The Discerning Texan

The Democrats have been outmanuevered again on Iraq. Earlier this year, they took 108 days to come up with a funding formula that wouldn't get vetoed by the Bush administration, thinking that they could dictate terms to the White House. They found out, as the Republicans did in 1995, that Presidents are never irrelevant. He played "chicken" better than the Democrats, who swerved rather than allowing funds to run out on the troops, and gave Bush what he wanted in May.

It looks like September will bring more swerving. Even leading Democrats acknowledge that Petraeus has produced some stunning successes in Anbar and Diyala. Most people considered Anbar a lost cause, but Petraeus and his forces have freed the province of its terrorist oppressors and created a political movement of Iraqi unity called Anbar Awakening, which continues to spread. Barack Obama suggested yesterday that Baghdad could use another 30,000 troops.

Now that their predictions of military failure have have died, the Democrats want to focus on the lack of political reform as a reason to leave. In January, they talked about how futile it was to play "whack-a-mole" when terrorists would simply move back and forth, and that the American and Iraqi forces could not clear and hold territory. Since that's been proven wrong, they now claim that the current Iraqi government cannot possibly institute the reforms Congress demands, such as oil revenue sharing and the forgiveness of former Ba'athists. Unless Iraq succeeds in these reforms as a sign of unity, we should withdraw, the argument will go.

[...]

Even those who still insist on firm timetables question the Democratic leadership's strategy. Jerry McNerney (D-CA) says that the inflexible and confrontational approach taken by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid has made it impossible to work with Republicans in Congress and the White House. Rather than asking the generals what they need, Congress has tried to dictate limits -- and lost. "I don't know what they're thinking," McNerney said to the Post about the leadership.

That's not true at all. Everyone knows what they're thinking. If they get outmanuevered again, the Democrats will catch hell from the activist base of their party and likely wind up losing the House to the Republicans in 2008. They can't afford to work cooperatively with the people Pelosi and Reid have successfully demonized with their voters, or they will look like complete hypocrites. That's the wages of demagoguery, and payday's coming in September.

Labels: Defeatocrats, Democrat Sabotage, Harry Reid, Hypocrisy, Nancy Pelosi

Labels: Defeatocrats, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Surrender Caucus

Labels: Appeasement, Democrat Sabotage, Harry Reid, Winston Churchill

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Labels: Defeatocrats, Democrat Sabotage, Harry Reid, Surrender Caucus

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• the Fourth Circuit Court (minus two Justices which replacements the Democrat Senate refuses to confirm..) voted 2-1 to confer Constitutional rights on a foreign-born, non-citizen who was a high-ranking member of Al Qaeda, a group we are at War with, and who was caught here in a sleeper cell awaiting Al Qaeda's orders to commit mass murder;
• the Immigration Bill has reared its ugly head again and once again threatens to destroy the Republican Party;
• the Democrat Majority leader of the US Senate publically labeled highly-decorated Generals--including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs--who are trying to motivate and lead American troops into battle in that War -- as "incompetent" ; and,
• a dedicated and highly-respected public servant who absolutely did nothing wrong was ordered to prison, at the end of a political witch hunt orchestrated by the CIA and other enemies of the President--all to score political points against a lame-duck Administration.

In a week where all of this terrible news came down, at least the scumbag Prosecutor who tried to ruin the lives of innocent College kids won't be hurting anyone else for a while. Durham DA Mike Nifong resigned today.

Of course this can hardly be compared to the damage that this zealous prosecutor trying to win the black vote did to those kids, to a prestigious University, and to an entire community--but at least it's a start.

Labels: Al Qaeda, Duke Rape Case, Harry Reid, Illegal Immigration, Libby, Nifong, Republican, Travesty of Justice

MORE ON HARRY REID, THE POLITICO, AND THE NETROOTS:

Another interesting undercurrent to this is the contempt of the left-wing bloggers for the Politico, and the Drudge Report, which often links to the site. The story was "based on unsubstantiated, third-party recollection," says Geiger, under the headline "The Politico Fails Journalism 101." "Politico, the online soul-mate to the Drudge Report, has gotten into the habit of creating news stories through innuendo, omission, outright error, and now today, out of thin air," was the line from Kos blogger BarbinMD (is that a professional opinion, doctor?). And the grand wizard of Politico haters once complained that Drudge and the Politico are "poisonously joined at the hip."

Well, for all that griping, it seems the Politico nailed this story, and Drudge just did what he always does--amplify it. Dr. Barbin still contends this is a non-story--though, apparently factually accurate despite protestations to the contrary--because it was just "a throw away line...that Harry Reid said to the unable-to-be-reconfirmed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's face." And Geiger puts off the outrageous statement Reid claims to have made to the senator's "tendency to speak like the straight-talking, former boxer that he is." If it's all true, then Reid's a brave man, but a jerk nonetheless. The other possibility, of course, is that he's full of it and never said any such thing to Pace--in which case, he's still a jerk, but not so stupid as to question the integrity of this nation's highest ranking officer to his face.

The lefty bloggers, for their part, have shown themselves to be totally inept. They failed to report the comments, then they denied Reid ever made them while making their own unsubstantiated allegations, and now they defend the comments as irrelevant--and without even the slightest doubt as to their validity. Which is worse?

Does it matter? And heck, the White House press corps wasn't much better.

Anyway, some people are savoring the madness. And Bill Ardolino has more on the merits of Reid's statements -- or rather, the lack thereof. Dave Price, too.

Labels: Democrat Sabotage, Harry Reid, Unbridled Partisanship, US Senate

Labels: Democrat Sabotage, Harry Reid

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Labels: Al Qaeda, Harry Reid, Intelligence, Saudi Arabia, The Long War, War Successes

Labels: America War Support, Democrat Sabotage, Harry Reid, Iraq, Media Bias, Media War, Nancy Pelosi, Surrender Caucus, War Successes

A few months ago, Reid joined a unanimous Senate in voting to confirm Gen. David Petraeus as the new commander in Iraq, charged with a new mission and strategy. Although all the forces to conduct the new security operations won’t be in place until mid-June, General Petraeus reports early signs of progress on the ground. What does the Democrats’ armchair general make of the veteran commander’s assessment? “I don’t believe him,” Reid said on CNN, the latest in a series of gaffes. Unfortunately for Democrats, you go to war with the political commander you have.

In a dispute between Petraeus and Reid over military strategy and the state of the war, we know whose judgment we trust. When Reid is arguing that there is no purely military solution in Iraq, he loves to cite Petraeus. But Petraeus also — and repeatedly — says that improved security is a precondition of political progress. Appearing before the Senate in January, Petraeus said, “Military action to improve security, while not wholly sufficient to solve Iraq’s problems, is certainly necessary.” Reid is resolved — at least he’s resolute about something — to ignore this.

Instead, he apparently uses a car-bomb barometer to measure the success of the troop surge, and has hoisted the white flag in response to the recent spate of such deadly attacks. Our enemies thus get exactly the response they seek. They want their cowardly tactics to blind Washington policymakers to the demonstrably improved security conditions in Baghdad that recent congressional visitors (and not just John McCain) have witnessed. Victory is far from certain — but defeat is, if Reid prevails.

We're going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war. Senator Schumer has shown me numbers that are compelling and astounding.
--Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, April 12.

Gen. David Petraeus is in Washington this week, where on Monday he briefed President Bush on the progress of the new military strategy in Iraq. Today he will give similar briefings on Capitol Hill, but maybe he should save his breath. As fellow four-star Harry Reid recently informed America, the war Gen. Petraeus is fighting and trying to win is already "lost."

Mr. Reid has since tried to "clarify" that remark, and in a speech Monday he laid out his own strategy for Iraq. But perhaps we ought to be grateful for his earlier candor in laying out the strategic judgment--and nakedly political rationale--that underlies the latest Congressional bid to force a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq starting this fall. By doing so, he and the Democrats are taking ownership of whatever ugly outcome follows a U.S. defeat in Iraq.

Labels: Democrat Sabotage, Harry Reid, Iraq, Surrender Caucus