill because of this or that,’ " Pastor said.
How about going back to your district and telling them you were full of shit, Ed? Is that going to be a problem?
Washington DC office: (202) 225-4065, Arizona office: (602) 256-0551
Here’s our whip tool, call his office and let us know what you hear.



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Spoke to Ray, a staffer for Pastor who claimed the congressman has not said how he’ll vote but voted for the supplemental in May and stands with the President for a “responsible” end to the wars. He is a signer of the McGovern amendment but apparently sees no problem with blank checks these days.
I find these representatives whose staff claim they have not even spoken about what they will do just amazingly unresponsible. This is “leadership?”
These critters are such unethical lying scum. It’s hard to believe in this system when you see how they jerks act.
LOL. Like it.
Just left my name and address with his office. I told them I’d contribute money to a primary against him, if the Supplemental passes.
He’s my Congressman here in Arizona.
Historically, he has always been on the ‘correct’ side of almost all issues. He’s moved up and onto Pelosi’s leadership team and I expect he will vote with Pelosi on all most all issues. And in this instance, he is a disappointment to me.
The ‘talk’ here is that he is soon to retire, and there are about two dozen Democrats waiting for this happy event to occur.
However, I will give his office a call and report the result.
Jaango
called, they want your zip code before talking now. the heat must be getting to them.
Update.
I have talked to his local office, and the person chartered to speak on his behalf is not available.
As to his DC Office, I have spoken to a person but self-restraint has been exercised and the staffer will not be accepting “for attribution” and thusly, we have agreed that Pastor will be sought out and a statement tendered for posting and made available to FireDogLake. And the waiting continues.
Jaango
I don’t know about Pastor specifically, but I don’t recall other Dems [e.g. Paul Hodes] asking for my zip code when they solicited [and continue to solicit] my out-of-state $$$$$ contributions.
First of all, thanks for posting this. Didn’t see this story in any of our local information centers.
I did call Ed Pastor’s office, and asked the staffer (a) if this was true (yes) and (b) what was the reasoning (he did not know; he had not discussed this with the congressman). He didn’t even give me any flim-flam about the IMF.
I told the staffer this flip-flop is not what I’ve been voting for. I would tell President Obama the same thing.
Added to the staffer that at this point I was more flabbergasted than angry. Pastor’s voted on the correct side of this issue up till now, & his flip-flop is just puzzling.
(I wasn’t born yesterday and I know what’s going on — just want to give myself somewhere to go as my anger on this issue escalates)
More and BETTER Dems. People like Ed Pastor and Barney Frank have obviously been in Congress too long. (Term limits are a dumb idea, but now I can at least see the appeal)
I’m beginning to view this issue as an *establishment* problem as opposed to just the Repubs being a problem.
Don’t the Dems realize that even if they captured bin Laden on their own, and shot him on camera, the Repubs would still call them terrorist sympathizers and say “I just don’t know which side they’re on”?
FWIW, Rep. Pastor’s office has always asked for my zip code, & I assumed that was to make sure I was a voter in his district.
They used to laugh when I said “I live in CD4 — The Fighting Fourth!”
But they don’t any more. Sad, really.
In for a penny… I might as well write to him:
I’m honestly sorry to read what I read on Firedoglake, http://tiny.cc/aabPW, and I’m sorry they’re calling you names.
But I hope you’ll speak with them to address this issue.
I just spoke with one of your aides on the phone, and he could not explain your vote.
To reiterate what I told him:
Continuing the war is not what I’ve been voting for. I would tell President Obama the same thing.
At this point I am more flabbergasted than angry over your flip-flop.
And let me add:
Please don’t use the IMF as an excuse. Whatever the merits of the IMF (or lack of them), the war overrides every other concern I have.
This war has always been Bush’s folly to me. Why the Democrats seem hell-bent on owning it themselves is beyond me. I am beginning to view the problem not as “the Republicans” but as “the establishment in Congress.”
That said, anything done to appease Republicans is not only wrong but counterproductive. If you managed to single-handedly capture bin Laden and execute him on camera, they would still say “I’m just not sure which side Ed Pastor is on.”
Surely you must realize that.
Sincerely,
Tom Marcinko