Bad Iraq News Worries Some in G.O.P. on '06

NY Times ^ | 8/18/05 | Adam Nagourney and David D. Kirkpatrick

[Crackingham]

"There is just no enthusiasm for this war," said Representative John J. Duncan Jr., a Tennessee Republican who opposes the war. "Nobody is happy about it. It certainly is not going to help Republican candidates, I can tell you that much."

Representative Wayne T. Gilchrest, a Maryland Republican who originally supported the war but has since turned against it, said he had encountered "a lot of Republicans grousing about the situation as a whole and how they have to respond to a lot of questions back home."

"I have been to a lot of funerals," Mr. Gilchrest said.

SNIP

Republicans said they were losing hope that the United States would be effectively out of Iraq - or at least that casualties would stop filling the evening news programs - by the time the Congressional campaigns begin in earnest. Mr. Bush recently declined to set any timetable for withdrawing United States troops.

Grover Norquist, a conservative activist with close ties to the White House and Mr. Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove, said: "If Iraq is in the rearview mirror in the '06 election, the Republicans will do fine. But if it's still in the windshield, there are problems."

SNIP

"Any effort to explain Iraq as 'We are on track and making progress' is nonsense," Newt Gingrich, a Republican who is a former House speaker, said. "The left has a constant drumbeat that this is Vietnam and a bottomless pit. The daily and weekly casualties leave people feeling that things aren't going well."

Republicans, Mr. Gingrich said, should make the case for "blood, sweat and toil" as part of a much larger war against "the irreconcilable wing of Islam."

[WOSG]

What a bunch of weasels.

I have even more respect for Howard Dean than an idiot like this ...



Representative Wayne T. Gilchrest, a Maryland Republican who originally supported the war but has since turned against it, said he had encountered "a lot of Republicans grousing about the situation as a whole and how they have to respond to a lot of questions back home."

...

he can't take the heat, so he caves and turns against it?!?!? Goodness me. Supporting going into a war and *not* supporting WINNING IT is like jumping out of a plane to parachute and deciding not to pull the cord.

If anything we need to be firmer now than ever, to prevent a terrorist victory.

We are winning and we NEED to win.

[trubluolyguy]

The war is not what is going to hurt you idiots come '06.

Border security will destroy you. The underinformed(nice way of saying stupid) will also blame high gas prices on those in charge.

[WOSG]

"Because of the cowardice of these same GOP House members, we do not have Social Security private accounts to look forward to in our future."

FWIW I heard a Congressman talk yesterday and he said the bill will come up after recess.

My guess is it is DOA at the Senate, but House *will* pass personal SS savings accounts.

[Turbo Pig]

You repress too much. Let it out, or you are going to explode:-)

[JohnnyZ]

If you get anxious, stop watching the leftists and believing them.

If your family is in a war zone, you will be anxious until they are safely home.

Or do you find caring for the safety of one's family offensive?

[kms61]

They are mostly quoting people. Do you think the quotes are lies?

---

The people they're quoting are Rino malcontents. I don't believe them, just like I don't believe the lying MSM polls. President Bush is doing fine, and we'll do fine in 2006 as long as we don't let the media demoralize us.

The stakes are high, because if we lose Congress they'll start having committee hearings and dragging Karl Rove and others in front of them to testify. I also wouldn't be surprised if there was a move to impeach the President. But it won't happen, because we're going to gain seats. Count on it. The economy is great--gas prices are nowhere near where they were in the 1980's, counting inflation. And there's no antiwar sentiment except what's being created by the MSM.

[GermanBusiness]

I just signed on again because I was looking at DailyKOS about 3 weeks ago when KOS wrote a huge instruction booklet for his minions to get out and pose as conservatives (including on FR) and specifically use the phrases "when the job is done" and "now that the troops have done their job" in order to infiltrate phrases like "anxious" into the conservative lexicon achieve the leftist goal of protecting Iran and Syria and of making sure that we do NOT get permanent bases in Iraq and the long term influence that would bring.

They did the same thing with Vietnam and they won. It took a coup d'etat in 1974 care of the Washington Post...but they did win. The leftists will stop at nothing. They are now attempting to make the Republicans eat their young.

And like the movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"...we don't know who on FR is really a DailyKOS regular or not.

Personally, I could not be so slimey as to pose as a KOSsite on their site and pretend I am one of them while I infiltrate certain phraseologies into the mix. I couldn't be such a liar.

[MikeA]

FWIW I heard a Congressman talk yesterday and he said the bill will come up after recess.

Good news if true, but I'll believe it when I see it. It may come up as you say, but I bet enough cowardly "run for cover" Republicans will refuse to support it to save their own hides, you know, rather than actually go and sell it to their constiuents on its merits.

[ArmyTeach]

Assuming this is true, it's because Republicans, including the President, have failed to make the case! The President needs to come out like an FDR, inform the nation, inspire the people and bring them into active committment. Instead, we are exposed the the daily negative drumbeat of the media. Our elected representatives, top down, need to get off the hump of the camel and do the hard work.

[JohnnyZ]

we don't know who on FR is really a DailyKOS regular or not.

Well you're an admitted regular reader of that site, for one.

[GermanBusiness]

[Has it occurred to you that major military action before the Iraqis vote on their constitution might not be all that helpful?]

Thanx! Good point. Now I am less "anxious" about why we are not yet liberating Iran from their dictators.

The Iraqi timetable is important. Every milestone puts the nail in the coffin of the Islamists on both the Sunni and Shiite side. I would just love to see the Iranian threat removed soon.

[GermanBusiness]

[Or do you find caring for the safety of one's family offensive?]

Yes, I do. This is exactly what the DailyKOS instructions tell people to say on FR. I read that site once every 3 weeks. These people are on a mission and they wouldn't mind establishing "credentials" at FR while driving home the insane idea that this war is about the "safety" of our troops instead of the safety of everyone else

If you are on a leftist TV station helping the liberals win with the BS idea that a military is not to be used during a major war to win...that your kid is more important than the radioactive kids that will be falling dead all around us if your kid doesn't parachute into a foreign place on time if necessary.

I wonder if FR a month from now won't be overrun with people from DailyKOS and DU who have fooled the moderators and carry the day by pretending to be conservative on other points in order to steadily change the "vocabulary" on the war and its legacy.

[Borges]

You're taking this to a more general area of discussion. My only concern was with the specific frame of mind of the people quoted. Not what the NYT writer who wrote the article thinks about them or the Party as a whole on various other issues.

[hotsteppa]

I am really getting disappointed in a lot of freepers who seem to be throwing in the towel. Damn, the Jihadist maybe right after all, we definately don't have the stomach for a fight.

Shaking head in shame.

[hotsteppa]

Hasn't the President been on the tube many times explaining what this fight is all about? What more do u want the man to do. How is he to control the biased news media who don't listen or analyze anything he says, but just automatically go into anti-bush mode. Come one people, don't be suckers. Stand your ground and continue your support.

Peace

[JohnnyZ]

JohnnyZ: [Or do you find caring for the safety of one's family offensive?]

REPLY: Yes, I do.

Then you are a leftist nutjob as I suspected. If you don't understand caring for our Armed Forces then you are no conservative -- you are barely human.

[JohnnyZ]

This is exactly what the DailyKOS instructions tell people to say on FR. I read that site once every 3 weeks.

Isn't it about time you went back there? And stayed there?

[Chickenhawk Warmonger]

I agree with you! This article in the NYT comes out 3 days after their article about concerns about not reporting the full story in Iraq. The information is out there - the Dept of Defense releases updates daily. The Associated Press actually admitted that they had not heard of most of the positives in Iraq - schools, water, electricity, etc.

Go over to this post...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1464300/posts

and see what the AP and other newspaper editors said about reporting the positives...

Maxine Waters actually said that broadcasting the good news from Iraq would dishonor the soldiers that died in the war.

Until WE demand truth and honesty from the media, we're gonna keep getting the same crap!

[LetsRok]

What bad Iraq news? 1. We won the war in Afghanistan
2. We won the war in Iraq
3. We are now fighting terrorisim NOT on American soil.


As I see it, we are 3-0.

[TChris]

This attitude generally stems from:

1. An ignorance of the history of war and their casualty rates and,
2. A complete lack of perspective on death rates for troops in Iraq vs. even civillian death rates in the U.S. and,
3. A contemptable devaluation of the priceless gifts of liberty and self-determination which these knotheads so readily take for granted.

Liberty, sir, comes at a very high price! Your lack of enthusiasm for the war underscores either your utter lack of appreciation for that liberty or your selfish desire of denying it to those born outside the USA.