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| Home Front: Politix |
| Many GOP Candidates Part Company With Bush on Iraq |
| 2006-08-29 |
| Slowly Sidling To Iraq's Exit It's all here, since registration is required. By Election Day, how many Republican candidates will have come out against the Iraq war or distanced themselves from the administration's policies? August 2006 will be remembered as a watershed in the politics of Iraq. It is the month in which a majority of Americans told pollsters that the struggle for Iraq was not connected to the larger war on terrorism. Was this before or after the failed plot to blow up airplanes, I wonder? They thus renounced a proposition the administration has pushed relentlessly since it began making the case four years ago to invade Iraq. That poll finding, from a New York Times-CBS News survey, came to life on the campaign trail when Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.), one of the most articulate supporters of the war, announced last Thursday that he favored a time frame for withdrawing troops. Shays is in a tough race for reelection against Democrat Diane Farrell, who has made opposition to the war a central issue. After his 14th trip to Iraq, Shays announced that "the only way we are able to encourage some political will on the part of Iraqis is to have a timeline for troop withdrawal." In July Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.) returned from Iraq with an equally grim view. Americans, he said, lacked "strategic control" of the streets of Baghdad, and he called for a "limited troop withdrawal -- to send the Iraqis a message." This borders on the stupidist thing I ever heard. People that want peace got the message, those fueling the sectarian violence do not. Iran does not. Plot a timetable and they will get the message, morons. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #6 These people publicly aver the Olmert doctrine: They are tired of the war. They are tired of fighting. They are tired of winning. I think that in reality, they are tired of living and would do the rest of us a favor by dying quickly and quietly. |
| Posted by: RWV 2006-08-29 22:39 |
| #5 my Rep - Duncan Hunter, couldn't be more pro-Bush Iraq policy. Nice they missed discussing that and similar districts |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-08-29 17:01 |
| #4 How are they different than the "cut and run" demo crowd? Their votes keep Karl Levin from heading the House Armed Services Committee and Joe Biden from heading the Senate Judiciary Committee. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-08-29 16:32 |
| #3 Abandoning U.S.-Iraq policies would be a huge long-lasting disaster for any future U.S. foreign policy. These GOP candidates are short-sighted and too hungry to try to get elected. How are they different than the "cut and run" demo crowd? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2006-08-29 16:28 |
| #2 Every time I start to get swayed by the anti-American forces speaking against US efforts in Iraq I step back and remember just why Vietnam ended up as the template for future US military efforts/failures. We lost the conflict because we lost the will to win, which we lost because the media convinced us we were not winning and could not win. The media were wrong then - e.g. Tet was a devastating loss for the VC - but we listened. The nation cannot afford to let them get away with another self-fulfilling prophesy. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-08-29 16:21 |
| #1 I see they've got their fingers in |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2006-08-29 16:10 |