As Think Progress notes, Brian Baird is now every wingnut’s favorite Democrat:

Pro-war pundits and politicians quickly latched onto his comments. Baird reciprocated by granting interviews to three explicitly conservative outlets, helping to promote their agenda for an open-ended commitment in Iraq:

“A precipitous withdrawal at this point would probably be at least as big of a mistake as the initial invasion itself was.” [The Lars Larson Show, 8/21/07]

“My own belief is that we are making progress and that Ambassador Crocker, General Petraeus and the troops on the ground need time and breathing space.” [MSNBC’s Tucker, 8/21/07]

“A six-month extension of this current troop strength is worth the risk, even though I know it’s uncertain and I know we will lose more good lives and more money.” [National Review Online, 8/25/07]

Meanwhile, the Northwest Progressive Institute says that veterans in Baird’s district are countering his robocalls with their own:

I’m an Iraq vet, and like many of you, I am a long time supporter of your Congressman, Brian Baird. One of the reasons I have supported him in the past has been his opposition to the war in Iraq, but I was completely disappointed in Congressman Baird when he returned from a tightly scripted trip to Iraq and announced that he has decided to oppose Democratic proposals to begin the withdrawal of our troops from that religious civil war.

The so called surge has been a complete failure. The surge was supposed to provide more security to make space for political reconciliation, but this has been the bloodiest summer in Iraq since the beginning of the war, and there is no political reconciliation in sight.

I mentioned in the comments last night that Congressman Baird was welcome to come on FDL and talk about why he was doing this, and as with all guests we’d make sure he was treated with respect (see the discussion with Jerry McNerney). But there’s a bit too much at stake here right now to let some naif be exploited by the right to extend and expand the war without pushback, and it appears bloggers are not the only ones who feel that way.