These Are the Pros and Cons of Politics

Well, a couple of each, at any rate.
Pelosi, Reid Urge Bush To Begin Iraq Pullout
President Considering Three 'Surge' Options


By Peter Baker and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 6, 2007; Page A01

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid declared yesterday that "it is time to bring the war to a close" and warned President Bush that sending more U.S. troops to Iraq would be unacceptable to the Democratic majorities that have just taken over Congress.

Directly challenging Bush's wartime leadership on their second day in charge on Capitol Hill, Democrats Pelosi (Calif.) and Reid (Nev.) sent Bush a letter suggesting that, instead of starting a short-term escalation, he begin a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces in the next four to six months. The mission of remaining troops, they said, should be shifted away from combat toward more training, logistics and counterterrorism.
Alright now! That's what I've been waiting to hear from this new crew. A firm "I don't think so, Mr President."

You Go, Dems!

Hhmmm... So why do I keep hearing an oddly popular Larry David admonition in my head while reading about this new Congress' return to metaphorically vertebrate status?
... At the same time, Pelosi and Reid have eschewed using the main legislative mechanism to change policy, namely cutting off funding for the war.

"Surging forces is a strategy that you have already tried and that has already failed," Pelosi and Reid wrote. "Like many current and former military leaders, we believe that trying again would be a serious mistake. . . . Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain."

By releasing the sternly worded letter, Democratic leaders hoped to jump ahead of Bush and set the agenda for the weekend talk shows. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said the party wants to address even the terminology of the White House plan, defining it not as a "surge" but as an "escalation." "People are going to know [the president] has a very critical audience in the Democratic Congress on this proposal," he said.

[For the rest of the WaPo story...]
Oh. Right.

None the less, clarifying teh Googler's newspeak and putting the message out there in time for the talking heads of the MSM to discuss (and no doubt poopoo) it this weekend seems to me a substantial indication that they are serious about taking the Chimp in Chief to task.

Sadly but so and true, I've learned to take 'em when I can get 'em in regards to political integrity.

Here's hoping that this is just the start and that, when the political storm winds start a'blowing furiously, Pelosi, Reid and company will have the courage and convictions to batten down the hatches and defend the Constitution as the previous 2 or 3 iterations of my nation's Congress did so miserably and catastrophically fail to do.

Comments

  1. I think they will, or at least I hope they will. They seem determined.

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  2. While the mood among the electorate seems strongly anti-war ('bout time, too), I fear a scenario in which the Democrats are painted as unpatriotic and unwilling to "support the troops." I don't know if they will be stoopid enough to fall for it again, but if they do, what party can we turn to in the next election?

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  3. I say haul their asses in front of congress and expose why we are there. We need Congress to investigate....Let Bush surge all he wants to, and let spineless McCain be all for it as well... We will get the White House soon enough.

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  4. happy dance! I just can't read or hear this news enough. It's like I'm a starving woman and this is the first food I've seen in a long time.

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  5. They sure do sound determined, Ed. I'm hoping too.

    Dig the feared scenario, Larry.

    The mission of remaining troops, they said, should be shifted away from combat toward more training, logistics and counterterrorism.

    That sounds like the real thing, though. Doesn't it? Can it be? Again with the hoping.

    McCain has lost most of the once ungrudging respect that I had for him, Steve. Dude's gonna lose in '08 no matter who the Dems ultimately run out there. Unless, of course, they whack themselves with a pathetic and ethically challenged performance in Congress before then.

    Again with hoping! LOL!

    Here ya go, Peacechick! Put 'em down and pick 'em up joyfully, mi 'miga! w00t! Happiness is a dancing girl! Or boy, don't ya know. {-:-)

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  6. Are you people that stupid?How does it affect any of you any way wheter there is soldiers in iraq
    or any place else.You are just mindless ignorant fools.Tell me what faucet of your sorded lives
    have been realy affected.Had it been a Dem. in power you folks would be singing a different tune.
    We are not at with iraq .the war is oveeeeeeeeer!!!!!!.Yes there is fighting and killing but guess what ! Here in the Us people are killing each other too.how come no one is up in arms about that.

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  7. {sigh} lol! Don't get out much, do you?

    I'm atheist, so this is relevant to my being "up in arms" per your complaint.

    Read. Learn. Live and do what you can to make our world a better place.

    Or not. It's your life. For now.

    Happy New Year, Nony! May your brain accept some input outside your - apparently - normal range of reception.

    namaste

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  8. Is it just me, or does all this talk about surging and pulling out remind anyone else of that faucet of their lives before contraception was and widely available? There I'd be, with a Wilson Spicket tape in the 8-track, about to tap some honey, and she'd be worried about the surge, and I'd be talking pullout.

    Good times....good times.

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