This is my second attempt at posting today. I don't know what happened to the first one. I guess the dog ate it.
All the buzz today is the Iraq Study Group report, presented to the President and then to Congress. I have two words for the finished product:
Big deal.
No, I haven't read it. From what I have taken from it so far is the same stuff that has been leaked to the press for the past two weeks. It goes something like this:
l. Iraq is a mess and not currently going very well.
2. Almost 3,000 of our nation's treasure have lost lives.
3. Almost 25,000 heroes have been wounded.
4. Serious corrections must be made in training the Iraqi police and military forces.
5. The battle in Iraq needs a political solution, not a military one.
6. The immediate withdrawal, or a withdrawal made too soon will result in catastrophe in the region.
7. Dividing the country into three regions is not the answer.
8. Success can still be met.
9. We may need to "negotiate" with Iran and Syria for help in the region.
See anything new there? The group laid it all out in 79 points. The negotiating with Iran and Syria is lunacy. Whom do you think is fueling the insurgency anyway? Oh, please Mr. Amajinidad, please stop sending weapons and money to the fanatics fighting the Americans and coalition soldiers. And, please acknowledge the Holocaust, while we're talking, ok?
The Democratic leadership ran to the cameras and had their say to the reporters. The administration is all wrong, the war is lost, Bush is the devil, etc. The usual pap.
Tony Snow held the regular news conference with reporters around lunch time. This was the best exchange I heard:
David Gregory: "Are you suggesting I'm trying to frame the report in a partisan way?"
Tony Snow: "Yes."
This exchange was after Gregory did his usual filibustering of the press conference with 20 questions and all negative and accusatory. He is truly disgusting. It's all about him.
So, now we are told the House of Representatives is going on a true 5 day a week schedule. Again. They were on one when Newt Gingrich was in charge, you may remember, and the Dems screamed bloody murder. And we are told there is to be one investigation after another, under the heading of "oversight". Um-huh.
Nancy Pelosi, after claiming the Dems could win without any concrete plans for the nation, has relied on her 100 hour plan. When the new Congress comes in, her 6 points to clean the swamp, as she so elegantly put it, will be enacted in 100 hours. What she doesn't say is, it will be 100 legislative hours, not actual hours. 100 legislative hours could take weeks. Ah, well. Bumper sticker slogans are more fun, aren't they?
Already the earmark reform, the pork projects, are not looking like this really will be reformed after all. Seems the Dems do it, too, and expect to keep on doing it. Shocking.
The Dems were not given a mandate, only a chance. Even the head Dem, Bill Clinton, admits this fact from the recent elections. The American public didn't necessarily want the Dems in charge, but they do want a change of policy.
We'll soon see what happens.
3 comments:
I didn't watch the special reports and caught only a little of the news, but nothing new heard here. Oh, except that the two head guys are getting so much press and appearing on so many interview shows that the candidates running for president are jealous.
Mom came through her angiogram and while there is a blockage, it is in a very small vessel, too small to do angioplasty or a stent. Her previous stent is fine as are the other arteries. So I think they will try to manage her SOB (shortness of breath, not the other connotation) with medication. She is back home and already on eBay for the evening.... My personal opinion is that eBay is WHY she has SOB right now. :) Thanks for asking about her. We, that means me, myself and I, put the Christmas tree up while they were gone and thank goodness all the lights seem to be working.
Karen, this analysis is spot on. You re very good with the nail and hammer.
I've been feeling glum, first the timing of the Rumsfeld resignation, then so sadly the loss of John Bolton. The news spin on the report and what is going to *happen* now after the election sounds like we're waving the white flag. As you say, it is a demand for action, not necessarily to cut and run. Everything that Pelosi suggests and her ilk on every news channel pontificates, if enacted, in the words of the Phantom of the Opera, a disaster beyond our imaginations will occur.
Negotiate with Syria and Iran. Lord help us. Can you imagine how it must feel to live in Isreal today?
Anyway, you are such a good writer. Your thoughts are clear and you do your homework.
I *almost* got into a discussion yesterday about the whole Iraq thing... but I reminded myself;
Never wrestle with pigs. You'll both get dirty and only the pig will enjoy it.
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