I'm hoping for some photos with the troops.
Posted on 01/27/2007 12:07:25 AM PST by JohnHuang2
CAMBRIDGE, Md. -- President Bush yesterday rallied House Republicans gathered for their annual retreat, saying the party can unite around his domestic agenda but acknowledging his ideas are overshadowed by fractured positions on the Iraq war. Republican leaders said Mr. Bush explained the importance of success in Iraq without explicitly asking them to support his plan to send 21,500 more troops there. Continues...
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Bush delivers SOTU Address: Dems struggle to bite Bush ankles
No one can command the stage quite like Bush. If you want to know why the haters go sooooooo bananas over Bush, the crisp clarity of the words in this speech and the unsparing rock-'em-sock-'em way he delivers those words are two places you can start. Class. Grace. Poise. Strength. Confidence. Character. Conviction. Charm. Wit. Gravitas -- this is just a short list of the things his clown opponents lack, but Bush's got overflowing reserves of each. It drives the nuts at Dailykos . . . nuts.
The haters in the Press and opposition party have been ragging on Bush non-stop since the day he took office, especially after the November elections when he was declared a "lame duck." Yet, Bush delivered his sixth State of the Union Address with a new Battleground poll showing the 'lame duck' defiantly hanging on to a 61% likability rating and showing just a hair under 50% saying the war in Iraq was worth fighting. Even the usually laughingly skewed French polling firm Ipsos just released a poll showing 58% saying the lame duck is a strong leader and 58% saying he's decisive. The same poll shows 53% personally approve of the 'horribly unpopular' Bush.
It's easy to see why. On Iraq, Bush could've taken the easy way out. The 'Iraq Study Group' gave him the cover he needed to bail. Most of the establishment media and political bigshots expected he'd bail, especially after Rummy's resignation right after the elections. BUSH THROWS RUMMY OVERBOARD: AL-QAEDA MEASURING THE DRAPES IN GREEN ZONE. Even midway into his second term, they still can't quite get a handle on the guy.
After the losercrats finally won an election in November, all the talk was about "exit strategies" and "redeployment" and "drawdown" and "withdrawal" of troops from Iraq. Bush knew ahead of time that's where the conversation would be headed, but he had other plans.
If you follow the conventional wisdom, Bush was supposed to play defense after losing Congress and should've been holding press conferences pleading with the Press about still being "relevant," but if you know anything about Bush, you know he doesn't play that game. He saddled up and went on offense, naming a new CENTCOM chief and a new U.S. commander in Iraq, and ordering a buildup in the Gulf -- a second U.S. aircraft carrier strike group is headed toward the Middle East, to join the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower already there. Outrageously, all done without French approval. Or raising taxes. The hobbling and crippled lame duck then tells Democrats they can take their troop "withdrawal" talk, roll it up into another joint and smoke it. Before the Democrats could figure out what was happening, "Dumbya" had completely flipped the whole debate -- from withdrawal/retreat/drawdown to "troop surge." More troops are going to whack 'em and stack 'em -- go ahead and try to stop me. Overnight, Bush had moved the Democrats' default position from troop withdrawal to troop "caps." From drawdown to status quo. Now Democrats are saying 'stay the course!' Libbies oppose Bush's "surge" on the firm basis that it's Bush's. If you're looking for a textbook case of making your opposition look like complete jackasses, this is it.
"We need a bigger presence in Iraq," said Bush two weeks ago, making the initial announcement. As to time tables for withdrawal, he said: "At this point it would be a mistake. I don't believe we should tie our hands and the hands of the new Iraqi government. We don't want to send a signal to insurgents -- to the terrorists -- that we're going to be out of here at some date certain. I think that would be a green light to go ahead and just bide your time."
Oops, I'm sorry. That wasn't Bush, those were Brigadier General Hillary Clinton's words -- back in February of 2005. (Hat tip: Sean Hannity, on Hannity & Colmes.)
Hillary now says she likes the idea of a cap -- the one with the matching Che Guevara T-shirt.
So in the space of two years, Democrats have gone from urging more troops (so long as Bush was against the idea) to urging an immediate withdrawal (since Bush was allegedly for 'staying the course') to urging Bush to stay the course (so long as Bush is for more troops). The best way for Bush to dissuade Democrats from supporting "caps" on troop levels is to announce he's for caps on troop levels.
But hold on. Democrats say the war in Iraq ain't worth it because there's a civil war there and say we should urgently be invading Darfur because there's a civil war there. Clinton/Babs/Pelosi/Kennedy loved invading Kosovo because there was a civil war there. They loved bombing Bosnia because there was a civil war there. Invading Haiti was good -- civil war there, too. Bombing Serbia -- also good. Come to think of it, did a week ever go by without big neo-con warmonger Bill Clinton invading or bombing some country?
The Democrat response to the President's speech was to wheel out a real-life talking anus -- Sen. James Webb -- presenting the Democrat plan for victory over insomnia. This guy could put Al Gore to sleep.
Other than singing, 'Imagine there's no Bush,' the Democrats' plan for "victory" in Iraq is: A symbolic resolution expressing symbolic opposition to the troop surge and having a bunch of symbolic hearings to symbolically hold the President "accountable," along with symbolic letters of disapproval. And continued funding for Bush's "failed" war -- which really miffs the Democrat activists: The media, Hollywood, George Soros, Cindy Sheehan, Dailykos, and the al-Sadr army.
Addressing the cut-'n'-runners, Bush said this tonight: "It would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned, and our security at risk. Ladies and gentlemen: On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle. So let us find our resolve, and turn events toward victory."
Bush is a good man making the best of a bad situation he inherited, making the tough calls in a war against an enemy that kills for virgins and caliphates. If I had to bet, I'd say history will be kind to this President.
Anyway, that's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"
Have a great weekend, y'all. God bless.
This above quote is at the end of the article.
So much for bipartisanship. Pelosi is bringing the country to the verge of Civil Disorder and hatred.
Our President is a gentleman, focused and unwavering while the Dem Leadership and its RINOs form a body of yelling , screaming jingoistic cowards who have nothing on their minds except electoral self preservation.
This group of Dem and RINO idiots needs to go, and I suspect several of them will go by way of becoming among the unelected, others will go out of the capital feet first in a box, in discredited infamy.
After a truly dismal week of dem-dominated news, this uplifted my weekend. Nice.
I don't know where you were in November, but our president led us into an electoral butt-kicking. We're lucky that we spent the last six years gerrymandering the hell out of our districts or we'd be down 50-60 seats instead of 30. When this sort of defeat happens, you have to expect that the Rockefeller Republicans are going to jump ship and play nice with the new majority to keep their jobs.
Keeping party unity is a bit like running the Mob: You've got it only so long as you're profitable. The minute that you stop being profitable, your agenda sleeps with the fishes.
This group of Dem and RINO idiots needs to go, and I suspect several of them will go by way of becoming among the unelected, others will go out of the capital feet first in a box, in discredited infamy.
Well, the president is currently betting the future of the party on 21,500 fresh troops and one good general. Grasping at straws to put it mildly. Gen. Petraeus seems like the kind of man who might be able to pull a victory out of this mess, but many of his plans are contingent on the political will of the Iraqis. And if we've learned anything over the past few years it's that you can't trust the Iraqis to follow through with anything.
I'm hoping for some photos with the troops.
As always another great essay
Indeed our president is NOT grasping at straws in terms of our nations future. There is more to politics than power. He is showing us the correct way, and if national politics gets in the way, many will pay, some with their political careers, and too many with their young lives. And we will only have gained an hiatus of one or two years, before our economy tanks ( and that of all Western nations which form our trading partners, Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, Canada), and before large scale war becomes necessary, making the current one a lark by comparison.
Grasping at straws? No, our president, understanding the history of fascism, knows that we will have to fight Islamofascism sooner or later, and like the good man he is, he has opted for sooner.He is correct in his analysis. The Dems will eventually be faced with having to want a military victory over Islamofascism, and are essentially mistaken to end the current fight so they can establish a Democrat ring in which to continue this lethal boxing match.
Thanks for this positive comment on the President's words and actions this week. I am old enough to remember when a large portion of politically active people in the US tried to force the rest of us to believe that the threat of communist domination of the world was a) just a figment of our imagination, b) not a big deal, or c) so threatening that fighting back was futile.
Many of these same people, or those they have indoctrinated in our universities, are now supporting Islamofascist activity by resisting any attempt of our government to fight back against it. They have many reasons and one of the stupidest is because it is 'not right' that we should be the sole superpower in the world. Although, rooting for the Islamofascists simply because a Republican is in the White House is a pretty stupid idea also.
Well said - thanks for a shot in the arm.
In the final analysis, this man, and Tony Blair, are made of steel. History will realize that.
The risk is on the part of the Democrats. They are not thinking this through.
Good stuff!
I agree that history will be very kind to this President! Thank you so much for the excellent wrap-up!
james webb needs a good spanking!
i love that foto!
thanks for making my day.
28 years of 2 familes = a dictatorship.
That would be funny if it weren't so true. Thanks for the ping, JH. Excellent as always.
Well spoken my friend!
All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers. ~François Fénelon
Found this little gem killing Nazis in "Call of Duty". Had to get killed for it but WTH?
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