United in Defeatism
Rummy speaks for me too.US Senate Debates Iraq War, Democrat Call for Rumsfeld Resignation
By Dan Robinson, 07 September 2006
Lawmakers in the Senate have been holding a lengthy debate on the war in Iraq, with majority Republicans supporting President Bush, and Democrats calling for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill where members of Congress also reacted to President Bush's latest remarks on terrorism and the issue of the treatment of terrorist suspects.Congress fiddles as the country burns. They can't unite behind our interests and troops overseas. They won't secure the goddamn border. And the leftists impeach people like Rumsfeld who lead us, and lead us especially well considering the revolutionary changes on unprecedented scales we're experienced especially since the internet lifted the lid.
Opposition Democrats had no illusions that they would get a vote on their resolution calling for the resignation of the man President Bush has relied upon at the Pentagon to manage the war in Iraq.
Their non-binding measure stated that the president's policy of staying the course in Iraq has made the United States less secure, reduced the readiness of the U.S. military, and burdened Americans with more than 300-billion dollars in additional debt.
Since it was not directly relevant to a defense spending bill the Senate is considering, the resolution was certain to be struck down, never even advancing to a vote.
Responses by other Republicans to Democrat calls for Secretary Rumsfeld's departure were summed up by South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. "They [Democrats] are very united in defeatism, in their negatives attacks on the president, and in the process encouraging terrorists all around the world. Sending the signal that America is frustrated and ready to quit. America is not ready to quit," he said.Emphasis mine.
Imagine that quote coming out of Cronkite/Rather/Couric's mouth. The internet is a big part of the revolution. Information can no longer be so easily bottled up. On the upside the liberal, left-friendly worldview of elite city dwellers no longer has a monopoly on news or opinion. Anybody clever and creative enough can become rich and famous. On the downside the jihadi get free PR and free secure communication. Anybody depraved enough can look up TATP and go Al Qaeda on their infidel neighbors.
posted by Tanstaafl at 9/06/2006 09:51:00 PM
2 Comments:
Asking for a Rummy resignation is a far cry from defeatism. The Democrats want to fire the head coach, not sell the team.
Iraq is not the only "oops" on Rummy's resume. A little war in Afghanistan is going in the wrong direction, too. Unless of course we can pass the blame onto NATO.
"Whatever his legacy as an architect of the war in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has already earned a place in American bureaucratic history as one of its most ambitious organizational reformers. Rumsfeld is determined to complete a top-to-bottom overhaul of his department before he leaves office.
Rumsfeld may be one of history's most ambitious reformers, but his actual impact is far from assured. He still faces intense resistance from the armed services, especially the Army, which has the most to lose in the movement to a much lighter military. And many of his proposals are either still under consideration in Congress or only in the early stages of implementation in the department.
This is very much Rumsfeld's revolution to win or lose—it is highly dependent upon his congressional support, which has ebbed and flowed with the fortunes of war, on the urgency of the war on terrorism, which continues to fade with memories of September 11, and on his relationship with the armed services, which has been shaken by the controversy surrounding the equipping of U.S. troops in Iraq. It also depends on his public reputation, which has dropped in the wake of the prison abuse scandals at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. In October 2001, for example, the Harris Poll reported that 78 percent of Americans rated Rumsfeld's job performance as excellent or pretty good; by June 2005, the percentage had fallen to just 42 percent."
[http://www.brookings.edu/comm/policybriefs/pb142.htm]
He may win the revolution, but lose 2 wars.
Dont worry Rummy, your playing with someone else's chips. If things end up bad, the right-wing spin machine will blame the "Defeatist Democrats" for it.
The Defeatocrat label is, unfortunately for us all, well earned.
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