Gordo the Opportunist and "Liddy the Fraud"

Some morning bites from Oregon and North Carolina:

Oregon: Today's Oregonian features a very sobering letter to the editor on why residents of the Beaver State should not vote for Gordon Smith in 2008:

As a Gold Star family (our son, Sgt. David W. Johnson, Oregon National Guard, was killed in action on Sept. 25, 2004, near Baghdad), we find it more than just interesting that Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., has chosen now, a month after the Republican Party lost control of the Senate, to "loosen" his ties with the Bush administration.

We met with Smith in his Washington, D.C., office, on Sept. 23, 2005. During our brief "conversation" with the senator, we spoke of the many reasons we were against the war with Iraq even before the invasion.

We talked about the fact that the war was based on lies about weapons of mass destruction. We told Smith how we supported David during his time in Iraq and how we continue to support the rest of the troops still in Iraq and those now back home.

After we told Smith the details of our son's death in Iraq, he looked at us and said, "I hope that someday your pain will be lessened when you realize that President Bush was right about the reasons we went to war."

Now Smith is trying to reposition himself for the 2008 election by claiming he has finally seen the light about the true cost of the war against Iraq and the waste of American lives. Smith is seemingly trying to distance himself from the Bush administration, hoping that the voters in Oregon won't remember how often he voted with the administration.

The only voters being duped by Smith will be those who vote for him in 2008.

I don't think there is anything any of us can add to that.

Meanwhile, in another piece, the Oregonian also suggests that Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer's new seat on the House Ways & Means Committee makes him less likely to run for the Senate in 2008, but I'd rebut that the seat raises his profile and increases his capability to run for Senate. We have a deep bench in Oregon, so Blumenauer opting to stay in the House certainly won't cripple our chances to depose Smith, but it's nice to have options.

North Carolina: John Grooms at Creative Loafing offers a biting critique of Elizabeth "Libby the Fraud" Dole's "phony down home image" and suggests that she is nothing more than a "corporate pawn." I have no problem with this.