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I'm taking on a "Bush-Dog Democrat

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Message Mark Pera
It’s been quite a week for our campaign here in IL-03.

The coverage we’ve received on DailyKos, FireDogLake, DownWithTyranny, Open Left, ArchPundit, The Booman Tribune and other sites has been tremendous. I want to thank you, the authors and readers, for your time and effort. That kind of writing has awakened the Netroots and it’s rallying people from across the country to our campaign.

For all of us, it’s inspiring to see bloggers hitting their stride five months before the Feb. 5 primary in Illinois and one of my goals is to keep you all engaged as we move forward.

Some of you have heard a lot from us this week and you should expect to hear more because this is a crucial campaign.

It’s also been quite a week for my opponent, Congressman Dan Lipinski, and not in a good way.

On Monday and Tuesday, just as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced the start of a public information campaign to counter Republican propaganda such as the Freedom’s Watch TV $1 million Chicagoland ad campaign, Congressman Dan Lipinski was sitting alongside targeted Republican Mark Kirk, IL-10, parroting Republican talking points, looking to the 10-month-old Iraq Study Group Report (ISG) for solutions to the current crisis in Iraq.

What does that say to voters when real Democratic leaders are on the Hill asking tough questions of our military and diplomatic leaders and Dan Lipinski is on the air providing political cover for the Republicans?

It says Lipinski is a true “Bush-Dog Democrat.”

Democrats need to hold Congressman Lipinski to a higher standard.

In terms of Iraq, you don’t have to interpret the ISG report to understand my position: I have advocated for months that we should start withdrawing troops from Iraq and set a date to complete the withdrawal.

Our troops are mired in a civil war. They have served honorably and it is time for them to start coming home.

Lipinski and Bush talk about benchmarks, but Lipinski and Bush keep changing the way we measure those benchmarks.

At the outset of the war, President Bush told the American people that Iraq would be a shining beacon of Democracy in the Middle East. As Iraq descended into a civil war, Donald Rumsfeld told us, “Freedom’s untidy and free people are free … to do bad things.”

In 2006, the Republicans said, “When Iraqi forces stand up, we’ll stand down.”

Now Bush Administration has set “bottom-up reconciliation” as its goal.

In six months, when there’s no evidence of “bottom-up reconciliation,” Bush will change the framework again.

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I'm a Democratic Congressional candidate for Congress in Illinois' 3rd District. To learn more, visit www.PERA08.com.
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