The UMass Daily Colegian has an article today on the UMass Democrats' conference this weekend. Speakers included Congressman Barney Frank, Gubernatorial candidates Tom Reilly and Deval Patrick, and local bloggers Frederick Clarkson and Michael Forbes Wilcox. From the sound of it, much of the question and answer time was devoted to the Iraq War. From the article:
In response to the ballot initiative that campus petitioners have been campaigning for recently, which calls for the withdrawal of the Massachusetts Guard from Iraq, Patrick said that he would use the "power of public leadership to advocate for a prompt end to the war."The article also reports that about 30 anti-war protesters from Northampton interrupted the end of Patrick's speech. Is that really productive? Look, I've thought the war was a bad idea from the start, and I can certainly appreciate frustration with Democrats for not doing enough to stop it, but if you're going to protest someone, maybe it should be someone who played some role in the planning or selling of the war or who has some sort of power to do something about it.
However, he said that he did not support the ballot initiative because he respects the right of the federal government to deploy the National Guard and to decide when to bring them home.
Reilly also did not support the initiative, saying that it was not as easy as it may sound to pull troops out of a foreign country.
Did anyone out there go to this and care to share their story?
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