There is nothing more American than dissent. Nonetheless the Republicans have come up with some powerful stuff. Watch it here.
If your mind is too open, your brain will fall out. Warning: Names, identities, descriptions, and pictures have been changed and/or used to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. PollyPeoria should not be used or quoted as a source for your senior college thesis.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Blog Archive
Links
- Batten Disease Home Page
- Peoria Pundits
- Peoria Chronicle
- Peoria Story
- Peoria Illinoisan
- Merle Widmer's Peoria Watch
- Ahl Things Considered
- Eyebrows McGee Plays in Peoria
- Lollygaggin
- Scott's Blog Experience
- Chef Kevin's Culinary Rant & Raves
- Obrien's Briar Patch
- Market 117
- Vonster
- Pasghetti Place
- Dying In Haiti
- A Bird In The Hand
16 comments:
How 'bout this as an option? How 'bout the president saying, "Well, I really made a mistake here, and it's a mistake I'm going to be paying for for the rest of my life.
"For some stupid reason, I thought that 99.87% of the Iraqis, and most of the other folks in the countries surrounding them, if given a choice, would WANT democracy.
"But again, I was wrong. I look at the world far too simplisticly, I now find. Not everything is black and white, and I guess this Iraq thing is a really good illustration of that.
"I should have let the UN inspectors do their jobs, even if it would have taken 50 years to do it. They were on the ground, for crying out loud, and doing their inspections. Sure, it was going slow, and Saddam was goofin' way too much, but just think if I would have left 'em alone. That's right... all of the lives that would have been saved and all of the billions of dollars we'd have right now... makes my head go 'boggle' just thinking about it.
"Yeah, yeah, I know what a rotten bastard Saddam is, and all of the thousands of innocents he murdered. For that matter, half the countries on earth are run by madmen, and even the U.S. can only do so much. But, stupid me... I thought they'd have parades for us a few weeks after the invasion, and everything would be hunky-dorry.
"I apologize to every American and Iraqi on this planet. I made a gross miscalculation. A terrible one. But, the sign of an extremely stupid leader is not only when he/she starts a bad policy, but more so when he/she keeps doing that stupid policy, just to save political face.
"So, it's time to begin handing full authority of Iraq to the Iraqis. We'll find out how badly they want freedom. We'll continue to train and arm the government in power, but we're not going to sacrafice hundreds of our young men and women for a cause that is so convoluted.
"Beginning immediately, we will start to withdraw troops from Iraq. It will be a gradual removal, but it must be done. I will live with this horrible decision for the rest of my life... but, I will not live with it continuing at the rate that it is."
Whoops. Boy, was I ever imagining something there. I was assuming that our president had enough conscience to do the right thing. Silly me.
So you're saying the vast majority of Iraqis don't want democracy? Um, don't think so. Elections seem to prove they do. And since when do "99.87%" of anybody agree on anything? You couldn't get that percentage of Americans to agree they were not, in fact, cheese sandwiches.
And the roughly 22,000 "insurgents", many of whom are not even native Iraqis, are hardly a credible voice in a nation of 26 million. Hmmmm. I guess you can get 99.992% of a population to agree to something: to not be an insurgent.
The dems stepped on their collective tails this week. No getting around it. Those comments were flat out offensive to most of the nation -- people on all sides of the issue. And its about time the nimrods across the aisle started fighting back against the rhetoric.
Calling our own sons and daughters and brothers and sisters in uniform "terrorists", which is exactly what Kerry did, was ridiculous, high-minded and, frankly, more than a little arrogant. Those men and women are battling the real thing everday so we don't have to. Kerry was pulling his same anti-military act that got him whacked in the election.
PeoriaDad, quit trying to justify our being there by saying how stupid Kerry is. You're comparing apples to toilets there.
I also like your 22,000 number. Hah. How did you arrive at that? From George W.? Did they all sign up, so that we were able to get a damned near exact number... or are you forgetting about the hundreds of thousands who have demonstrated in favor of our getting our butts out of their country?
Reality check, PeoriaDad... get one.
I didn't mention whether we should or should not be in Iraq. Not once. You're overreacting and sound silly and slightly shrill.
Polly's post, not yours, was about ads that are being run in response to Kerry's comments -- to which I refered. I was on topic discussing them. And those comments (which you completely ignored) are still stupid comments -- regardless of my opinions of our nation's role in Iraq...which, again, I did not express.
And you're right about the 22k. Gosh, CNN reported that number at less than 20,000. And even if it was 10x that high (adding the hundreds of thousands to which you refered), then their numbers are still less than 1% of Iraq's total population.
Guess what, Prego? One percent of a population doesn't have much of a voice in a democracy. Maybe that's why they choose to bomb children instead. Maybe that's the kind of pressure that makes sawing the heads off of innocent men and women a viable alternative to joining the political process.
Your reality check is overdrawn.
The Republicans would not have to run an ad like that if they were doing and had done all that they should have to achieve victory. I am not happy to see Democrats calling for withdrawl. Whatever the flawed reasonings for getting into the war, once there we have an obligation to do everything necessary to achieve victory. The Republicans, and W. especially, have not delivered. They like to try an blame the Democrats but the simple truth is that they control both houses of Congress and the Presidency. They have no one to blame but themselves.
Kerry is an idiot. I never liked him much as a candidate. He had an opportunity to redefine the war effort in 2002 and utterly blew it. He advocated more of the same and not a change of course. He had the opportunity to call for a draft and genuine sacrifice from the public at large but shied away. Those Democrats who follow his lead are mistaken.
The Republicans are not off the hook tho. Long before it became fashionable, I saw the lead up to the war as orchestrated. The Presidency should not be given a pass on this. Both parties should be concerned about the balance between executive power and the legislative. The gross mishandling of the war after it begun, should not be given a pass. Both parties should be concerned when an executive fails to deliver on its duty.
If you listen to the Republicans and many Democrats, it would seem there are only two choices, carry on as is or withdrawl. There is a third choice. History has shown that when wars don't go as they should, that presidents remove the commanders in charge. Washington did it, Lincoln did it, Roosevelt and Truman did it. These changes altered the course of their wars. Time and again W. has shown himself incapable of making the fundamental changes necessary. So what happens when the commander that needs removed is the Commander in Chief? Impeachment should be an option. It should be an option for more than the political BS, it should be a matter of national security. Other potential foes are watching what happens in Iraq.
This white flag waving ad may well backfire and produce the very thing it tries to attack. That would be a huge disservice to the country and the world.
Not much I can argue with there, Mahnko, though I wish I could. I want to believe in this president. And I'm certainly praying for him. But many decisions, I confess, leave me scratching my head.
A few things he has going for him: terror has not touched our shores since 9/11; Afhanistan; and being a leader in Al Qaeda has become one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. My hats off to him and his for that much, if nothing else.
Ah... I love it when the boys have such an insightful and functional debate. No profanity, even. Maybe your entire gender doesn't have cooties after all! I should take a day off more often.
Good work, Men.
Geez, I'd love to throw my eleven cents in, but I have to go take my "shrill" lessons right now, dontchaknow.
Here's an interesting new ABC/Times poll regarding how Iraqi's really feel about their nation and their lives after the war.
It appears we're all right...
Well, if ABC says so, it must be true (snicker). Iraqi still don't like America overall. From the same ABC poll:
There's other evidence of the United States' increasing unpopularity: Two-thirds now oppose the presence of U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, 14 points higher than in February 2004. Nearly six in 10 disapprove of how the United States has operated in Iraq since the war, and most of them disapprove strongly. And nearly half of Iraqis would like to see U.S. forces leave soon.
Specifically, 26 percent of Iraqis say U.S. and other coalition forces should "leave now" and another 19 percent say they should go after the government chosen in this week's election takes office; that adds to 45 percent. Roughly the other half says coalition forces should remain until security is restored (31 percent), until Iraqi security forces can operate independently (16 percent), or longer (5 percent).
Watch out, Polly... you've set yourself up for another "shrill" retort from PeoriaDad...
Sigh.
Prego, I gave her the link to that information.
Toughen up little camper.
Yeah, Mr. Dad, but you neglected to pop in the information that she did. I'm guessing you might have quit reading it before ya got to it. But, that's just a guess on my part... I'd probably better go out there and shrill up my campin' powers or somethin' like that, huh?
Boys, you both play nice and stop that fighting this INSTANT! Remember, I have Santa Claus on speed dial! MommyPolly
Aw, okay, Ma... but HE started it! Make him say he's sorry, or I'm gonna scream all day!
(enjoying the sound of screaming)
Post a Comment