Anti war pukes misfire against targeted Republicans

Washington Times:

A summertime push by liberal political groups to turn selected Republican members of Congress against the war in Iraq has been slow to grab the attention of lawmakers on the hit list.

In states such as Pennsylvania, which the activists designate as a key battleground in the war debate, organizers say the effort is just getting under way two weeks after they deployed 10 full-time activists here.

The campaign singled out 41 Republicans nationwide — six of them in Pennsylvania, more than in any other state — whom organizers say are ripe to turn against President Bush.

Several Pennsylvania Republicans targeted in the "Iraq summer" campaign by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, a coalition of groups including MoveOn.org and Center for American Progress, report that so far there has been no increase in antiwar activity. It also is uncertain what the out-of-town activists will add to homegrown antiwar movements already present in most communities.

Rep. Todd R. Platts, a Pennsylvania Republican targeted in the campaign, spent three hours on a talk radio call-in show Monday in his York County district — as he does the first Monday of every month — and didn't get any calls about Iraq.

Mr. Platts hasn't seen more letters, phone calls or visits to his office by war opponents, he said in an interview at his district office in York, a slowly rebounding Rust Belt town of about 40,000 people.

...

York City Council member Joseph Musso, a Democrat, said he didn't think Mr. Platts was vulnerable to attacks from the left in the mostly rural, conservative district in the state's southeast.

"People in York County are smarter than that," he said. The activists "are going to have more than a one-issue attack" to threaten Mr. Platts.

...

Attempts in other districts have similarly fizzled so far. What the anti war pukes are learning is there is in fact opposition to their desire for defeat. However, we have to continue to fight these misguided people. We cannot allow their desire for defeat to prevail.