Walt Minnick and the Self-Respecting Democrats

Mountain Goat Report and the Political Game prepared a joint reporton Congressman Walt Minnick. It’s a long read. The one sailent point is that Minnick’s political webpages have been less than truthfulwhen he said he was serving his country in Vietnam. John Foster, Minnick press flack has demanded that MGR retract her story as “While not permanently stationed in Vietnam, he did travel, work and serve there as part of his work in the Pentagon to improve the country’s economy. (He also spent time in Afghanistan while working on drug issues.)”

However, Minnick spent most of his military service at the Pentagon and the White House, and as MGR commented, “As evidenced by the two biographies quoted in the post above, “serving his country in Vietnam” is not generally perceived to mean traveling there on occasion; it’s generally perceived to mean in combat.  Veterans of all generations understand that embellishing or misleading others about one’s military service is inexcusable.”

As someone whose father did three tours in Vietnam  to say, “I served my country in Vietnam.” because you flew in there for a couple of days is ridiculous and an insult to those who risked their lives there. It’d be like George W. Bush saying he served his country in Iraq because he visited.  

Understanding the story of Minnick’s service in the Army, which came after he sued the State of Washington stop from being drafted until after he finished Harvard Law School makes his attack on Bill Sali’s lack of military service in the last campaign even more sanctimonious. Apparently, Sali’s great sin was not being born when a draft was going on and not having a silver spoon in his mouth to avoid it until he got an Ivy League law degree.

Beyond this, I have to say that much of the piece written by MGR and Tara Rowe was much adieu about nothing to this conservative with some innuendo about Congressman Minnick being part of Nixon’s plumbers and some concerns that Minnick may have had more influence in the Nixon Whitehouse than he indicated.  They spent countless paragraphs casting aspersions on Walla Walla where Minnick grew up, and their examination of Minnick ended after he left the Nixon White House in 1974, some thirty-six years ago.

Reading the piece, it became apparent that the duo were giving Minnick the worst possible treatment. They were treating him like a Republican, and they view him as little different than the Republicans and make a persuasive case that Minnick isn’t great for Idaho Democrats:

Walt Minnick’s venture into Congress has been a case study in building a fiefdom, not a party. He has shown no interest in convincing moderates and independents that Democratic values are Idaho values and can make a difference in their lives. He’s simply been trying to convince as many as will listen that he’s not like other Democrats. That may be good strategy for Walt Minnick but it hasn’t been good for Idaho Democrats.

I have sympathy for the Idaho Democrats. After their years of wanting Bill Sali gone from Office and replaced with a Democrat. With Congressman Walt Minnick they’ve found that Spock was right when he declared, “having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting.”

Any mature political activist understands that a certain amount of compromise may be necessary from time to time, but there’s a point where some politicians demand too much compromise to continue to support them.

It is one thing to have your most treasured beliefs attacked by your opponents. It’s quite another to see them betrayed by someone you gave money to, spent countless hours working to get elected or re-elected.

At some point, you realize that you’re being used cheaply by a politician who doesn’t care about you and doesn’t care about your values, and will do little to advance them. The political professionals will call this behavior “taking your ball and going home.” It’s actually called self-respect.

To do what bloggers do, and what activists do takes a lot of time, money, and resources. Blogging can be fun, but many of us would have more fun doing something else. We miss time from our family or from more relaxing projects.  Good bloggers blog because they care about the country and they have a point of view to express, and values they hold dear.

It’s true that if Minnick did things the way the Idaho left wants, he’d be the ultimate political kamikaze pilot. But sometimes the cost of victory is too high, if it means sacrificing your own self-respect and dignity to keep someone who doesn’t share your values in power.

The only upsides to Minnick’s presence in Congress for the left is that 1) He’s a vote for Nancy Pelosi’s speakership, 2) he may move left after he gets past his first re-election, and 3) it gives young liberals a congressional office to intern in and work at. That’s how Vaughn Ward and a lot of GOP establishment types before them got started in politics.

But many Idaho Democrats are weighing the price and finding it too high. Idablue has said he’ll withhold his vote from Minnick and I’d be hard-pressed to imagine MGR marking her ballot for Minnick at this point. Of course, it could be pointed out that liberal activists make up a small portion of the population in Idaho. Maybe, but it wasn’t as if Minnick has a big margin and can afford to lose anyone.