Iraq Press Conference

I never got my battery back until too late. I'll have some more analysis of this plan once I get back to Florida. I think this is something that we really want to push forward on.

(You can see this press conference live here and you can read the plan here)

5:40: The name of the new plan is A Responsible Plan to End the War In Iraq.

5:42: Speakers in this press conference include Tom Andrews, Darcy Burner, Jared Polis, Sam Bennett, Chellie Pingree, and Donna Edwards. Things are about to get started.



5:55: They had a few difficulties, but have now started. Andrews is the moderator.

5:57: Andrews: We need to elect a Congress that will stop this war. The survival of our nation is at stake. What do we do?



5:58: Darcy Burner (Washington-8) was the sparkplug behind this plan.

6:00: Burner: Ending the war is a bigger problem than just removing our troops from Iraq.

6:07: We have to restore the Constitution to fix this problem.

6:08: The plan addresses specific bills that will attempt to solve the problem. If we take the steps in this plan, we'll be able to make progress on all the other challenges we face.

6:10: It is going to take public pressure and political will to end the war. The candidates participating in this program, all have shown the courage to take up the challenge to end the war.

6:12: Donna Edwards of Maryland's 4th: The war may have disappeared off the front pages of the newspapers, but it hasn't disappeared from the minds of the voters or from the hearts of the families and men and women who have sacrificed for this war.

6:21: The full list of current endorsers of this plan is Darcy Burner, Washington; Dona Edwards, Maryland; Eric Massa, New York; Chellie Pingree, Maine; Tom Perriello, Virginia; Jared Polis, Colorado; George Fearing, Washington; Larry Byrnes, Florida; Steve Harrison, New York; and Sam Bennett, Pennsylvania.

6:22: My laptop is about to die and I don't have access to an outlet. I'll go offline for a while and will come back with more info later...


(The stuff below is from an earlier false start to the session. Not really a false start, I just came in too early and caught the tail end of an earlier session. The Burner et al. conference stuff is above).

5:21: It appears I got the wrong info, I'm here now and the press conference has already started.

5:21: On the stage are John Cavanagh, Darcy Burner, Camilo Mejia, Leslie Cagan, Tom Swan and Nita Chaudhary.

5:28: Darcy Burner: If you want more and better Democrats in Congress, you (the reader), need to get them there.

5:29: Maybe I'm not too early. It could be that this is the end of an earlier session.

5:32: Confirmed. This was the end of an older session. See, that's what I get for showing up early for something.