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Rep. Jones, Resolving To Follow His Heart
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And House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who's certainly got a lot of other things on his mind these days, issued a statement: "I think setting a time schedule for withdrawal from Iraq undermines our efforts to fight the war on terror. Why would you give your enemies a timetable? It never has worked; it won't work. We are fighting this war on terror to win."
Early yesterday afternoon, Jones said he hadn't directly heard from the White House and didn't expect to. He's used to being ignored by the administration.
But White House spokesman Scott McClellan did respond, saying setting a withdrawal would send the wrong message to Iraqi insurgents.
"This message would say to the terrorists: All you have to do is wait until that day when our troops leave and then you can start carrying out those attacks and just hold out," McClellan says.
Jones believes other Republicans will swing his way down the line, others, he says, who have privately told him as much.
"If doing what's right means I don't return to Congress, then it's God's will," he says. "And God knows my heart."
He's the son of Walter B. Jones Sr., a well-respected Democrat who served nearly 30 years in the House representing North Carolina. His son ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat and then switched parties, winning office with the Newt Gingrich revolution.
He's been in Congress for 11 years now, and in all that time, this has been one of the most intense weeks. There's been quite a bit of media attention for someone who describes himself as a nobody on the Hill. That description is rooted in humility, he says. "I'm just a foot soldier."
Still, the week started with an interview Sunday on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, who flew down to North Carolina to see Jones.
"He's a very nice person," Jones says of Stephanopoulos. "He said, 'I remember your father. He was a very nice man.' And that was kind of him to do."
"He's not normally as high-profile," says press aide Kristen Quigley. "He never seeks out media attention and he's not now, but it's the nature of the issue that's drawing attention."
And the issue, Jones says, is all he cares about.
