Libertarian Republicans and Liberal Democrats: Marriage or 1-Night Stand?

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Despite a sudden and strong alliance over opposition to war in Syria, the two groups have little else in common and no one to bring them together.

The popular uprising against potential military intervention in Syria has scrambled Washingtons typical left-right politics. Just consider some scenes around the capital this week.

Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a cochairman of the Progressive Caucus, walked past an antiwar protest and got heckled for supporting air strikes, while Tea Party Rep. Kerry Bentivolio, R-Mich., earned cheers for his opposition. Christopher Preble of the noninterventionist Cato Institute visited the usually hawkish Heritage Foundation and was shocked to hear his rival think-tankers basically saying exactly what I would have said. And Democratic firebrand Alan Grayson of Florida teamed with House Republican colleagues to organize a guerrilla whipping operation.

I cant remember when MoveOn and FreedomWorks were on the same side of anything, said Stephen Miles of the Win Without War coalition.

Its such a novel moment for Washington that some speculate we may finally be seeing the mythical populist coalition between anti-interventionist libertarians on the right and antiwar civil libertarians on the left that former Rep. Ron Paul and Ralph Nader have dreamed about for years. I think its totally real, said Becky Bond, the political director of Credo Mobile, one of the first liberal voices to oppose intervention in Syria. As someone who was doing this kind of work in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, this feels very different. Its a real left-right coalition.

Indeed, Syria has tilted the political landscape 90 degrees, turning the familiar partisan divide into a vertical split between the leadership in both parties, which favors military intervention, and the parties anti-interventionist grassroots bases. And it comes on the heels of a revival of libertarian populism on the right, alarm over civil liberties on the left, and a general war weariness among Americans of all stripes.

The Tea Party has been nearly unanimous in its opposition to strikes against Syria, and Matt Kibbe, president and CEO of FreedomWorks, a Tea Party group, thinks its more than just knee-jerk opposition to Obama. Its a shift; its a realignment, Kibbe said. On issues such as civil liberties, electronic surveillance, drones, and criminal-justice reform, theres absolutely a convergence. Were building a new coalition.

Youre seeing coming to fruition a lot of the groundwork that was laid over several years, Miles said. It started in Iraq, with antiwar House Republicans such as Paul and North Carolinas Walter Jones, he said, and has materialized more recently in bipartisan legislation to trim defense spending.

One lawmaker who has tapped into that coalition is freshman Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican who has introduced bills with Democrats to legalize industrial hemp production and end mandatory minimum sentences. He toldNational Journalthat the grassroots opposition to Syria was unlike anything hes seen since the populist furor over the bank bailouts in 2009. And it may be just the tip of the iceberg. Its certainly not a one-off, Massie said. I think there are a lot of opportunities going forward.

If you want a glimpse of what this coalition might look like, the July roll-call vote on the amendment to end National Security Agency bulk surveillance sponsored by Reps. Justin Amash, R-Mich., and John Conyers, D-Mich., is a good place to start. The measure earned 111 Democratic and 94 Republicans ayes and split the parties internally between more-hawkish leaders and the privacy-minded rank and file.The Washington Posts Greg Sargent compared the result to a whip count on Syria and found striking overlap.

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Libertarian Republicans and Liberal Democrats: Marriage or 1-Night Stand?

VA's reputation for health care takes a thrashing

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WASHINGTON The Department of Veterans Affairs' reputation for providing good health care can't stand many more thrashings like the one it took at a congressional hearing this week.

The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs met in Pittsburgh on Monday to hear testimony about problems with health care at agency facilities in that city and others.

"What you're about to hear may be painful," Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., warned the audience as the hearing, which can be viewed online, began.

It was so painful that the first witness had trouble getting through her statement.

Brandie Petit spoke through sobs about her brother Joseph, who injured his knees during parachute training as a U.S. Army Ranger. After he had sought VA's help for years, the agency finally said "the problem was in his head and sent him home with meds for his head, not his knees," she told the panel.

At one point, Joseph, who suffered hallucinations, was forced to leave a VA facility, according to Petit, because he didn't have an appointment.

"The VA police physically removed Joseph and put a standing order into place to arrest him if he showed up again without an appointment," his sister said. "I'm outraged at his treatment that day."

Joseph committed suicide in the Atlanta VA Medical Center in Decatur, Ga., in November, "locked in a hospital bathroom dead in his wheelchair, a plastic trash bag tied over his head with a blue cord around his neck," reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

His case calls to mind my colleague Steve Vogel's story about Daniel Somers, once a Humvee turret gunner in Iraq. He became so frustrated with his attempts to get VA medical and mental health treatment that he felt the government had "turned around and abandoned me."

He wrote those words not long before he shot himself in the head on a Phoenix street in July. The note to his family said he was "too trapped in a war to be at peace, too damaged to be at war."

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VA's reputation for health care takes a thrashing