(Cross-posted from BlueJersey.com.)
Mike Ferguson has failed us. In response to my comments about his failure to seek a desperately needed change of course in Iraq, Mike Ferguson did the unthinkable. Rather than addressing my Iraq statement on the merits, he attacked a plan to privatize New Jersey's toll roads that does not even exist.
Now, I don't know what the Turnpike has to do with Iraq. Perhaps Mike Ferguson's spinmeisters will explain it to us some day. But I see it as an obvious and lame rhetorical dodge right out of the Karl Rove playbook -- if you're asked a question you don't like, answer one that you do. But I'd rather not take the bait and discuss tolls when we really ought to be discussing lives.
Estimates have put the cost of the occupation of Iraq at over $3,000 for each New Jersey taxpayer. That's a bill Mike Ferguson has happily promised the President we'd pay. But what does he care? After all, his share is taken care of -- executives from Halliburton gave Ferguson $3,500.
Have the events of the last few years changed Ferguson's shameful stance on Iraq policy? Unfortunately, they have not. Earlier this year, he called the President's plans for escalation "the best hope we have for the lasting success of the U.S. mission and for the future stability of Iraq's government." And after General Petraeus delivered President Bush's report on Iraq to Congress, Ferguson redoubled his praise for the escalation, saying that it "created a window of opportunity for the Iraqi government."
This is a sneak preview of the campaign we're going to see from Mike Ferguson over the coming months. At every turn, he's going to try to change the subject away from his rubber stamping of President Bush's failures in Iraq. But we will not allow that to happen. This administration and its supporters in Congress must be held accountable for their horrific mishandling of Iraq policy.