Republican rebellion worsens against Iraq [Lamar Alexander & Judd Gregg]

FT ^ | July 8 2007

[beckysueb]

Looks like President Bush is the only one left who actually wants to protect this bunch of ungrateful people.

[bnelson44]

Asked whether he could support an amendment proposed by Senator Ken Salazar, Democrat of Colorado, that would put in legislative language the Iraq Study Group’s call for a withdrawal of combat units by March 31, 2008, Mr. Lugar said it was “worthy of a lot of discussion.”

John Hamre, the president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who was headed to Baghdad over the weekend to begin preparing another Congressionally mandated report, an independent assessment of the Iraqi military, said, “The political power of Salazar’s amendment is its ambiguity.”

“What does it mean?” Mr. Hamre asked. “That we will immediately implement all 76 provisions? I doubt it. It’s a way to give political cover.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/09/washington/09prexy.html?pagewanted=2

[BillyBoy]

>> We'll see. After more senate defections and/or a few votes, you'll be racing about drooling and gnashing your teeth over the perfidy of "the traitors". Then you'll progress to your Chicken Little phase. We've seen it before. <<

So true. I've been on FR for 8 years, and I've heard of this before. Alot of these freepers are always ranting and raving about how politicians have the "gall" not to take them seriously when they scream "treason" and vow to vote "all of them" out of office. Here's why:

===================================================== FREEPERS IN '99: "I can't believe these RINO TRATIORS would let Clinton off the hook!!! This is INEXCUSIBLE!!! I will NEVER, EVER AGAIN support ANY Republican who voted to save Clinton's presidency!! I don't care WHO they are!! These people have DESTROYED our Republic and are UNFIT to hold any office of trust again!!"
FREEPERS DURING THE NEXT ELECTION: "Hey, that Congressman Peter King guy sounds really good the way he supports our troops and defends OUR President. He voted the wrong way on impeachment, but who cares? That's ancient history"

FREEPERS IN '02: "I can't believe these RINO TRATIORS would destroy FREEDOM OF SPEECH by passing McCain-Feingold!!! This is INEXCUSIBLE!!! I will NEVER, EVER AGAIN support ANY Republican who buddies up with McCain for this one!! I don't care WHO they are!! These people have DESTROYED our Republic and are UNFIT to hold any office of trust again!!"
FREEPERS DURING THE NEXT ELECTION: "Hey, Senator Fred Thompson sounds REALLY good, he's solid on pro-life, pro-gun, and the WOT. We need to draft this guy for President, he looks like a winner! He voted the wrong way on McCain-Feingold, but who cares? That's ancient history"

FREEPERS IN '06: "I can't believe these RINO TRATIORS would support AMNESTY for ILLEGAL ALIENS!!! This is INEXCUSIBLE!!! I will NEVER, EVER AGAIN support ANY Senator who helped the Dems pass this amnesty bill out of the Senate !! I don't care WHO they are!! These people have DESTROYED our Republic and are UNFIT to hold any office of trust again!!"
FREEPERS DURING THE NEXT ELECTION: "Hey guys, we really need to get behind Senators Murkowski and Lieberman because ONLY they can WIN their states. They agree with Bush on the WOT on that's more important than ANYTHING ELSE. If we get behind another conservative candidate, the GOP is DOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED in those states and the DEMOCRAT will win that state! Sure, Liberman and Murcowski voted to give millions of illegal aliens amnesty, but who cares? It's mot like they're gonna try another amnesty bill in 2007..."

FREEPERS IN '07: "I can't believe these RINO TRATIORS would support a CUT-AND-RUN plan out of Iraq!!! This is INEXCUSIBLE!!! I will NEVER, EVER AGAIN support ANY Senator who caved and ruined our chances of victory there!!! I don't care WHO they are!! These people have DESTROYED our Republic and are UNFIT to hold any office of trust again!!"
FREEPERS DURING THE NEXT ELECTION: Wanna venture a guess what will happen?

[beckysueb]

You’ve got them down pat!

[George W. Bush]

LOL. You're so good at that, you could be a chairman of the RNC.

They're not so much for any particular Republican or conservative soup de Jour, they're mostly just ag'in them durned Dimmycrats.

Well, 2008 might be different. The worst of that bunch got banned for supporting Giuliani. So you never know, you may see a different tone and dynamic emerge here in 2008.

[Westbrook]

> Oh! You must be referring to Repellicans!!!

Yes, those, too.
:)

[Jim Noble]

The question we have to ask ourselves. Are we going to stand by and have our soldiers and our country drug down to defeat and leave Iraq knowing Al Qaeda and Iranian agents (not much difference between the two) are operating in the country and is receiving weapons from Iran.

Yes, apparantly we are.

What we should be doing is taking the war to Iran. If the President has any self respect left for himself and any love for his country that is what he will do.

President Bush has no authority to make war on Iran, and if he does so (which he won't), he will be impeached and removed from office in about five minutes.

Let a nuke go off in one of our cities and the civil war will be in our streets not in the middle east before the response is done.

How do you see such a civil war unfolding?

[meema]

I think when Bush said, "I believe in the heart of every human being is the desire to be free", that this sentiment has been proven wrong. I think muslims want to follow their radical ideology to either our destruction or their destruction. Our nations inability to understand this one fact could be the undoing of the west. Great Britain, France, GErmany will someday in the next 20-30 years me dominated by islamofascists.

Unfortunately, you are absolutely right. Bush was/is so wrong.

We will never extricate ourselves with a conversion of Iraq muslims to Jeffersonian democracy

[FreedomNeocon]

It isn’t hard to spot ‘seminar posters’ mr. newbie... go invest in an old account, and let it age for a while before you try to ‘make use’ of it like the “smart ones” do.

[Maelstorm]

I don’t think anything is apparent other than the left has succeeded in wearing down the American people more so than the war has.

The President does have the authority to attack Iran. It doesn’t mean the Congress will support him but Iran killing our soldiers indiscriminately through their agents and providing weapons to insurgents and controlling the region is something within our interest to prevent if we really care about dealing with terrorism. Maybe we really don’t.

I believe that if this country is attacked seriously such as with a nuclear weapon that the fracture between the left and right will split this nation. There will not be any tolerance left for the individuals that take such pleasure in dragging our country down to defeat. It may not happen but the insanity of the left has severely wounded this great nation and its ability to defend itself and that wounding begs a response.

[ridge]

I don't get Lamar Alexander's about-face on the surge. Why?

Is Lamar's decision because of the Presidential election!? Has Lamar adopted this new position to help his friend(s) in the Republican nomination process? This change by Lamar is really strange and really stinks.