Blue America Welcomes Back Jeff Merkley

A couple months ago I was flying to DC and the guy next to me was reading Billboard, a music industry trade magazine. Having been in that business for many years, I asked him what he does. And wasn't I shocked to find out he is the lobbyist for a music group and head of their political action committee. We got right down to brass tacks. He thought it would be great if I did an anti-McCain/anti-Bush YouTube of Dylan's "Masters of War"... and urged me to support his good friend, Gordon Smith (R-OR). I pointed out that from his first votes authorizing the use of force against Iraq on October 10, 2002 until Match, 2007 when he supported a tepid, toothless resolution urging Bush to change his policies, Smith had been a lockstep, garden variety rubber stamp for the Bush-Cheney agenda in Iraq. "Oh, he's the nicest neighbor you'd... [read full story]