About face on the surge from the Democrats
This would have been up this morning had Blogger been working right. Because of that snafu on the part of Blogger, I'm not sure how many posts I'll be putting up tonight. Tomorrow will be full of posts.
But enough of that. The news is that the Democrats are backpeddling on their stance regarding the surge because it's working better than expected:
Democratic leaders in Congress had planned to use August recess to raise the heat on Republicans to break with President Bush on the Iraq war. Instead, Democrats have been forced to recalibrate their own message in the face of recent positive signs on the security front, increasingly focusing their criticisms on what those military gains have not achieved: reconciliation among Iraq's diverse political factions.
And now the Democrats, along with wavering Republicans, will face an advertising blitz from Bush supporters determined to remain on offense. A new pressure group, Freedom's Watch, will unveil a month-long, $15 million television, radio and grass-roots campaign today designed to shore up support for Bush's policies before the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, lays out a White House assessment of the war's progress.
The first installment of Petraeus's testimony is scheduled to be delivered before the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a fact both the administration and congressional Democrats say is simply a scheduling coincidence.
The leading Democratic candidates for the White House have fallen into line with the campaign to praise military progress while excoriating Iraqi leaders for their unwillingness to reach political accommodations that could end the sectarian warfare.
"We've begun to change tactics in Iraq, and in some areas, particularly in Anbar province, it's working," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) said in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Monday.
"My assessment is that if we put an additional 30,000 of our troops into Baghdad, that's going to quell some of the violence in the short term," Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) echoed in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. "I don't think there's any doubt that as long as U.S. troops are present that they are going to be doing outstanding work."
Advisers to both said theirs were political as well as substantive statements, part of a broader Democratic effort to frame Petraeus's report before it is released next month by preemptively acknowledging some military success in the region. Aides to several Senate Democrats said they expect that to be a recurring theme in the coming weeks, as lawmakers return to hear Petraeus's testimony and to possibly take up a defense authorization bill and related amendments on the war.
Are we surprised by this turn of events? No. It's called "political cover," and it's not going to work. the Democrats will do one of two things when Petreus returns, provided his report is "good." They will either take credit for "forcing" the president to change tactics, or they will claim they were right from the start, and we needed more troops. This is how they're going to spin this report.
Frankly, the Democrats are changing their tune because they are stare death in the face. Thy know that America, for the most part, isn't going to be fooled by their antics pre- or post-report. We know that they have been ardently against action in Iraq despite the hypocrisy of their votes. And the only reason many Democrats voted for the war was to appear like "hawks" for constituents that would be voting in 2004. By already being in the early stages of this war, they didn't want to seem like doves, especially given the case presented to the American people for regime change, and the presentation of Colin Powell to the UN.
The kind of games the Democrats are playing are the sort that will hurt this nation again. They know this, but they seem so blinded by partisan hate that they can't put the nation ahead of their agenda out of fear that it will make the president and General Petreus look good. That's a sad statement from this party that keeps telling America that they care about the future of the nation. Their ideas won't even have a chance to come to fruition if we lose this war. And when Petreus returns with good news, they will gnash their teeth. What they should be doing is thanking the general for his good work, and dedicated service to this nation.
Publius II
But enough of that. The news is that the Democrats are backpeddling on their stance regarding the surge because it's working better than expected:
Democratic leaders in Congress had planned to use August recess to raise the heat on Republicans to break with President Bush on the Iraq war. Instead, Democrats have been forced to recalibrate their own message in the face of recent positive signs on the security front, increasingly focusing their criticisms on what those military gains have not achieved: reconciliation among Iraq's diverse political factions.
And now the Democrats, along with wavering Republicans, will face an advertising blitz from Bush supporters determined to remain on offense. A new pressure group, Freedom's Watch, will unveil a month-long, $15 million television, radio and grass-roots campaign today designed to shore up support for Bush's policies before the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, lays out a White House assessment of the war's progress.
The first installment of Petraeus's testimony is scheduled to be delivered before the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a fact both the administration and congressional Democrats say is simply a scheduling coincidence.
The leading Democratic candidates for the White House have fallen into line with the campaign to praise military progress while excoriating Iraqi leaders for their unwillingness to reach political accommodations that could end the sectarian warfare.
"We've begun to change tactics in Iraq, and in some areas, particularly in Anbar province, it's working," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) said in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Monday.
"My assessment is that if we put an additional 30,000 of our troops into Baghdad, that's going to quell some of the violence in the short term," Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) echoed in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. "I don't think there's any doubt that as long as U.S. troops are present that they are going to be doing outstanding work."
Advisers to both said theirs were political as well as substantive statements, part of a broader Democratic effort to frame Petraeus's report before it is released next month by preemptively acknowledging some military success in the region. Aides to several Senate Democrats said they expect that to be a recurring theme in the coming weeks, as lawmakers return to hear Petraeus's testimony and to possibly take up a defense authorization bill and related amendments on the war.
Are we surprised by this turn of events? No. It's called "political cover," and it's not going to work. the Democrats will do one of two things when Petreus returns, provided his report is "good." They will either take credit for "forcing" the president to change tactics, or they will claim they were right from the start, and we needed more troops. This is how they're going to spin this report.
Frankly, the Democrats are changing their tune because they are stare death in the face. Thy know that America, for the most part, isn't going to be fooled by their antics pre- or post-report. We know that they have been ardently against action in Iraq despite the hypocrisy of their votes. And the only reason many Democrats voted for the war was to appear like "hawks" for constituents that would be voting in 2004. By already being in the early stages of this war, they didn't want to seem like doves, especially given the case presented to the American people for regime change, and the presentation of Colin Powell to the UN.
The kind of games the Democrats are playing are the sort that will hurt this nation again. They know this, but they seem so blinded by partisan hate that they can't put the nation ahead of their agenda out of fear that it will make the president and General Petreus look good. That's a sad statement from this party that keeps telling America that they care about the future of the nation. Their ideas won't even have a chance to come to fruition if we lose this war. And when Petreus returns with good news, they will gnash their teeth. What they should be doing is thanking the general for his good work, and dedicated service to this nation.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 8:44 PM
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