Mississippi Rep. Gene Taylor Questions The War

I spent the best year of my life, 2005-2006, down in Biloxi, Mississippi, but there is no question that southern Mississippi politics are a little different than New York City politics. That is why I was intrigued to hear Rep. Gene Taylor's comments criticizing the war in Afghanistan.
What really got Taylor going was the drug trade:

“We’ve sent a whole bunch of young Americans down to Colombia to train their army in counter narcotics forces, while we are coddling a corrupt bunch of dope dealers in Afghanistan,” Taylor said. “The irony of that drives me nuts. We do have a dope problem in this country. I would rather see those resources going to the Biloxi Police Department to battle meth labs than to Afghanistan.”

In one quote, Taylor hit on several themes that you'll be hearing a lot at town halls across the country: corruption, drugs, and money being spent abroad during an American recession. Taylor is a conservative Democrat who walks a political tightrope. Like New York Mayor Ed Koch, you are likely to find him on the politically expedient side of an issue. His turning on the war is no great moral achievement, but it's probably a good bellwether of how his constituents are feeling about the expensive, open-ended conflict.

The people of southern Mississippi are about as patriotic as you can get. They waved their flags even as Bush administration mangled their response to Hurricane Katrina. Biloxi is home to Keesler Airforce Base. But Mississippi is also very poor. They know the patriotism is about supporting what is best for your country, and spending billions overseas on a hopeless quagmire is not what this country needs right now.