Dean Says Democrats Will End Iraq Problem (ABC)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

July 29, 2006 — As he campaigned for Republicans running for Congress in West Virginia, President George W. Bush confidently predicted that his party will retain control of Congress — but with his approval ratings mired in the 30s, gas prices topping $3, war spreading in the Middle East and Iraq in turmoil, some in the GOP are nervous.

"Realistic Republicans know the storm is coming," said Nathan Gonzales, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report. "The question is: How big is it going to be, and can they brace themselves enough to keep the majorities in the House and Senate?"

But even with the weakness of President Bush and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill, Democrats still face problems of perception among voters that could prevent them from taking advantage of the golden opportunity this year's elections afford. For instance, an ABC News poll taken last month found that 71 percent of Americans do not think the Democrats have a clear plan on what to do about Iraq.

Democratic leaders, however, say that they would bring an end to the U.S. presence in the war-torn nation.

more: http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/story?id=2251076&page=1

[Joanie Baloney]

1. Great line

I loved this line:

"In history, almost all presidents have had a six year itch," said Larry Sabato, a professor at the University of Virginia. "The way things are going, Bush is going to need some tough actin' Tinactin to fight that itch."

Scratch, Bush....scratch!!

:rofl:

[Cha]

2. THis is Just Stupid!

"Although Dean said Democrats would do a better job with Iraq, the public now favors Republicans over Democrats in handling terrorism by seven percentage points, according to the ABC poll."

WHen the Fuck did 9/11 happen? On repuke watch? You Betcha!

What have they done to secure our nuke plants, our ports, our anything? NADA!

What have the repukes done for the freakin' "war on terra"? Shoved us into a misbegotten war on Iraq and SURGED the number of TERRORISTS IN THE WORLD? YOU BETCHA!

And,no, I'm not yelling..I'm exclaiming!

[davidwparker]

3. That's interesting because recent polls (if you believe them) have said

the country want the Dems in charge again. Polls are just one way the media gets the sheep heading in the right direction again (toward facism).

[Cha]

4. This is true about the sheeples! I've just seen

one too many reports on the country thinking the repukes are "better than Dems on the war on terra"!

[madfloridian]

24. Most polls show Bush not trusted on Iraq either.

I did not save them. Al Rodgers had two up at Kos yesterday.

[Alacrat]

5. What's the plan?

How do we get out of this mess?

[badgervan]

6. Need For Strong and Unwavering Dem Spokespeople

Reid and Pelosi, though well-meaning, are simply terrible public speakers, who not only come across as ineffectual - they, in too many cases, are. We need much stronger, forceful leaders/spokesfolk; dems who will not back down an inch, and will be constantly stressing the dem position on getting the hell out of the places where we should not be - while increasing EFFECTIVE security on the home front. No more nation building, no more Iraq, no more middle east U.S. presence at all.
I nominate John Murtha, Barack Obama, Paul Hackett ( yep, Paul Hackett. Perfect. ), or any of the new crop of military vet dem candidates making their way onto the national stage. Pelosi and Reid are killing us. It is a PR/communications/appearance-based world, like it or not. We can at least fight fire with fire. Strength=votes and trust.

[Auntie Bush]

7. We NEED General Wesley CLARK to lead us out of this mess and

speak for the Dems with knowledge, authority and leadership. We need to have a meeting with all the Dems and nominate him as our official leader and follow him through thick and thin. He won't let us down. If we did that we could finally be a united Democratic party with a plan.

[ECH1969]

8. Poll: Dems not favored on Iraq

A substantial majority of U.S. voters, 71 percent, say they think Democrats do not have a clear plan on the U.S. occupation of Iraq, an ABC News poll found.

Appearing on ABC`s 'Good Morning America Weekend Edition' Saturday, Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said the party would do a better job on Iraq than the Republicans under President George W. Bush.

'The first thing I think we would do is have a real strategy for how to get out of Iraq,' said Dean. 'We don`t need a president who says they`re going to leave this to the next president. That`s not leadership. It`s the kind of thing that got us in there in the first place with no plan.'

The public favors Republicans over Democrats to handle terrorism by 7 percent, the ABC poll found.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/article_1185140.php/Poll_Dems_not_favored_on_Iraq
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It is far past time for a unified democratic message on Iraq.

[InaneAnanity]

9. No matter what we do

The media will always highlight Lieberman's position on Iraq as evidence for disagreement.

[mnhtnbb]

10. And Bush does have a clear plan? Why don't they print that!

His plan consists of "stay the course" until I can get the heck out of office and hand over this mess to somebody else.

[Monkeyman]

17. Bush plan just like Midland oil broke

[bullimiami]

11. hey abc. get out of bush's butt already.

[BeatleBoot]

12. Hugely Shitty Numbers For The Republicans

The party in power is only ahead by 7% with their "Hallmark Issue"?

I'd rather be a Democrat with those numbers than a Republican.

[snappyturtle]

13. Far be it from me to question a poll......

but this doesn't "smell" right! I'd really like to see the wording of the poll question, the size of the sample and the demographics.......this is poop.....the poll,that is.

[Webster Green]

14. Fuck shit up beyond repair, then blame the dems for no plan to fix..

Fuck the polls, fuck the media.

Time to take our country back from these assholes and put them all on trial, including the media whores and the phony-baloney, chimp-licking pollsters.

[onehandle]

15. Bush and his klan sat with their heads up their asses for 9 months.

Until 9/11 happened, even though they were clearly warned.

Since then they've made things worse.

We, the Americans, are morons.

[kenny blankenship]

16. Excuse me folks, but the Democrats are asking America to give them control

over Congress this Nov. and the war in Iraq is one of the top reasons voters are dissatisfied with the Republicans--it's probably number one on the list.
What IS the Democrats' plan? (and please, for your sake, don't direct me to some lameass DNC boilerplate about "doing it better")

If there even is a plan, it sure as hell doesn't have a lot of unified support behind it within the Party. If the electorate isn't sure what the Democrats would do that's any different from what the Bush/Republican monopoly is doing now, or isn't convinced that the Democratic policy would lead to a better result,(supposing there were a distinct plan and position of which the public was aware) the fault for that belongs with the Democrats for failing to sell their policy to the public--or a prior failure to select a policy to sell. Republicans have chanted "Democrats have no plan" for months. They do it because, absent a uniquely Democratic plan, the charge will stick (it's basically true) and their position sucks so bad that this slogan is the best they have.

Seems to me the Democrats have no better plan this election beyond hoping the public is so fed up with Bush that they vote for Democrats to punish Bush and his party. I submit they have no Iraq policy to sell because for the previous three years they've refused to formulate any such policy (beyond blending into the Imperialist background). Without a plan--a record of proposing a distinct alternative--Democrats have a difficult time saying trust us, we have a way out of this Iraq mess. They can't even say (unless they're on the left wing of the party) we told you so. Hoping it will all somehow work out for us may translate to electoral gains this once, but trusting to luck is no plan for what to do about Iraq. Their position sucks so bad that the best they have is: Trust us, we're not George Bush or his party!

[silverojo]

19. I completely agree

The American people want to hear something more concrete than "Bush screwed up". We KNOW he screwed up. What people want to know is how the Dems will undo the damage.

[Herkdrvr]

22. Agreed

The Democratic Party needs to develop a comprehensive plan to conclude the Iraq situation. Pulling out 100% of the troops tomorrow is not a realistic plan. Saying "we're not GW Bush" is not a plan at all.

Realistically, we're going to have to accept the fact that the US will be involved to some degree in that country for a while, even if it's in a very limited form. Some Democrats simply will not accept that...they are way too willing to just pull out all the stops and if Iraq implodes, just blame it on Bush. That's not particularly fair to the Iraqi populace, most of whom simply wants a stable country.

I feel that business-as-usual, as it's gone on now for 2-3 years, isn't going to conclude this conflict. "Sticking it out" is simply going to push us to the point of diminishing returns...very little progress for high cost. However, just plain cut-and-running isn't a good idea either.

I don't have the answer for this one. But someone needs to figure it out, and the DNC needs to embrace a realistic plan that acknowledges we are in fact involved, and that it is in fact a war, and you just don't walk away from things you start like that.

I've been to Iraq many times, and I know the country like my backyard...I've flown over just about every bit of it, hundreds of times. Although I would NEVER live there (we are blessed...they are not), those people do need our support. Start with replacing military actions with more social investment. The security situation will work itself out.

[flaminbats]

23. public approval is the main factor in midterm elections..

sure Democrats don't have a unified message for Iraq, but people who vote against Congressional incumbents do so because they are enraged at the President. IMO..a unified message would allow incumbent Democrats to win more of the votes of those who blame Bush for this quagmire in Iraq, while enabling Democrats who are running again Republican incumbents to label them as thoughtless rubber-stamps for Bush.

"Whatever happens to Congress in 2006 will almost certainly impact who wins the White House in 2008, and some analysts believe Republicans would do better by losing this year."

The line above makes me laugh. What these "analysts" fail to consider is what impeachment hearings, along with other the actions a Democratic Congress can take, would have on public opinion between now and 2008!

[Doctor_J]

18. Nothing like a propaganda onslaught to manufacture consent

There's a special place in hell waiting for Limpballs and the rest of the MSM.

[Barkley]

20. Murtha's plan sounds pretty clear to me

REDPLOY IMMEDIATELY

[ShockediSay]

21. Best Answer: Redeploy w/ good military inteligence & reduce

unnecessary US troop casualties.

#1 BushCo wouldn't know a thing about the real military, since they're all a bunch of chickenhawks

#2 BushCo wouldn't know inteligence if it wore a name tag and bit'em in the ass; they're all a bunch of idealogues

[josh nelson]

25. may be wishful thinking...

But I hope and believe that Dean is correct on this. One this is for sure, the republicans aren't going to do anything about it.

[Rambis]

26. Why can't we...

make a huge push to give the troops everything they need. Get them body armour, get the humvee armored up, quit cutting their bennies when they get home. Get them help with financial packages so they don't lose homes while fighting abroad. All it takes is money and we are spending a arse pile of it now what is another couple of billion to do what is right by the troops while we have to be there?
I wish Kerry would have been right during the campaign and it was only 200 billion.

[KKKarl is an idiot]

27. I agree we need a plan

Lets get the Halibrutons out of Iraq. Our number one priority is to develop Iraqi military & police. This has not been going on quick enough.

Lets give the troops all they need to ensure a successful campaign. If it means increasing our troop levels for a short period to end the war sooner then so be it. Lets be accountable to the people.

Tell them in plain English what it is going to end our stay as soon as possible. It is probably going to take more money. We need a budget for Iraq. Not this sham by the president.

No more leaving it to the cabinet to decide what is going to happen next in Iraq. Congress needs to be involved in more of the decision making.

Oversight hearings need to start immediately on the what went wrong In Iraq? Who is to blame for faulty intelligence? Why did Halliburton get so many contracts? etc.

[Straight Shooter]

28. You can't formulate a plan until you know everything you need to know.

That's the problem. The bush administration has hidden so much from Congress, from the American people, from the whole world, how the hell can the Dems come up with any kind of cogent plan? We don't have all the facts in front of us (still don't know all the facts about 9/11), and it would be imprudent and unwise to set forth a plan only to have it become a useless agenda as soon as we know precisely what we're dealing with.

We need to get together face-to-face in genuine talks with other world leaders, not with an arrogant condescending superior military in-your-face attitude. We need true intelligence from on the ground, not some slippery "Curveball" or Chalabi intelligence or stovepiped intelligence like the bush administration uses.

Let's say you're looking at a rundown house from the outside. Are you honestly going to tell somebody what the house needs in the way of refurbishment until you can get to the inside and give it first-hand scrutiny? Of course not. Same thing with Iraq. We need to get into the inside of the intelligence and then we'll give them a plan. And it won't be some stupid useless rhetorical slogan like "stay the course."

Plan, my a**. Don't talk to me about wanting to see our damn plan, you Repubs.