About 15 protestors stood outside the Teamsters Union in northern Springfield Thursday night to demonstrate against Sen. Claire McCaskill for her refusal to work to cut off funding for the war in Iraq.
Watch the full KY3 News @ 10 report HERE.
McCaskill has been trailed by anti-war protestors around the state all week. To these protestors, Sen. McCaskill should be doing more to fight the war in Iraq. Voting for a non-binding resolution won't cut it. Any position other than bringing home the troops now is no better than the Republicans.
"Remaining in Iraq is an abuse of our loved ones. Each day that Congress fails to act to de-fund this unjustifiable war, an average of three U.S. service members will die," said Stacy Hafley of Columbia, Mo., a wife of an Iraq veteran.
"If Senator McCaskill votes for the upcoming 2007 supplemental appropriation that will continue the war in Iraq, this will no longer be President Bush's war. It will be hers. She will have bought it, and will own it," said Tina Bushey of Belleville, Mo.
For her part, McCaskill has walked this political tightrope pretty well.
"When I was asked during the campaign, I was very clear," McCaskill said at a press conference today. "It is very dangerous, dangerous for this Congress to begin to try to defund the Department of Defense."
At her thank-you rally for supporters, McCaskill acknowledged the protestors that greeted her outside. She told her supporters to be friendly to them, and honor their opinions even if they disagreed with them.
A Springfield Democratic activist at the event told me the protestors were the best thing that could happen to McCaskill here. "Are you kidding? I say, let them go. It's great. It makes her look like a centrist," he said.
Another told me that while some Greene County Democrats worried about how "it would make Claire look," she believed it would help McCaskill look tough in conservative country.
"These are the same people that protest Roy Blunt's position on the war. That's good for Claire politically. The difference is this: Do you know any Republicans who would acknowledge the protestors and defend their right to protest outloud? If you do, name them," she said. "She did it just right."
The group of protestors outside wasn't a large group. They remain on the leftside of the Democratic party. They could be called "on the fringe." But that label was also at one time given to Howard Dean, who vocally opposed this war when it was popular. His position ultimately became the position of the majority of Americans and he became chairman of his party.
The question is whether the opinion of these demonstrators will be the majority opinion of the country six months, a year or even two years from now, as this war continues.
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