Lindaland
  Global Unity
  Bad News for Democrats and Terrorists

Post New Topic  Post A Reply
profile | register | preferences | faq | search

UBBFriend: Email This Page to Someone! next newest topic | next oldest topic
Author Topic:   Bad News for Democrats and Terrorists
jwhop
Knowflake

Posts: 2787
From: Madeira Beach, FL USA
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 22, 2006 05:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for jwhop     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Political Hay
Who's Listening?
By Lisa Fabrizio
Published 6/21/2006 12:08:59 AM

Yes, it's been a great couple of weeks for President Bush and therefore, America. But not for some folks. It seems every time they turn around, Democrats have another cruel door of reality slam them in the face. Their efforts to paint the GOP with the culture of corruption brush met with a slim but bitter defeat in California; and at the highest levels of the administration where Karl Rove remains at large, free to plot and plan against them at will.

Worse yet, just as they were trying to make the Iraq War disappear from their "New Direction for America" platform and thus from the national psyche, news of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi dropped like a 500-pounder squarely in their lap. Zarqawi's death and the subsequent discovery of documents at his place of demise give new meaning to the term "safe house"; as in Republican chances in the '06 elections.

Zarqawi's own words demolish the Democrats' talking point that we need to leave Iraq now in order to avoid defeat. Shortly before U.S. forces helped him shuffle off his mortal coil he said, "Here in Iraq, time is now beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance." It seems plain to all who have ears to hear that, although there will be setbacks, staying the course will eventually bring victory in Iraq.

In many ways, it seems the terrorists have a better understanding of U.S. culture and politics than does the Democratic Party. Nearly four years ago, Osama bin Laden penned a "Letter to the American People" demonstrating a remarkable grasp of the democratic process:


[T]he American people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will; a choice which stems from their agreement to its policies...The American people have the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their Government and even to change it if they want.

Our enemies have spoken to us on numerous occasions; it's just that not everyone is listening. By happy coincidence, one fellow who is listening happens to be the man twice-chosen by his fellow citizens to command the Armed Forces of the United States of America:

I know there is an international jihadist movement that desires to do us harm and they have territorial ambitions. The reason I know that is that's what they've told us. And part of their territorial ambition is to have safe haven in Iraq. That's what they've said. That's what the enemy has clearly said. And it seems like to me that the Commander-in-Chief ought to listen to what the enemy says. And they believe capitalists and democratic societies are soft and it's a matter of time before we pull out.

As bin Laden famously once said, "When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse." In 1998, he saw that the American warhorse was growing a bit long in the tooth and relished what he saw as an opening:

We have seen in the last decade the decline of the American government and the weakness of the American soldier who is ready to wage Cold Wars and unprepared to fight long wars. This was proven in Beirut when the Marines fled after two explosions. It also proves they can run in less than 24 hours, and this was also repeated in Somalia. We are ready for all occasions.

Though our enemies in the War on Terror may be bloodthirsty, murderous thugs, they do possess real insight in matters of propaganda. A recent communique released by Zarqawi's apparent successor reads like a Republican review of the DNC playbook, "The Enemy is Helpless, Defeated, and Begging to Pull Out of the Iraqi Quagmire."

Tone deaf though they might be, Democrats must realize that more good news from Iraq could doom their hopes of retaking Congress, so their continuing insistence that we cut and run seems to imply that we must leave Iraq now in order to avoid victory; something that the guy with the big ears isn't buying:

And that's why one message that I will continue to send to the enemy is, don't count on us leaving before the message is complete. Don't bet on it; don't bet on American politics forcing my hand, because it's not going to happen. I'm going to make decisions not based upon politics, but based upon what's best for the United States of America.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=9987

IP: Logged

jwhop
Knowflake

Posts: 2787
From: Madeira Beach, FL USA
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 22, 2006 07:05 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for jwhop     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Senate Rejects Calls on Iraq Troop Pullout
Jun 22 4:26 PM US/Eastern
By LIZ SIDOTI
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON

The GOP-controlled Senate on Thursday rejected Democratic calls to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by year's end, as the two parties sought to define their election-year positions on a war that has grown increasingly unpopular.

"Withdrawal is not an option. Surrender is not a solution," declared Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, who characterized Democrats as defeatists wanting to abandon Iraq before the mission is complete.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, in turn, portrayed Republican leaders as blindly following President Bush's "failed" stay-the-course strategy. "It is long past time to change course in Iraq and start to end the president's open-ended commitment," he said.

In an 86-13 vote, the Senate turned back a proposal from some Democrats to require the administration to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by July 1, 2007, with redeployments beginning this year. No Republicans voted in favor of the plan.

Minutes later, the Senate rejected by 60-39 the proposal more popular with Democrats, a nonbinding resolution that to urge the administration to begin withdrawing troops, but with no timetable for the war's end.

That vote was mostly along party lines.

Siding with all but one Republican were six Democrats _ Sens. Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and three running for re-election this fall: Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Bill Nelson of Florida and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who also is up for re-election, was the only Republican supporter of the troop withdrawal resolution.

Despite the Democratic defections and the two different proposals, Reid said his rank-and-file was united. "Every Democrat agrees that the direction of the war in Iraq must change, and change now," he said.

But Frist said the views Democrats espoused _ and that the Senate defeated _ amounted to "plans for surrender and cut and run."

The votes come a week after both houses of Congress soundly rejected withdrawal timetables for the 127,000 troops in Iraq and as polls show voters are weary about the war in its fourth year.

Republicans argued the United States must stay put to help the fledgling Iraqi government, while Democrats demanded that the Bush administration make clear that American forces won't be in Iraq forever.

"We must give them that support and not send a signal that we're going to pull possibly the rug out from under them," Sen. John Warner, R- Va., said.

"The United States, with our Iraqi partners, has the responsibility to see this through," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., added.

But Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said: "It is time to tell the Iraqis that we have done what we can do militarily."

"Maintaining the status quo ... is a recipe for continuing instability and failure," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said.

Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have staged bitter partisan debates on Iraq for two weeks, with both sides maneuvering for the political upper-hand in a midterm election year.

This week, Senate Republicans welcomed the Democratic-engineered debate because it highlighted divisions in the Democratic Party little more than four months before Election Day and as the GOP is trying to overcome polls showing the public favors a power shift in Congress to Democrats.

Democrats, for their part, tried to deflect attention from differences in their party on Iraq, even though the debate was over two separate Democratic proposals on the fate of U.S. troops.

The first proposal, which would have pulled all combat troops out of Iraq within about a year, was sponsored by Feingold and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

The other proposal, supported by most Democrats and their leadership, would have called for the administration to begin "a phased redeployment of U.S. forces" by year's end. The nonbinding resolution would not have set a deadline for when all forces must be withdrawn.

The Bush administration says U.S. troops will stay in Iraq until Iraqi security forces can defend the country against a lethal insurgency that rose up after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

Senate Republicans opposed any timeline. They said a premature pullout and a public pronouncement of any such plan would risk all-out civil war, tip off terrorists, threaten U.S. security and cripple the Iraqi government just as democracy is taking hold.

In turn, almost all Democrats chastised Republicans for walking in lockstep with Bush and they accused him of failing to articulate a plan for the way ahead in Iraq. Democrats said it is time for troops to start coming home and for Congress to send a clear signal that the U.S. presence is not indefinite.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/22/D8IDFQHG0.html

IP: Logged

All times are Eastern Standard Time

next newest topic | next oldest topic

Administrative Options: Close Topic | Archive/Move | Delete Topic
Post New Topic  Post A Reply
Hop to:

Contact Us | Linda-Goodman.com

Copyright © 2011

Powered by Infopop www.infopop.com © 2000
Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.46a