Posted on 11/20/2005 4:00:38 AM PST by goldstategop
A busy time in the U.S. Senate, the "world's greatest deliberative body." Judging from the 2006 conference report, the Senate subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education -- Chairman Arlen Specter (R), ranking member Tom Harkin (D) -- has been deliberating especially hard:
"Sec. 221. (a) The Headquarters and Emergency Operations Center Building (Building 21) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is hereby renamed as the Arlen Specter Headquarters and Emergency Operations Center.
(b) The Global Communications Center Building (Building 19) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is hereby renamed as the Thomas R. Harkin Global Communications Center."
Good to see that even in the viciously partisan atmosphere of today's politics, Republicans and Democrats can still work together to carry out the people's business. In the same spirit, I wonder whether the Senate chamber itself should not be renamed the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi United States Senate. With increasingly rare exceptions, just about everything that emerges from the chamber tends to support the Zarqawi view of Iraq -- that this is a psychological war in which the Great Satan is an effete wimp who can be worn down and chased back to his La-Z-Boy recliner in Florida.
Last week, the Republican majority, to their disgrace and with 13 honorable exceptions, passed an amendment calling on the administration to lay out its "plan" for "ending" the war and withdrawing U.S. troops. They effectively signed on to the Democrat framing of the debate: that the only thing that matters is the so-called exit strategy. The only difference between Bill Frist's mushy Republicans and Harry Reid's shameless Democrats is that the latter want to put a firm date on withdrawal, so that Zarqawi's insurgents can schedule an especially big car bomb to coincide with the formal handover of the Great Satan's cojones.
"Exit strategy" is a defeatist's term. The only exit strategy that matters was summed up by George M. Cohan in the song the Doughboys sang as they marched off to the Great War nine decades ago:
"And we won't come back
Till it's over
Over there!"
And that's the timetable, too. If you want it fleshed out a bit, how about this? "The key issue is no longer WMD or even the role of the U.N. The central issue is America's credibility and will to prevail.'' That's Goh Chok Tong speaking in Washington last year. Unfortunately, he's not a U.S. senator, but the prime minister of Singapore, and thus ineligible to run, on the grounds that he's not a citizen of Blowhardistan. What does the Senate's revolting amendment tell America's enemies (Zarqawi) and "friends" (Chirac) about her will to prevail?
Any great power -- never mind the preeminent power of the age -- should be engaged with the world. That means, among other things, that it has a presence in those parts of the globe that are critical to its interest. For two years, the Democrats have assiduously peddled the line that Bush "lied" about Iraq. A slightly less contemptible class of critic has sneered that the administration never had any plans for postwar Iraq, hadn't a clue what it was getting into, couldn't tell the difference between a Sunni and a Shia and a Kurd if they were painted different colors and had neon signs flashing off the top of their heads. If there's anything to this feeble second-guessing, it's that the U.S. government simply didn't know enough about Iraq -- and, in a crude sense, they're right. U.S. taxpayers would be justified, for example, in feeling they're not getting their $44 billion worth from the intelligence community.
But the only way to know the country is to be there on the ground, in some form or other. I'm all for "Iraqification" -- though those Democrats urgently demanding everything be done by the locals will be the first to shriek in horror once the Iraqis start serious score-settling with the foreign insurgents. But, even with full-scale Iraqification, America would be grossly irresponsible if not clinically insane not to maintain some sort of small residual military presence somewhere in the western desert.
Sorry, but that's part of the deal of being the world's hyperpower. To pretend otherwise is an exit strategy from reality. If you're worried about the ''cost,'' stop garrisoning your wealthiest allies -- Germany, Japan et al. -- and thereby absolving them from stepping up to the traditional responsibilities of nationhood.
One expects nothing from the Democrats. Their leaders are men like Jay Rockefeller, Democrat of West Virginia, who in 2002 voted for the war and denounced Saddam Hussein as an "imminent threat" and claimed that Iraq could have nuclear weapons by 2007 if not earlier. Now he says it's Bush who "lied" his way into war with a lot of scary mumbo-jumbo about WMD.
What does Rockefeller believe, really? I know what Bush believes: He thought Saddam should go in 2002 and today he's glad he's gone, as am I. I know what, say, Michael Moore believes: He wanted to leave Saddam in power in 2002, and today he thinks the "insurgents" are the Iraqi version of America's Minutemen. But what do Rockefeller and Reid and Kerry believe deep down? That voting for the war seemed the politically expedient thing to do in 2002 but that they've since done the math and figured that pandering to the moveon.org crowd is where the big bucks are? If Bush is the new Hitler, these small hollow men are the equivalent of those grubby little Nazis whose whining defense was, "I was only obeying orders. I didn't really mean all that strutting tough-guy stuff." And, before they huff, "How dare you question my patriotism?", well, yes, I am questioning your patriotism -- because you're failing to meet the challenge of the times. Thanks to you, Iraq is a quagmire -- not in the Sunni Triangle, where U.S. armed forces are confident and effective, but on the home front, where soft-spined national legislators have turned the war into one almighty Linguini Triangle.
It's easy to laugh at the empty shell of a Jay Rockefeller, bragging about how he schmoozed Bashar Assad, dictator of a terrorist state, about Bush's war intentions. But look at the news from France and ask yourself what that's really about? At heart, it's the failure of Europe's political class to grasp the profound and rapid changes already under way. This Senate is making the same fatal error. I'd advocate throwing the bums out if there were any alternative bums to throw in. But maybe the Thomas R. Harkin Centers for Disease Control could persuade them to be the first deliberative body to donate itself to medical science.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Two Mark Steyn money quotes: "I am questioning your patriotism," and "one almight Linguini Triangle." Yep, the true enemy isn't in the Sunni Triangle, its the sunshine patriots in Washington who are more of insurgents than the insurgents seeking to topple Iraq's first democratic government.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
A bit of irony there.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
WOW! BACK TO THE TOP!
Think there is no one there, however, with enough courage to do even that..
Think there is no one there, however, with enough courage to do even that..
With all due respect, the problem isn't the Senate, it's the stunning inarticulation of the leadership. Bush, Cheney and Frist.
My tagline is often quite explanatory:The idea around which liberalism coheres is that
"NOTHING actually matters but PR."
Sorry, but all you have had to do is listen.
George Bush and his administration have said time and again that we will be in Iraq until the Iraqis can protect themselves. Killing terrorists from all over the world on a daily basis is just a benefit.
Our sacrifice at this point is small compared to the sacrifice of Iraqis. They are fighting for freedom and suffering for it.
Victory is an exit strategy. Don't be overwhelmed by the MSM BS, listen to what GWB is saying.
Steyn ping!
This great piece needs to be sent to every senator. They may impress each other and name buildings after their worthless collegues, but the rest of us are disgusted with them. The country would be better off dumping the institution of the Senate, where good ideas go to die. That branch of the legislative body ceased to function when it became elective, rather than appointed by the states as it was established to be.
Jean Schmidt from Ohio would read it
GWB is saying not enough. He should be out there most every day.
I think he has realized that.
Still, what he says gets little or slanted coverage.
It is heartening though, to finally see his party standing up some also. I think Friday night was a turning point for all conservatives. EIther we stand together or lose this debate on the war to outrageous charges and outright lies.
They may impress each other and name buildings after their worthless colleagues, but the rest of us are disgusted with them.
Reminds me of the way I feel every time I walk past a Howard Metzenbaum Post Office.
Cheers,
OLA
Great article; thanks for posting it!
Pokey ping to an unexerpted Steyn.
Ah, you do know Frist is the SENATE leader, don't you?
Jean Schmidt from Ohio would read it.
Notice how the 'Rat talking points bash Representative Schmidt this weekend. 'Rat talking points are correct on one point: Murtha IS the "most hawkish" 'Rat.
Cheers,
OLA
Sadly, Mark is again right on the mark!
Victor Davis Hanson said essentially this to Chris Mathews the other night. There is no 'disengaging' until there is no more Islamo-nazi culture bent on our annihilation. We fight over there to 'kill them off'... you can't 'kill them off' over HERE!
Saudi Arabia, Iran & Syria, the breeding-cesspools of this bloodthirsty religion are conveniently located nearby. A 'progressive' Iraq means the end for these 5th Century hell-holes.
After Hanson conveyed this, Mathews was utterly dumbfounded... “But sooooooo many Americans are sick of this and...” on & on he blubbered, vacillated, until he simply changed the subject.
Mathews is just a reflection of many in Congress and across America. Asleep-at-the-wheel and on a joyride to hell.
I love it! Washington DC, the Linguini Triangle!!!!
It is a systemic problem throughout the entire party.
Ouch. That's going to leave a mark.
Steyn Ping
Since they're called legislators they, naturally, leglislate. As a matter of fact, they have, over the years, leglislated so much that Americans now have more laws on the books governing their pitiful lives than the total laws of all European nations. This is indeed a record that these legislators can be justly proud.
Now. The best way to deal with this intramuralism is to send these pencil-necks back to the district from which they were elected for at least ten months out of the year.
Give the president, before many of us are dead, the line item veto and house these weasels in barracks when they're in Washington.
No free lunch. They have to eat in messhalls (at their own cost) and have all staffs whittled down to two.
California (which believes it's a separate nation until it comes down to get truck loads of government funding) has the distinction of having over 40,000 laws just to regulate the movement of one's auto down a California road.
And that's got to be "The Most Ridiculous Thing Of The Day!"
"he blubbered, vacillated, until he simply changed the subject."
Well what do you expect from Chrissy Matthews;
when the time came for him to enlist in the armed services during the Viet Nam war;
he enlisted in the Peace Corps instead of the Marine Corps. LOL
Semper Fi,
Kelly
L
I've got to agree with you there, tkat. Why do we have such a hard problem putting together a solid set of talking points and then uniformly putting them out there at every possibility. Dems are good at that and the Pubs just suck at it.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
As in Vietnam... they will turn America on this war... but this time, the enemy will not let us simply cut-and-run.
This time, they will follow us to our burrows.
What does Rockefeller believe, really? I know what Bush believes: He thought Saddam should go in 2002 and today he's glad he's gone, as am I. I know what, say, Michael Moore believes: He wanted to leave Saddam in power in 2002, and today he thinks the "insurgents" are the Iraqi version of America's Minutemen. But what do Rockefeller and Reid and Kerry believe deep down? That voting for the war seemed the politically expedient thing to do in 2002 but that they've since done the math and figured that pandering to the moveon.org crowd is where the big bucks are? If Bush is the new Hitler, these small hollow men are the equivalent of those grubby little Nazis whose whining defense was, "I was only obeying orders. I didn't really mean all that strutting tough-guy stuff." And, before they huff, "How dare you question my patriotism?", well, yes, I am questioning your patriotism -- because you're failing to meet the challenge of the times. Thanks to you, Iraq is a quagmire -- not in the Sunni Triangle, where U.S. armed forces are confident and effective, but on the home front, where soft-spined national legislators have turned the war into one almighty Linguini Triangle.
It's easy to laugh at the empty shell of a Jay Rockefeller, bragging about how he schmoozed Bashar Assad, dictator of a terrorist state, about Bush's war intentions. But look at the news from France and ask yourself what that's really about? At heart, it's the failure of Europe's political class to grasp the profound and rapid changes already under way. This Senate is making the same fatal error. I'd advocate throwing the bums out if there were any alternative bums to throw in. But maybe the Thomas R. Harkin Centers for Disease Control could persuade them to be the first deliberative body to donate itself to medical science.
I just want to savor and commit to memory every single line of this Steyn Masterpiece. Are any of our representatives in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body listening?????? I think it was Lileks or Steyn who said this week that the best approach would be to brick up the door to the Senate!
Damn! Sorry I missed VDH on 'Lardball'. Chrissy must have been beside himself with a guest who could run intellectual rings around him.
Mathews is so warped from his liberal/socialist agenda that he can't 'HEAR' Hanson... Hanson might as well be speaking Russian for all the effect it has on someone like Mathews.
I'm sure if Chrissie had his way... Hanson wouldn't be allowed to speak. He'd just be there to be basted with socialist smears... a curio to be laughed at.
Howard Metzenbaum the protector of the communist party before, during and sometime after WWII. Protecting the enemy is a good way to earn money.
I am sorry, but I totally disagree.
I want the President on the ball, dealing with the responsibility of directing the government and war.
The Media is supposed to keep you informed of PROGRESS when it occurs, and they do not.
Those not guilty do not have the time to respond to every attack.
The President is fighting a war in Iraq, and in the US. He is very busy.
The accomplishments are there for those who want to see.
Victory unfortunately no longer remains an acceptable exit strategy to the American people (or at least the Massachusetts voters or partisan press persons that the media polls) even though it would be at hand if only these same media had not infiltrated our national debate with endless broadcasts of enemy propaganda that they deem to constitute the "truth" despite it contravening reality.
"If Bush is the new Hitler, these small hollow men are the equivalent of those grubby little Nazis whose whining defense was, 'I was only obeying orders. I didn't really mean all that strutting tough-guy stuff.' And, before they huff, 'How dare you question my patriotism?', well, yes, I am questioning your patriotism -- because you're failing to meet the challenge of the times. Thanks to you, Iraq is a quagmire -- not in the Sunni Triangle, where U.S. armed forces are confident and effective, but on the home front, where soft-spined national legislators have turned the war into one almighty Linguini Triangle. "
Example: The enemy keeps harping on the lack of a "plan." We don't have a plan. they want a plan. Yada yada yada. And the great inattentive masses believe them. If the administration was smart, GW would make a "major" national televised speech-- in prime time, not on Thursday morning at 11 am when everybody is at work and can't watch, and the MSM won't review it for the evening news, like he did his last one; complete with visual aids, outlining the "Plan:" Starting with a reminder that 9/11 changed all the equations; mentioning Afghanistan, now well on its way to elective representative government; explianing very briefly and clearly that liberating Iraq and establishing freedom there craters the very center of the terrorists' base of operations; referencing the extended 2002 congressional debate and resolution; the extensive "consultations" with the UN; the gathering of the coalition of the willing; the deposing of Saddam; his capture and the neutralizing of almost all of his lackeys; the turnover of sovereignty in 2004; the vote for the interim assembly; the vote for the Constitution; All of which steps in the plan have been completed successfully, by the way, to be followed by the election of a permanent government next month; the completion of the establishment of adequate Iraqi defense and security forces; the phased withdrawal of American troops, with bases and jurisdictions turned over to the Iraqis as soon as they are able to tackle the demands.
He should take pains to point out, as redundant as it may sound, that contrary to the allegation of "no plan," we have a plan-- we have been working it the last three years. The first eight or nine steps have been successfully completed already, as outlined above, and the last few steps are underway. The goal is within our grasp.
To turn around and quit when we are within sight of home would not only be insane and dangerous, it would dishonor those who have given their lives. To "redeploy" now would mean giving up on the cause for which they died, and that they have died in vain. As President, GW needs to say that he cares too much for those fallen heroes to betray their trust in such a craven fashion, and that no American should expect him to do such a thing, especially now, when we have come so far.
Another great one and he coin another great word, Blowhardistan.
You are quite correct about the institution's present worthlessness, but I don't see any reason why in today's world its original mode of selection would do any better. Although it's hard to see how it could be any worse.
Everything else aside, there should be a law or regulation that prohibits members of the House or Senate to name any taxpayer-funded structure or institution after an active member. It's unethical, it's an unfair campaigning advantage, and frankly, it's just plain tacky.
Excellent post and I agree that Bush could have done a better job on where we are in the war in Iraq. However, he has many times addressed the progress without it being publicized by the MSM.
Also. it is the responsibilty of people that supported the war initially to show support now. The elected conservatives have not spoken forcefully about the blatant lies being circulated, neither have the rank and file. This is what will put them in danger in 2006 of being dumped.
Bush is not running for reelection, knows we are on the right path, and should not have to constantly defend himself when his own base tries to tag this as "his war".
This is our war, and all conservatives had better get back on the band wagon. Not to get reelected, but to save our way of life!
You should take the part of your post about the obvious plan we have and send it as a letter to the editor. As good as that is it would get published. It might not make any difference, but then again it might!
I find it astonishing that the Kerrys and Boxers of the world keep saying that W has no plan. He says over and over what the plan is, the plan is on schedule, they will hit another HUGE milestone in a couple of weeks. How can they say there is no plan and get away with it?
I think it is interesting, as a side note, that Kennedy, Leahy, Harkin, Kerry, Harkin and Byrd voted against this turkey. Guess if they couldn't have it all they didn't want nothing, even though Levin voted FOR the revised amendment.
I would like that. I would like to see a basic restructuring of the US government, including a clipping of its wings, but I don't suppose I'll see it in my lifetime, unless it fails.
Beyond astonishing, more like ludicrous. It shows the immense power the MSM still has.
I think those senators would only settle for immediate withdrawal, and we all know thats not gonna happen now!
Bwahahahaha!!!
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