Recasting Bush as the hero of Iraq is taking things much too far
I see that Fox News and top Republicans such as Mitch McConnell are insisting that President Obama credit his predecessor, President George W. Bush, for making possible tonight’s announcement that U.S. troops are no longer engaged in combat in Iraq.
I suppose that’s true, they have a point. You could certainly argue, for example, that if Bush hadn’t committed us to that misbegotten war in the first place, President Obama wouldn’t be making tonight’s speech.
In fact, if Bush hadn’t decided to try to occupy Iraq with far fewer troops than were necessary, ignoring advice from top generals that several hundred thousand soldiers would be needed to do the job right, we might have been able to bring our role to a conclusion years ago instead of now. So they’re right in that sense as well.
And if Bush had understood the nature of the conflict much earlier — if he hadn’t stood in front of that “Mission Accomplished” banner on May 1, 2003 and proclaimed that major combat had ended in Iraq, at a point when just 172 U.S. soldiers had been killed out of an eventual 4,000 — yeah, maybe Obama wouldn’t have to be announcing the ACTUAL end of major combat for U.S. forces on an August night more than seven years later.
If Bush hadn’t stubbornly, blindly insisted year after year that the war was going well, that there was no civil war, that the incompetent Donald Rumsfeld was a great defense secretary, that no change of strategy was necessary because the original strategy was so brilliant — if he hadn’t refused to acknowledge reality until after the 2006 midterms forced him to do so — yeah, maybe Bush himself would have been able to make this speech while he was still president.
But that didn’t happen. For years, Bush tried to halfway it, refusing to commit fully but refusing to withdraw either.
“Some Americans ask me, if completing the mission is so important, why don’t you send more troops?” Bush said in a typical speech in 2005. “If our commanders on the ground say we need more troops, I will send them. But our commanders tell me they have the number of troops they need to do their job. Sending more Americans would undermine our strategy of encouraging Iraqis to take the lead in this fight.”
Look, I’m not trying to dredge up ancient disputes here, and I’m not looking for another chance to bash the ex-president. He has left office, and history will now reach its own verdict on his leadership and judgment. I’m fine with that. I will also acknowledge, as I have in the past, that the 2007 surge and the change in military leadership that Bush finally implemented were more successful in rebuilding security than I and many others, including Barack Obama, had expected at the time. As I also noted earlier today, Obama doesn’t deserve a huge amount of credit for this withdrawal process, because he has merely followed the timeline set by Bush.
For that and many other reasons, it was perfectly appropriate for Obama to call Bush today as a matter of courtesy, and I hope and expect that the president will treat his predecessor with grace in tonight’s remarks.
All that said, however, it is also impossible to sit silently by while the Republicans try to rewrite a history that remains so fresh in so many minds. The invasion of Iraq was not a triumph of the Bush years, it was his greatest single mistake and probably the single greatest foreign-policy blunder in U.S. history.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
446 comments Add your comment
Dusty
September 1st, 2010
12:31 am
Scout,
Yes, Bush knew how to fly military fighter jets. He served..
I appreciate your long service to this country, Scout. Your staunch convictions are admirable. You are a strong man..It is good to have you here.
Scout
September 1st, 2010
12:34 am
Dusty:
Thank you for the kind words and for watching my back.
See you tomorrow !
Semper Fi
RW-(the original)
September 1st, 2010
12:34 am
Mick,
“Your” didn’t mean you personally and that should have been obvious since it was you that brought up people you knew that got their jobs “saved” by Porkulus. Nothing gets permanently saved by temporary spending.
landry
September 1st, 2010
12:41 am
I would definitely try-out a restaurant called porkulus…
Mick
September 1st, 2010
12:42 am
rw
**Nothing gets permanently saved by temporary spending.**
Man, are you thick. Nothing is permanent including your life. Roger out..
Dusty
September 1st, 2010
12:47 am
AmVet,
Nobody is hiding behind my skirt as you suggested. I just checked. Not a soul.
If there were someone, you would have heard a schreech from here to down town.
You seem a bit off your feed today. Your insults are not as “poignant” as usual. Try an aspirin. Might help.
Now, off to bed. Getting late. Goodnight one and all and U 2, Grumpy….
RW-(the original)
September 1st, 2010
12:50 am
Nothing is permanent including your life
Mick,
I’ll leave out the name calling part and point out that your obvious observation is meaningless unless the people you know that have had their jobs “saved” also plan to die precisely at the moment those artificial funds dry up.
Goodnight
vuduchld
September 1st, 2010
2:22 am
If my memory serves me correct, the war began in 2003, not 2007. Revisionist idiots want to make you think that sending additional tropps helped. Neyt! The turning point came when the military stared bribing tribal council leaders not to shoot at our troops, extortion is a better name for it. Repukes can try to revise history all they want, it’s not going to help. If Bush and Cheney thought that they liberated the Iraqi people then why haven’t they gone back? For Repukes to claim credit for anything in this fiasco is both laughable and sad. Why don’t they tell that to parents and love ones of soldiers who died or were severely injured fighting a bogus war. Ask Boehner where are the WMD’s they so loudly claimed were hidden in Iraq. If Boehner and other idiots believe that Iraq was a success, then go over there, without any security and meet the people you liberated!!
» Barack Obama on the end of US combat missions in Iraq
September 1st, 2010
3:55 am
[...] ET: The Republicans are going full-bore for the “credit Bush” approach on Iraq, but blogger Jay Bookman at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a different [...]
I Report :-) You Whine :-( mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
September 1st, 2010
5:32 am
Next mission: Economy -Urinal
They haven’t destroyed it yet?
I Report :-) You Whine :-( mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
September 1st, 2010
5:36 am
Murkowski concedes Alaska GOP primary
Ballot counts uphold newcomer’s upset of sitting senator. -Urinal
RINO, DOA, just sayin…
Rightwing Troll
September 1st, 2010
5:57 am
Bush was a hero to the chairborne 101st but that’s about all…
When Bush lets us know where he was those last couple years when he went AWOL, then I’ll care about a birth certificate…
Tommy Maddox
September 1st, 2010
6:19 am
I’m still impressed that even after being out of office for nearly two years, Pres. Bush is still capable of producing a nasty hurricane steaming towards our shores.
I Report :-) You Whine :-( mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
September 1st, 2010
6:22 am
But most of the denizens today are Peter Pan-ian liberals who declared in the 1960s that they had no intention of growing up. And, as long as they are in power, they don’t have to. They write the history books, they report the news as they would have it portrayed and they teach our kids that, as in Never-Never-Land, they don’t need to fret about responsibility as long as there are evil, rich grownups to be taxed to care for them. And if life really isn’t that way, it should be; and that’s the point.
This is what enables them to act with such certainty in matters where their positions have either been proved wrong or are mere theories. That is why they can believe wholeheartedly that man can cause changes in the climate; that taxing the rich will stimulate the economy; that the way to foster equality between the races is to favor one over the other; or that the murder of unborn children is somehow liberating to women: because in the islands of their minds, that’s the way it should be.
What more can you add to that?
Geodude
September 1st, 2010
6:32 am
The problem with Iraq and Afganistan (and Vietnam) is that there are no clear goals. We want to say “We won”, but what does winning entail? Deposing Saddam Hussein? We could have left long ago. Does winning mean we want to make sure that all the people of that country have had a change of heart and now love the USA? We will never win. Even saying that we want to establish a friendly government is not an answer. I don’t think we can even do that. What we should do is keep control of their airports and leave an occupying force that sends out planes to bomb the heck out of any terrorist cells that pop up. Or in Afganistan, any Al Qaida or Taliban insurgents. Quit trying to control the whole country (in either place).
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
6:54 am
So, the AJC headline is that a police chief was accused of having wild sex parties.
as opposed to boring sex parties?
mike
September 1st, 2010
6:55 am
Thank you Jay for summarizing seven years of liberal bumper stickers into one document.
Bill Campbell
September 1st, 2010
7:06 am
Obama is the worst president in American History! Glad his days in office are numbered!
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
7:07 am
Jay, after reading a transcript of the President’s evening address and hearing a bit of the neocon pre-emption and media presentations of both, I think Jay Ackroyd put it best:
[S]omebody certainly could have knowed what the US was getting itself into.
Even aside from dirty hippies, like ex-Marine weapons-inspector Scott Ritter, there was no shortage of voices of sanity.
But I guess that is just looking backwards, which the Village only does in order to say nobody could have known. Unfortunate, perhaps, but what can you do?
Anyway, the war is over now. The President said so.
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
7:09 am
Obama is the worst president in American History! Glad his days in office are numbered!
Has there been a day since 11/5/2008 when GOPers haven’t been bleating some variant of this?
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
7:12 am
dB – 7:09 – give them some credit – most of them waited until 21 January 2009 before they started spouting it …
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
7:12 am
those artificial funds
You do understand that all of this stuff we call “money”, which is exchanged as a representation of value for goods and services being produced, is actually artificial, correct?
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
7:13 am
most of them waited until 21 January 2009 before they started spouting it …
Was that before or after Master Strategerist Limbaugh uttered his famous four words?
A. Reader
September 1st, 2010
7:14 am
the speech was well written.
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
7:16 am
dB – “Master Strategerist Limbaugh uttered his famous four words?”
which words were those? “Those drugs aren’t mine!” or “Filed for divorce. Again.”
Tom's Priceless
September 1st, 2010
7:17 am
I object! It’s a setup. I’m as innocent as Blogo. I’m no more guilty than Nathan.
Normal
September 1st, 2010
7:18 am
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
7:09 am
Stands,
I can’t think of one and now it seems that even Mike has run out of new ones and is starting re-runs.
The good news is we still have Whiner to make us laugh…
BTW, Happy, happy Wednesday morning to all y’all. I hope it’s a good one!
————–
P.S.
I got a letter in my email last night, supposedly signed by the President, explaining Iraq. If any want to see it, let me know and I’ll post it.
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
7:20 am
I will go on record here as stating that I am deeply ashamed of myself for not having opposed the Iraq invasion and occupation. I allowed myself to believe the Very Serious Liberals who told me that installing a puppet government friendly to ours would be a snap, and a vast improvement over what the long-suffering citizens of Iraq had been forced to tolerate as a result of our policies since the first Gulf War.
I don’t know if getting out in the streets, egging Bush’s motorcade, and so forth would’ve made a difference. But looking back, perhaps I could’ve called and emailed and generally harassed the weasels on the masthead of the New Republic, to the point where maybe they would’ve dialed back their Iraq war cheerleading just a bit. Maybe that would’ve given some other Senator the backbone to give another speech on the floor in addition to Byrd’s. Maybe there’d have been more widespread skepticism of this operation from the outset, and cooler heads (who knows, maybe I should include GW Bush’s here) would’ve prevailed.
I didn’t do that, and it probably doesn’t mean jack one way or another, but I can’t really know that.
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
7:24 am
beating normal to the punch today
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2010/08/31/funny-pictures-bak-in-skool/
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
7:25 am
which words were those?
Seriously?
“I hope he fails.”
And for the record, it was five days before the Inauguration. I may be off here, but in my mind, it set the tone for the GOP rhetoric to follow. Virtually nobody in the GOP dares to question the wisdom of Limbaugh; after “I hope he fails” we had people like Jim DeMint talking about “breaking” Obama. Die was cast. There was never to be even the semblance of cooperation.
And I’m not complaining here; this is politics, not beanbag. Just acknowledging recent history.
Normal
September 1st, 2010
7:28 am
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
7:20 am
For what it’s worth, I did all of those things, even took a trip to Crawford, but nobody listened. I wrote daily emails to the collective Speakers and Senate leaders, Cheney, Bush, and Obama. Nothing helped.
You saw what I didn’t…they won’t listen to us. They still aren’t.
You have a good heart, man and thank you for this post.
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
7:28 am
“as opposed to boring sex parties?”
Or even tame ones?
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
7:28 am
dB – 7:25 – oh, yeah. those words. (being across the pond make it easier to block those things out).
yep. up is the new down. black is the new white. cheering for the president to fail is the new “patriot”
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
7:30 am
Doggone … now, taking him to task for hosting a boring sex party, THAT I understand … (along with wearing white shoes after Labor day and VPL) … but wild sex parties …
maybe he forgot the thank-you notes …
Bjorn
September 1st, 2010
7:31 am
Global warming is real! We need a carbon tax and we need it NOW!
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
7:34 am
USinUK – looks like there are anonymous letters involved. Wonder if the person who wrote them will ever come out in the open?
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
7:35 am
Here’s probably the best story so far today – and yes, I know the day is still young…but who knew golf balls could be so dangerous!
http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/Golfer-s-swing-sparks-25-acre-California-blaze?urn=golf-266447
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
7:39 am
Doggone … I don’t think you get a mulligan for that …
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
7:44 am
a mulligan?
Normal
September 1st, 2010
7:45 am
Is that a two stroke penalty?
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
7:45 am
Doggone – a do-over
Normal
September 1st, 2010
7:46 am
a mulligan?
A do over…
Normal
September 1st, 2010
7:47 am
When I played, I only allowed myself two mulligans per hole. It was tough, though…
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
7:49 am
Thanks! Just hadn’t heard that one before.
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
7:49 am
Normal – the windmill always killed my average …
Billy's Crystal Balls
September 1st, 2010
7:51 am
Bush and his cronies are certainly responsible for Iraq but it is hardly something that one should label as a success. On the contrary, it was a complete and utter failure.
Larry
September 1st, 2010
7:55 am
Oh good, another Bush Bash. goodnight
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
7:56 am
I did all of those things, even took a trip to Crawford
Hung out with “the bitch in the ditch,” did you? or was this pre-Cindy Sheehan?
Granny Godzilla
September 1st, 2010
7:56 am
Jay
The Iraqi’s were calling for Americans to withdraw as early as June 2006.
Bush vetoed war funding bill with Iraqi withdrawal timetable in May of 07.
I don’t give Bush an ounce of credit for the withdrawal. He fought it until it was inevitable.
Normal
September 1st, 2010
7:57 am
USinUK,
Ah, the Windmill…I just gave myself a par and walked to the next hole…
Soames
September 1st, 2010
7:58 am
Democrats and Republicans BOTH voted to go to war in Iraq.
Are the Iraqi people better off w/o Saddam and was it worth the price they had to pay? Rather than defending your partisan politicial ideals, you should be asking yourselves this.
Normal
September 1st, 2010
7:59 am
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
7:56 am
Yeah, I went down there with Cindy, but I had gone to meet Randi Rhodes…
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
8:00 am
Normal, I should add, thanks for making me feel somewhat better. If the heartfelt, eloquent words of a Vietnam vet were met with total indifference, I doubt those of some mere taxpaying civilian would’ve been heeded either.
Still. Enough voices, enough media people shamed into at least backing up their BS… you never know.
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
8:03 am
Get ‘em, GrannyG!!
the thing that always pi$$ed me off about the lead-up to the war was the credence given to Ahmed Chalabi (thanks Judith!) … I mean, I haven’t lived in GA for 15 years – would anyone here think I would be 1) an expert in GA government, much less 2) know about any military secrets buried at Dobbins AFB? yet, there was Chalabi who left the country in 1956 – nineteen-fifty-flipping-SIX!!! – and they were processing “intel” from him like he was the proverbial burning bush …
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
8:06 am
“Are the Iraqi people better off w/o Saddam and was it worth the price they had to pay? Rather than defending your partisan politicial ideals, you should be asking yourselves this.”
No, we shouldn’t be asking ourselves that. We should be asking the IRAQIs that.
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
8:08 am
btw … if you haven’t seen Green Zone, they did a fantastic job portraying the idiots who tried to install Chalabi …
G.W.
September 1st, 2010
8:09 am
Just give me another ten years and a few thousand more soldier’s lives and a few trillion more dollars… I can make it work. I can build a peaceful democracy over there in oil country. Yes I can.
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
8:09 am
“We should be asking the IRAQIs that.”
dear iraq … don’t look at your current situation as us wrecking the joint, look at it as an opportunity for you to remodel …
Granny Godzilla
September 1st, 2010
8:11 am
Democrats and Republicans were lied to. Just as we the people were.
If the Democrats knew that Colin Powell was lying to the UN (as he as admitted) the Democrats would have screamed bloody murder.
Bush as hero of Iraq….what a load of guano.
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
8:12 am
(thanks Judith!)
UnU, while I know that wasn’t the point of your post, I want to get into the political weeds just a bit.
I don’t think there’s anything you or I can really do to convince the right-leaners in our midst just how gruesomely supportive the so-called “liberal” media really was at the time.
It’s just one of many reasons I just despair at those who, today, claim “why should I respect your President? You never respected mine!” who are completely ignorant of the widespread support Bush’s policies enjoyed among (supposed) Democrats and so-called liberal-friendly media like the NYTimes, Washington Post, and yes, I’ll mention them again because they were more influential among Serious Liberals than anyone likes to remember, The New Republic.
You go down the timeline, and that’s two plus years of nearly unwavering foreign policy support for Bush, and it only really fell apart after the first five hundred or so American soldiers were blown to bits after “major combat operations have ended.”
And they want to compare that to going all “I hope he fails” / “Yassuh Massuh Rush”, right out of the box, before Obama had even taken his oath of office?
Bloody hell.
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
8:13 am
“If the Democrats knew that Colin Powell was lying to the UN (as he as admitted) the Democrats would have screamed bloody murder.”
I’m a harsher on the subject than you are. If ANYone DIDN’T know he was lying to the UN they must have had their heads up somewhere the sun don’t shine.
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
8:14 am
they did a fantastic job portraying the idiots who tried to install Chalabi …
Netflix queue will been notified.
stands for decibels
September 1st, 2010
8:15 am
And with these sunny sentiments, I’m off to help pay for the occupation.
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
8:21 am
dB – 8:12
don’t get me started on Chris Matthews, the entire crew at CNN and, it made my eyes bleed at the time, NPR.
you are absolutely spot on about the support the president had after 9/11 and in the lead-up to the war. not ONE member of the white house press corpse (misspelling intentional) could be bothered to push back on the stories that were being fed to them. they were stenographers, not investigators.
jm
September 1st, 2010
8:22 am
Fair enough. I agree with everything but the last half of the last sentence. I still think it was a positive outcome on balance, WMD’s or not.
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
8:24 am
“I still think it was a positive outcome on balance, WMD’s or not.”
You do realize you’ve just admitted you believe the end justifies the means, don’t you?
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
8:24 am
“I still think it was a positive outcome on balance, WMD’s or not.”
okay, I’ll bite.
why?
Union
September 1st, 2010
8:25 am
funny.. i remember the first time we went there.. dems cried we had too many troops there.. then when the surge came up.. dems again cried it wouldnt work. did it work? we wont know in our lifetime.
its easy to pen a critique will sitting behind a keyboard and a monitor..
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
September 1st, 2010
8:26 am
Help is on the way….
“Democrats face midterm meltdown
By Edward Luce in Washington
Published: August 31 2010 20:04 | Last updated: August 31 2010 20:04
Barack Obama’s Democratic party faces a series of dramatic defeats at every level of government in Washington and beyond in the November midterm elections, according to leading analysts and opinion polls.
The University of Virginia’s widely monitored Crystal Ball will on Wednesday forecast sweeping setbacks on Capitol Hill and the loss of a clutch of state governorships on November 2.”
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
September 1st, 2010
8:28 am
Oh yeah, BOO, “global warming”
PAPER: CLIMATE CHANGE LIES ARE EXPOSED…
G.W.
September 1st, 2010
8:28 am
It was a positive outcome because I got rid of the last, well almost the last, well maybe not almost but some, of Reagan’s mideast legacy. You know, putting Saddam in power and helping him kill his own people and that stuff that we don’t like to admit to doing because it makes us look like bad people and we don’t want to be remembered as bad people.
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
8:28 am
“dems cried we had too many troops there”
That’s right. Even ONE soldier there was too many.
Union
September 1st, 2010
8:29 am
an administration could “lie” to get us into war.. however an administration would never “lie” to push through something like.. i dunno.. healthcare?
speaking of cover ups.. if obama would reveal the truth about ufos.. i would vote for him..
Jay
September 1st, 2010
8:29 am
Amvet, you and Dusty need to cool it in your long-running personal dispute. I just took down that latest post as well as some from last night.
popeye
September 1st, 2010
8:30 am
But, but AmVet…Bush is a brave and honorable man who served his country, and was the bestest of the best President. We are safe due to his sacrifices, and determination.
Regards, Dusty
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
8:30 am
“we don’t want to be remembered as bad people.”
We lost nearly 5000 soldiers, the Iraqis lost somewhere over 100,000 citizens (I’ve seen estimates from 118,000 to 150,000) and it’s all good because ONE MAN is dead?
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
September 1st, 2010
8:33 am
Take heart, libs, you aren’t the only ones who will get a boot to the backside in an election.
“ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Sen. Lisa Murkowski was booted from office in the Republican primary Tuesday by a little-known conservative lawyer in arguably the biggest political upset of the year.
Joe Miller, backed by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express, became the latest newcomer to the national political stage to take down an incumbent in 2010 amid deep dissatisfaction with the Washington establishment.”
jm
September 1st, 2010
8:33 am
Doggone, while I may or may not believe that the ends justify the means, I don’t think that’s what happened in Iraq. I think they ignored countervailing intelligence, but genuinely believed there were WMD’s. Turns out there weren’t. One of the biggest intelligence and judgment failures in history.
That all said, I’m glad 20 million people no longer live under a brutal dictator. Blah blah, there are lots of dictatorships and we can’t go overthrow them all – I know. But I’m glad Saddam is gone and that democracy, with all its failings in Iraq currently, is flourishing, at least for now. We’ll see if it holds.
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
8:33 am
“Bush is a brave and honorable man who served his country”
Absolutely…no N.Vietnamese invaded Texas while HE was flying around, now did they? (stolen from George Gobel)
G.W.
September 1st, 2010
8:33 am
And don’t even get me talking about regulations. Regulations will be the death of us all. I did my best to get rid of regulations. Honest I did. That’s what good Republicans do in order to preserve the profits.
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
8:34 am
Doggone – “and it’s all good because ONE MAN is dead?”
you forgot that we also killed about 15 of Saddam’s “number two man”
I'm Here From The Government And I'm Here To Help
September 1st, 2010
8:34 am
Back to “real” news of the day. No parade but its’ over in Iraq. LOL
RAMADI, Iraq, Sept. 1, 2010 – The war in Iraq is over and the United States is entering the final phase of the U.S. engagement in Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today.
U.S. combat operations have ceased, the secretary said. American forces are still participating in some counterinsurgency operations with the Iraqis, and they are training and advising and assisting Iraqi forces, but the United States is not at war in Iraq.
Normal
September 1st, 2010
8:36 am
jm
September 1st, 2010
8:33 am
jm,
I’m afraid that all we have done is to make it easier for them to live under the biggest dictator of them all…Iran.
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
8:36 am
“Joe Miller, backed by Sarah Palin”
reminds me what women say about Alaskan men … “the odds are good, but the goods are odd”
retiredds
September 1st, 2010
8:36 am
Jay you are nailing it here. However, the Republicans and Tea Party folks won’t agree (so what else is new). The Republicans and their surrogates in the Tea Party have been and are doing everything they can to foil this president. They lie, they obstruct, they try to re-write history to fulfill their dreams of taking back political power (remember power corrupts), i.e. Joe Miller’s baseless claims against Sen. Murkowski, baseless in the sense that he can’t provide any proof (see Anchorage Daily News this morning); our illustrious Chip Rogers messaging the debt figures to suit his agenda (see Truth-O-Meter this morning). The only thing old Chip does is to demonstrate his ignorance of how the federal budget works. And the pathetic statements by John Boehner which don’t need any commentary due to their shallowness. But his tan is looking very good, so I guess that counts for something in the party of “no”. And finally our own Senator Chambliss saying Obama didn’t give enough credit to Bush. Wow, am I impressed with that guy. He is a real motivator.
Sorry Repubs but your speakers bureau is long misinformation and short on truth. And, why? They want you to believe in them. Well, if you take their bait, you will end up on their plate for dinner, except of course if you give $10,000 to their campaign you can join them at the table.
G.W.
September 1st, 2010
8:37 am
an administration could “lie” to get us into war.. however an administration would never “lie” to push through something like.. i dunno.. healthcare?
I know! Because healthcare is such a killer. Regulations is what we need to lie about, I mean, talk about because that is where the greatest potential for profits lie.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
September 1st, 2010
8:37 am
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
8:33 am
At least W did serve. How about Clinton and Obama?
I'm Here From The Government And I'm Here To Help
September 1st, 2010
8:37 am
Claiming no victory, President Barack Obama formally ended the U.S. combat role in Iraq after seven long years of bloodshed, declaring firmly Tuesday night: “It’s time to turn the page BACKWARD.”
What a leader or a joke?
jm
September 1st, 2010
8:38 am
Normal – possible. Hopefully not. May be why our remaining 50,000 troops probably aren’t coming home anytime soon.
AmVet
September 1st, 2010
8:39 am
I’m curious if this supposed “meltdown’ will be of the caliber of that amazing 2006 GOP debacle.
Remember cons? Or have you, ahem, “forgotten”?
Going ZERO for 36???!!! An O-fer. A first in the republic’s long history. NEVER to be replicated again.
Or do you think it will be more like that fantastic GOP rally 2008?
Where the neo-conned went a fantastic 5 and 41?
A combined winning percentage of………………………….7%
So even if the cons have a helluva November and another one in 2012, it is almost a certainty that they STILL won’t be where they were before George of the Bungle and Gang shiite (get it?) the bed.
It’s a good thing the Einsteinian cons are running the space program of the BCS. They would have had UGA winning the national championship last year…
Paul
September 1st, 2010
8:39 am
Whew – Pres Obama says combat operations are over? Oughta read this blog. Kinda reminds me of Southerners and the War of Liberation, or whatever it’s called.
Afghanistan, current-day, anyone?
G’morning, Normal. Yes please, I would like to see the letter.
Thought it was a decent enough speech. Didn’t really think the economy tie-in was necessary on such a momentous foreign policy event, though.
Peadawg
September 1st, 2010
8:40 am
Bush is more of a hero than Obama is. What branch did Obama serve in again?
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
September 1st, 2010
8:40 am
All this talk about lies. Bush lied. Obama lied. The republicans lie. All depends on which side of the political line you stand. Good grief.
Here’s a pop up question. Quick, Which president during the past 30 years lied (without a doubt) while under oath and was impeached?
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2010
8:40 am
“I think they ignored countervailing intelligence, but genuinely believed there were WMD’s”
The USSR, Canada, England, France, Israel all have WMDs. Why haven’t we invaded them? Iraq was no bigger threat to us than they are. And if they “genuinely” believed in the WMDs they must have had their heads where the sun don’t shine.
*I* knew there were no WMDs…why didn’t they? Sorry, I don’t buy it. They lied us into that pile of crap and they get no forgiveness from me for doing that.
G.W.
September 1st, 2010
8:41 am
I did serve, I tell you. I served drinks to all my guests so I wouldn’t have to drink alone. Of course, I gave them the cheap stuff.
jm
September 1st, 2010
8:41 am
Paul – I agree with your sentiments. But the connection between our economy and the cost of the war is very real.
I think Obama’s trying to, poorly, tie a narrative together that he wants to invest / build america. He stinks at conveying this relatively simple message though.
AmVet
September 1st, 2010
8:42 am
Rightee-O, Jay.
But everyone here knows that I do not throw the first punch in these set-tos. Ever.
But I am sick and tired of her serial and unprovoked PERSONAL insults. She needs to get that message in some sort of permanent way…
Goldie
September 1st, 2010
8:42 am
We can certainly thank W and his pals for the current economic disaster that they brought on all of us because of their extremist views regarding “spreading democracy in the Middle East” and not being willing to pay for it! It may take a decade to get America back on its feet again, so no more Repubs in the White House for another decade or more!
Paul
September 1st, 2010
8:42 am
G.W.
“Because healthcare is such a killer. ”
Well, Sen Reid did say 50,000 or so Americans die every year because they don’t have health insurance. Then he passes a bill that puts off coverage for all Americans for about 5 years. Lessee… 50,000 time 5… that’s 250,000 Americans dead because they weren’t able to get health insurance for five years?
Yup, healthcare’s a killer!
USinUK
September 1st, 2010
8:43 am
“Bush is more of a hero than Obama is. What branch did Obama serve in again?”
yeah. a guy who blew out his cushy texas reserve slot because he couldn’t keep his nose clean. oh, yeah … that’s “brave”