Idiot congressman-for-life Jim McDermott shot off his mouth again, and this time, people are reacting negatively, including some of his constituents. (Registration required for article; user name timekeeper password time.)

In an interview Monday with KIRO radio station, McDermott said the U.S. military could have found the former Iraqi dictator "a long time ago if they wanted."

Asked if he thought the weekend capture was timed to help Bush, McDermott chuckled and said, "Yeah. Oh, yeah."

McDermott went on to say, "There's too much by happenstance for it to be just a coincidental thing."

When interviewer Dave Ross asked again if he meant to imply the Bush administration timed the capture for political reasons, McDermott said: "I don't know that it was definitely planned on this weekend, but I know they've been in contact with people all along who knew basically where he was. It was just a matter of time till they'd find him.

"It's funny," McDermott added, "when they're having all this trouble, suddenly they have to roll out something."

McDermott, you may recall, was the most vocal of the "Baghdad three", the group that went to Iraq, met with Saddam Hussein, and blasted Bush's foreign policy on CNN, while standing in front of a poster of Hussein.

Norm Dicks, McDermott's Democratic congressional colleague, was not pleased:

"With all due respect to my colleague, that is a fantasy," Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said of McDermott's comments. "That just is not right. ... It's one thing to criticize this administration for having done this war. I mean, that's a fair question. But to criticize them on the capture of Saddam, when it's such a big thing to our troops, is just ridiculous."

The letters page of the Seattle Times has a number of responses, all but one strongly condemnatory of McDermott's intemperate remarks. It's unlikely that McDermott will ever lose an election (the Seattle District he represents is a one-party stranglehold), but if he makes enough stupid comments, the Democratic Party will be forced to either shut him up or suffer as moderates leave the party, disgusted by such rhetoric. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has such a letter (the fourth one on this page), and a couple more condemnatory letters here.

posted on December 18, 2003 01:45 AM



Comments:

McDermott is an embarrassment, but you know, it seems that essentially none of the more prominent Democrats can keep their feet out of their mouths just now. Did you catch the story on Fox where Howard Dean is calling Bush's 2001 tax rate reductions a tax HIKE?

The evidence is accumulating that the Democrats are losing their minds, both individually and collectively. In the near term, that's not a tragedy, but in the long term, the country will need another majority party.

posted by Francis W. Porretto on December 18, 2003 07:40 AM

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I've heard that "just when things are going poorly" deal several times now from different people and I don't get it. Things have not only been going well, but have been improving all the way around week by week. Bush has only been getting stronger, politically (and much to Terrorcrats dismay). So what exactly is it that's going so tragically wrong that inspired Dubya to catch Saddam just now? Oh wait, they're all Terrocrats. Things don't have to make sense or even be true for them to make outrageous statements as if they were God's own truth.

posted by Tom on December 24, 2003 06:07 PM

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