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Gold9472
06-18-2005, 09:52 PM
Hit by friendly fire
With his polls down, Bush takes flak on Iraq from a host of critics--including some in his own party

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050627/27bush.htm

(Gold9472: That's JUST what I want at the helm of our Nucular arsenal. A man "completely disconnected from reality".)

By Kevin Whitelaw

Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel is angry. He's upset about the more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers killed and nearly 13,000 wounded in Iraq. He's also aggravated by the continued string of sunny assessments from the Bush administration, such as Vice President Dick Cheney's recent remark that the insurgency is in its "last throes." "Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality," Hagel tells U.S. News. "It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq."

That's strikingly blunt talk from a member of the president's party, even one cast as something of a pariah in the GOP because of his early skepticism about the war. "I got beat up pretty good by my own party and the White House that I was not a loyal Republican," he says. Today, he notes, things are changing: "More and more of my colleagues up here are concerned."

Indeed, there are signs that the politics of the Iraq war are being reshaped by the continuing tide of bad news. Take this month in Iraq, with 47 U.S. troops killed in the first 15 days. That's already five more than the toll for the entire month of June last year. With the rate of insurgent attacks near an all-time high and the war's cost set to top $230 billion, more politicians on both sides of the aisle are responding to opinion polls that show a growing number of Americans favoring a withdrawal from Iraq. Republican Sens. Lincoln Chafee and Lindsey Graham have voiced their concerns. And two Republicans, including the congressman who brought "freedom fries" to the Capitol, even joined a pair of Democratic colleagues in sponsoring a bill calling for a troop withdrawal plan to be drawn up by year's end. "I feel confident that the opposition is going to build," says Rep. Ron Paul, the other Republican sponsor and a longtime opponent of the war.

Sagging polls. The measure is not likely to go anywhere, but Hagel calls it "a major crack in the dike." Whether or not that's so, the White House has reason to worry that the assortment of critiques of Bush's wartime performance may be approaching a tipping point. Only 41 percent of Americans now support Bush's handling of the Iraq war, the lowest mark ever in the Associated Press-Ipsos poll. And the Iraq news has combined with a lethargic economy and doubts about the president's Social Security proposals to push Bush's overall approval ratings near all-time lows. For now, most Republicans remain publicly loyal to the White House. "Why would you give your enemies a timetable?" asks House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. "[Bush] doesn't fight the war on news articles or television or on polls."

Still, the Bush administration is planning to hit back, starting this week, with a renewed public-relations push by the president. Bush will host Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari and has scheduled a major speech for June 28, the anniversary of the handover of power to an Iraqi government from U.S. authorities. But Congress's patience could wear very thin going into an election year. "If things don't start to turn around in six months, then it may be too late," says Hagel. "I think it's that serious."

Bush's exit strategy--which depends on a successful Iraqi political process--got a boost last week when Sunni and Shiite politicians ended weeks of wrangling over how to increase Sunni representation on the constitution-writing committee. Now, however, committee members have less than two months before their mid-August deadline. And given how long it took to resolve who gets to draft the document, it's hard to imagine a quick accord on the politically explosive issues they face.

With Ilana Ozernoy and Terence Samuel

beltman713
06-18-2005, 09:55 PM
Rats from a sinking ship.

somebigguy
06-18-2005, 09:56 PM
You got that right, did he just realize they're making it up as they go along?

Gold9472
06-18-2005, 09:56 PM
Yes, but it's a good sign.

Gold9472
06-18-2005, 09:57 PM
You got that right, did he just realize they're making it up as they go along?

"Hey Dick... you got the potato chips?", "Yeah George, be right there...", "Great... hey... you feel like invading Iraq?", "Sounds good to me."

somebigguy
06-18-2005, 09:57 PM
Yes, but it's a good sign.
Damn right man!!! These people finally grew backbones, and about time too.

Gold9472
06-18-2005, 10:02 PM
Lemme ask you... and this is just off the cusp... could a man completely disconnected from reality plan something like 9/11? Look, I'm just sayin'...

beltman713
06-18-2005, 10:02 PM
They love being senators and congressmen more than being Bush's friends. Politicians first!

beltman713
06-18-2005, 10:03 PM
Hitler planned the battle of the bulge.

Gold9472
06-18-2005, 10:03 PM
They love being senators and congressmen more than being Bush's friends. Politicians first!

It's always about the next election... These Senators are fighting for 2006.

beltman713
06-18-2005, 10:04 PM
There are some repub senators and congressmen that will stick with Bush till the end.

Gold9472
06-18-2005, 10:05 PM
Hitler planned the battle of the bulge.

:) BAM a fact...

Gold9472
06-18-2005, 10:05 PM
There are some repub senators and congressmen that will stick with Bush till the end.

Yes they will... they are not about to give up their power.

beltman713
06-18-2005, 10:14 PM
But there are some of them, who aren't as committed to his vision as he is, that will abandon him when the shit really hits the fan.

Gold9472
06-18-2005, 10:17 PM
It's no different than what happened to Hitler at the end of his career. He had people leaving left and right...

beltman713
06-18-2005, 10:19 PM
I believe that in the end, Bush will try something desperate. He won't give up and go quietly.

Gold9472
06-18-2005, 10:20 PM
That's what scares me.

beltman713
06-18-2005, 10:23 PM
I also believe that things in Iraq will get worse. As support for the war declines even more, I think the administration will try even more desperate measures there to try and stop the insurgency.

Gold9472
06-18-2005, 10:26 PM
Who knows. They're already going on a lot of "offensives" the past few days...

somebigguy
06-18-2005, 10:26 PM
Lemme ask you... and this is just off the cusp... could a man completely disconnected from reality plan something like 9/11? Look, I'm just sayin'...
I think we can all agree that Bush was just put into power by Cheney, Rummie, and whoever else was calling the shots. Remember the 2000 election??? Talk about corruption. He was definitely put in office for this purpose. He isn't the brains behind the operation, he's just the 'yes' man, and eventually the fall guy.

somebigguy
06-18-2005, 10:29 PM
Who knows. They're already going on a lot of "offensives" the past few days...
There was some nonsense on CNN today about how the insurgents were torturing some people in Iraq somewhere. Of course there was no evidence, and of course the victims were too afraid to talk or be shown on TV. So I guess we just take CNN's word for it.

And that wasn't the only thing I've seen in the media the last couple of days trying to point the insurgents as evil and the U.S. as the liberators.

beltman713
06-18-2005, 10:30 PM
If you're pulling troops from other places for offensives into places the insurgents aren't anymore, then you're leaving yourself vulnerable in the places you pulled the troops from.

beltman713
06-18-2005, 10:32 PM
There was some nonsense on CNN today about how the insurgents were torturing some people in Iraq somewhere. Of course there was no evidence, and of course the victims were too afraid to talk or be shown on TV. So I guess we just take CNN's word for it.

And that wasn't the only thing I've seen in the media the last couple of days trying to point the insurgents as evil and the U.S. as the liberators.

Yet they couldn't report on the Downing Street Memo because they didn't have proof that it was authentic.

Gold9472
06-18-2005, 10:32 PM
He is not stupid. Please don't think that he is. You should watch this...

http://www.workingtv.com/media5/parenti4.wmv

Gold9472
06-18-2005, 10:46 PM
I think that's the wrong video, but anyway... he's not stupid... somehow he was smart enough to manipulate the people "in power" into thinking he would be a good candidate for President.

beltman713
06-18-2005, 10:52 PM
I think that's the wrong video, but anyway... he's not stupid... somehow he was smart enough to manipulate the people "in power" into thinking he would be a good candidate for President.
It was the wrong video, but the guy was a pretty good speaker. Pre-Iraq invasion talk.

Gold9472
06-19-2005, 09:03 AM
Here's the right one...

http://www.workingtv.com/media5/parenti3.wmv

beltman713
06-19-2005, 12:50 PM
Really good. That guy is great.

Gold9472
06-19-2005, 01:17 PM
Dr. Michael Parenti is brilliant... thanks.

Good Doctor HST
06-19-2005, 01:33 PM
I believe that in the end, Bush will try something desperate. He won't give up and go quietly.



That's what scares me.

There are many people in the country, running the country, who honestly feel that battles that occur in the Middle East are between Christ and the Antichrist. They believe that Armeggedon will come about courtesy of a nuclear war. Everybody would be wise to fear those disillusioned weirdoes.

Gold9472
11-13-2005, 10:34 PM
bump

PhilosophyGenius
11-14-2005, 12:16 AM
good