Mar 13 2007

Smoke And Mirrors In Dems Latest Surrender Plan

Published by at 8:00 am under All General Discussions,Iraq

The Democrats are trying to do their bate and switch again regarding their promise to do something about Iraq:

THE RESTRICTIONS on Iraq war funding drawn up by the House Democratic leadership are exquisitely tailored to bring together the party’s leftist and centrist wings. For the Out of Iraq Caucus, which demands that Congress force a withdrawal of all U.S. troops by the end of this year, there is language that appears to deliver that mandate, albeit indirectly. For those who prefer a more moderate course, there is another withdrawal deadline, in August 2008. Either way, almost all American troops would be out of Iraq by the time the next election campaign begins in earnest. And there are plenty of enticements on the side: more money for wounded veterans, for children’s health, for post-Hurricane Katrina reconstruction.

The only constituency House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ignored in her plan for amending President Bush’s supplemental war funding bill are the people of the country that U.S. troops are fighting to stabilize.

The WaPo is being to kind to Pelosi – no one is going to cheer this mealy-mouthed, toothless wonder. The Bill, by hinting this AND that stands for nothing. And I still find it pathetic the Dems demand the war be won before they have to run on it. The Dems cannot sell losing, so they keep applying different grotesque shades of gaudy lipstick trying to find one which will blind America and make them feel like the Dems accomplished something. Never going to happen.

23 responses so far

23 Responses to “Smoke And Mirrors In Dems Latest Surrender Plan”

  1. Soothsayer says:

    #1: It’s bait and switch – for God’s sake.

    #2 Forty three years ago, Ricahrd Hofstader described the paranoid politics of the right:

    The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms—he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization. He constantly lives at a turning point. . . . as a member of the avant-garde who is capable of perceiving the conspiracy before it is fully obvious to an as yet unaroused public, the paranoid is a militant leader. He does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish.

    Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated — if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention. This demand for total triumph leads to the formulation of hopelessly unrealistic goals, and since these goals are not even remotely attainable, failure constantly heightens the paranoid’s sense of frustration. Even partial success leaves him with the same feeling of powerlessness with which he began, and this in turn only strengthens his awareness of the vast and terrifying quality of the enemy he opposes . . . [and includes] the megalomaniac view of oneself as the Elect, wholly good, abominably persecuted, yet assured of ultimate triumph; the attribution of gigantic and demonic powers to the adversary; the refusal to accept the ineluctable limitations and imperfections of human existence, such as transience, dissention, conflict, fallibility whether intellectual or moral; the obsession with inerrable prophecies . . . systematized misinterpretations, always gross and often grotesque.

    We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, since he is afflicted not only by the real world, with the rest of us, but by his fantasies as well.

    So, it’s a self-fulfilling prophesy for Jack Bauer fanatics – and as the surge reveals itself to be a failure in Iraq – and casualties mount – the Cheney-esque faction will seek to insert more troops into Iraq – and step up the drumbeat to take on Iran. Endless war – endless terror – endless aggrandizement of the power of the executive to restrict the freedom and liberty of the citizenry.

  2. Carol_Herman says:

    Up at Drudge, he leads that Pelosi just got boo’ed when she attended the AIPAC meeting. 6,000 members present.

    But the “new song and dance,” is really being orchestrated by James Baker. Because Israel is being “asked” to let the palestinians form a state, without giving up violence, first.

    Olmert? Pretty wiley. He lets all this stuff hang out. And, then he walks away. In other words? At the last showing it was the gazoo prisoner’s list. Where Shalit was being traded for 1,000.

    Well, Shalit’s dead.

    And, one of the reasons for all the advance notice? It’s tricky to follow. But Olmert wants the palestinians to see that if Shalit wasn’t dead, there’d be all these freed prisoners. (So that, maybe, next time blood lust doesn’t get the better of them.)

    I don’t know what Olmert will accomplish. But then I’m not into “diplomatic pants dancers,” and how they let the clock play out.

    Bush is definitely Saudi’s REALTOR. And, again, after it failed in 2002. The Saudi plan is back in the air. And, Dubai is supposed to become their new desert mecca for money. As Halliburton, to escape American jurisprudence, has decided to set up shop there. Where the arabs are lawless. And, everything done is done with bribes. AS LONG AS IT ISN’T AMERICAN MONEY, I don’t care. And, yes, the Iraqis have oil. And, money. But will they want to funnel it to the Saudis?

    All countries are different. You can’t simplistically say these are “done deals.” They may be like the UN body, itself, enormous time wasters.

    But that’s what’s playing now.

    We know Bush has 17 months left to new elections. Olmert only wishes he gets as much time! But other than that? When heads of state have crappy acceptance at home. Or, as we say in America, Bush’s poll numbers are in the toilet.

    Bush doesn’t exactly “care.” He thinks he’s president. And, he can do just what he wants. Harriet Miers? Should have taught him a base lesson, if not a basic one.

    But there ya go. The mainstream media isn’t on our side. And, these are the current stories.

    Pelosi? She’s a good reason to know the democraps haven’t got a plan. Though they’ve got lots of lawyers. And, it seems Guiliani is building what is required to mount a successful campaign. That means MONEY. And, talent.

    While off to the side? Fred Thompson. No money. And, no organization, yet; is trying the old 1992 approach used by Bill Clinton, to come out “late” to try and capture the nomination ring.

    Just a lot of politicians. And, everything’s an attempt at gaming.

  3. lurker9876 says:

    The surge hasn’t revealed itself to be a failure in Iraq.

    The Battle of the Bulge took a long time but we won.

    The Battle of the Bull Run took a long time but we won.

    The paranoid as you described is similar when Abraham Lincoln was in the office.

    The paranoid as you described is similar when Thomas Jefferson was in the office by going after the Barbary Islamic Pirates.

    The paranoid as you described is similar during the Vietnam War. We were winning until the Democrats took their cut and run tactics against Nixon.

    These wars are efforts to promote the freedom and liberty of the citizenry. It took Thomas Jefferson 15 years to gain and ensure the freedom and liberty of citizenry. It took Abraham Lincoln years to ensure the freedom and liberty of citizenry. It took FDR and Truman to ensure the freedom and liberty of citizenry. It’s going to take Bush to win this war against Global Jihadism, through many approaches, to ensure the freedom and liberty of citizenry. It took these presidents to use their executive power to ensure civil liberties and freedom of US citizenry and protect our own country.

    Your excerpt doesn’t fit today’s “paranoid” politics of the right.

    Too bad that you just cannot see the truth and the realities of this entire world.

    Ricahrd Hofstader – 1916 – 1970 – wrote “Anti-intellectualism in American life (Unknown Binding)” Guess you are strongly against intellectualism among AJStrata’s intelligent posters.

  4. lurker9876 says:

    Captain’s Quarters said this

    “The Democrats have no answer for this scenario. Their plans extend no farther than appeasing their political base while attempting to dodge responsibility for their actions. Pelosi and Murtha haven’t dared to simply cut off the funding for the war, because they know they will lose the Blue Dog Democrats and their majority if they try.

    We cannot afford another cut and run from Islamist terrorists, a pattern which started in Teheran and which has continued through every contact with them since. With al-Qaeda in Anbar and the Mahdi Army in Baghdad, a retreat will be correctly seen as further proof of our lack of will and courage, and not just by the terrorists. Those who might support moderation and democracy will lose all credibility if the US and the West run away from lunatic terrorists, and they will cut the best deals they can with the most violent terrorists in their neighborhoods — setting up the Middle East for generations of gang wars like we see in Gaza and the West Bank now.

    The Democrats have no answer for this, no strategy, no plan, other than to pander for votes in 2008. The Post correctly points out their utter lack of foresight and comprehension.”

    martin-sooth-copperhead supports this party.; yet, he refuses the smoke and mirrors (bait and switch) of this party.

  5. lurker9876 says:

    This is exactly what martin-sooth-copperhead is doing, via Second Verse, sane as the first

    “On a fundamental level, leftists are no longer Americans first. They nakedly place their partisan political objectives above those of the nation as a whole. Blinded by internal domestic politics they fail, perhaps purposefully, to account for how their actions vindicate the long-term strategic goals of Islamic terrorists and undermine the credibility of the United States on the world stage. They rank partisan politics above national interests. They are the United Left of Defeat; their stated agenda and goals shows clearly that they view the long-term health and well-being of United States of America—and the success of the state of Iraq, and the larger War against Islamic Terrorism—as secondary issues to their own continued quest for more political power.

    Their primary and overriding interest of the Left is their own political success and vindication. They have created a belief system around the thought that if the United States is successful in helping the Iraqi people emerge from this conflict as a more-or-less stable parliamentary democracy, that the war would be a victory for George Bush and the neo-conservative movement.

    They are incapable of seeing it as a victory for the Iraqi people, whom they have made abundantly clear though their choices of rhetoric and proposed legislation, are secondary citizens of the world, at best. They refuse to acknowledge the possibility of a victory in Iraq as being good for the United States, the Iraqi people, or the world at large. They have chosen sides, and they do not side with the best interests of our country, or that of other free nations.”

    I never thought I would live to see a day where a substantial portion of the American political establishment placed party politics above national security.

    Sadly, that day has clearly arrived, as even the national media(e.g., Ted Koppel, are beginning to pickup.

  6. lurker9876 says:

    This is exactly what martin-sooth-copperhead is doing, via Second Verse, sane as the first

    “On a fundamental level, leftists are no longer Americans first. They nakedly place their partisan political objectives above those of the nation as a whole. Blinded by internal domestic politics they fail, perhaps purposefully, to account for how their actions vindicate the long-term strategic goals of Islamic terrorists and undermine the credibility of the United States on the world stage. They rank partisan politics above national interests. They are the United Left of Defeat; their stated agenda and goals shows clearly that they view the long-term health and well-being of United States of America—and the success of the state of Iraq, and the larger War against Islamic Terrorism—as secondary issues to their own continued quest for more political power.

    Their primary and overriding interest of the Left is their own political success and vindication. They have created a belief system around the thought that if the United States is successful in helping the Iraqi people emerge from this conflict as a more-or-less stable parliamentary democracy, that the war would be a victory for George Bush and the neo-conservative movement.

    They are incapable of seeing it as a victory for the Iraqi people, whom they have made abundantly clear though their choices of rhetoric and proposed legislation, are secondary citizens of the world, at best. They refuse to acknowledge the possibility of a victory in Iraq as being good for the United States, the Iraqi people, or the world at large. They have chosen sides, and they do not side with the best interests of our country, or that of other free nations.”

    I never thought I would live to see a day where a substantial portion of the American political establishment placed party politics above national security.

    Sadly, that day has clearly arrived, as even the national media(e.g., Ted Koppel, are beginning to pickup.

  7. lurker9876 says:

    This is exactly what martin-sooth-copperhead is doing, via Second Verse, sane as the first

  8. lurker9876 says:

    “On a fundamental level, leftists are no longer Americans first. They nakedly place their partisan political objectives above those of the nation as a whole. Blinded by internal domestic politics they fail, perhaps purposefully, to account for how their actions vindicate the long-term strategic goals of Islamic terrorists and undermine the credibility of the United States on the world stage. They rank partisan politics above national interests. They are the United Left of Defeat; their stated agenda and goals shows clearly that they view the long-term health and well-being of United States of America—and the success of the state of Iraq, and the larger War against Islamic Terrorism—as secondary issues to their own continued quest for more political power.

    Their primary and overriding interest of the Left is their own political success and vindication. They have created a belief system around the thought that if the United States is successful in helping the Iraqi people emerge from this conflict as a more-or-less stable parliamentary democracy, that the war would be a victory for George Bush and the neo-conservative movement.

    They are incapable of seeing it as a victory for the Iraqi people, whom they have made abundantly clear though their choices of rhetoric and proposed legislation, are secondary citizens of the world, at best. They refuse to acknowledge the possibility of a victory in Iraq as being good for the United States, the Iraqi people, or the world at large. They have chosen sides, and they do not side with the best interests of our country, or that of other free nations.”

    I never thought I would live to see a day where a substantial portion of the American political establishment placed party politics above national security.

    Sadly, that day has clearly arrived, as even the national media(e.g., Ted Koppel, are beginning to pickup.

  9. lurker9876 says:

    OT: Scooter Libby by Victor Davis Hansen:

    Scooter Libby by the Numbers

  10. lurker9876 says:

    A great Ronald Reagan speech, which the majority of AJStrata’s posters believe in:

    Tyranny Fails, Freedom Works

    Bernard Lewis’ speech is not online but MSM twisted Bernard’s words (see next post by Rosett).

  11. lurker9876 says:

    OT:

    http://theanchoressonline.com/2007/03/12/fed-deficit-down-25-big-news-isnt-it/

    Why isn’t this big news???

    Not a surprise. But shows that Bush does indeed care about the domestic policies.

  12. lurker9876 says:

    OT:

    http://reject-the-un.blogspot.com/2007/03/un-convention-on-law-of-sea.html

    To date, this “Law of the Sea” have been resisted by USA. But it could be just a matter of time especially since President Bush and many within his administration have expressed favorable interest to this treaty which would turn over unprecedented control of the oceans to the U.N.

    I hope we don’t capitulate to this new treaty.

    “LEON E. PANETTA and retired Adm. James D. Watkins were on Capitol Hill last week lobbying for a treaty that, depending on how you look at it, is three to 25 years overdue for a Senate vote.”

  13. lurker9876 says:

    http://powerlineblog.com/archives/017019.php

    Bernard Lewis says:

    “The esteemed historian of the Middle East, Bernard Lewis, was in Washington this past week. He said that, when he looks at the world today and the threats we face, it reminds him of the 1930s—and that he hears far more voices that sound like Chamberlain than like Churchill.”

    martin-sooth-copperhead is a Chamberlain.

  14. DaleinAtlanta says:

    Look, “Soothsayer” and “Carol Herman”, trying to out “stoopid” each other!

    It’s beyoutiful!

  15. dennisa says:

    The paranoid style that Richard Hofstadter was talking about has been adopted by the Left, i.e., the Democratic base. Bush is Hitler, the Administration is fascist, etc. Hofstadter himself called an earlier age of New Left activism “the Age of Rubbish”.

  16. Terrye says:

    The Democrats do not have the courage or the votes to just cut the funding, instead they hope they can micromanage the war and avoid responsibility for their own policies. They do not care what we leave behind.

    I have discovered that if you just skip sooth’s posts it saves time and aggravation.

  17. Soothsayer says:

    Bush is Hitler, the Administration is fascist, etc.

    That’s not paranoid – that’s just an accurate description. Bush has the blood of 600,000 Iraqis on his hands, his Administration is the first in over 50 years to argue that torture is okay, Gitmo, extraordinary renditions, habeas corpus, warrantless wiretapping, Halliburton and no-bid contracts moving to Dubai – if that’s not fascist – what do you call it? It a full-out frontal assault on our Constitutional rights at the very least.

  18. The Macker says:

    Sooth is a serial abuser of language and truth.

    And Carol Herman has some quirky issues with Bush I and Bush II.