“We don’t need a victory; we need a crushing defeat of the Republicans next year” was General Paul Eaton’s message at the Eastside Democrats Dinner on Sunday evening, Oct. 7^th. General Eaton, introduced by Darcy after a keynote address by Senator Patty Murray, told the crowd at the Bellevue Weston that the Republicans have ground down the Army to a level unseen in his lifetime. Eaton believes the Army is too small for our current foreign policy and what we need is more diplomacy not more troops. Tools in times of conflict need to be diplomacy, economic assistance, and use of the military in that order.

When Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi went to Syria last April, she was doing what the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State should have been doing—engaging the countries in the region, Eaton said. He described how surprised he would have been years ago if he had known how totally incompetent the Republicans would be now. He also believes we need to go to Iran and talk with Ahmadinejad, crazy as he may be, because it just doesn't work when the President is unwilling to do business with our opponents.