NYT/AP: GOP Senator Warner Wants Democrats in War Debate

[DeepModem Mom]

Warner Wants Dems in War Debate
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 4, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A leading Senate Republican on defense issues, Sen. John Warner, will call on President Bush to solicit privately the opinions of Democrats before forging a new strategy on Iraq.

Warner in an opening statement Tuesday to Robert Gates' confirmation hearing as defense secretary will say there is a ''moral obligation'' for the president to seek out the views of Democrats.

A copy of the Virginia senators prepared remarks were obtained late Monday by The Associated Press....

''After the President has had the opportunity to review these important reports, I respectfully recommend that he privately consult with the bipartisan leadership of the new Congress before making his final decisions,'' Warner said....

While several Republicans, including Warner, have urged a bipartisan approach in crafting a new Iraq policy, Warner's statement is the strongest indication yet that he and perhaps other key Republicans will challenge Bush when it comes to the war....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Gates-Warner.html

[Ragin1]

1. In other words......

We couldn't buy a clue. Got any ideas??

[Born Free]

4. we need scapegoats

within a few months they will have shifted the blame to the democrats and the democrats will be stuck withcleaning up their mess, while they kick and bite and fight and call the democrats names - business as usual for republicans

[David Zephyr]

17. Exactly. To spread the blame for the civil war and mayhem that's to come.

n/t

[bananas]

2. Warner, you shithead,

it does NOT fulfill the moral obligations, you can't just use people up and throw them away:
"Warner later adds: ''To me, this fulfills the moral obligation that our government has to the brave men and women of the armed forces and their families, who have sacrificed so very, very much in this fight for freedom,'' Warner said."

[ryanmuegge]

13. I'm glad I'm not the only one who found that language very condescending.

[bananas]

18. Welcome to DU!

[saracat]

3. odd Warner didn't see consulting with the Democrats as a "moral obligation"

till they became the Majority Party! Where was he before? Hmmm? It isn't a moral issue, it is a political necessity for the Repugs!

[Judi Lynn]

6. It only took them six short years to realize they are true bipartisans at heart.

Almost brings a tear to one's eyes.

[Lasher]

9. Oh, I get it

We should follow Warner's noble example of this week when dealing with Congressional Publicans, right? We shouldn't treat them the way they've treated us for six years, is that it?

It is no big scoop that the majority party in Congress has always found ways of giving the shaft to the minority. But there is a marked difference in the size and the length of the shaft the Republicans have given the Democrats in the past six years. There has been a systematic effort not only to deny the Democrats any kind of power-sharing role in creating or refining legislation but to humiliate them publicly, show them up, pee in their faces. Washington was once a chummy fraternity in which members of both parties golfed together, played in the same pickup basketball games, probably even shared the same mistresses. Now it is a one-party town -- and congressional business is conducted accordingly, as though the half of the country that the Democrats represent simply does not exist.

American government was not designed for one-party rule but for rule by consensus -- so this current batch of Republicans has found a way to work around that product design. They have scuttled both the spirit and the letter of congressional procedure, turning the lawmaking process into a backroom deal, with power concentrated in the hands of a few chiefs behind the scenes. This reduces the legislature to a Belarus-style rubber stamp, where the opposition is just there for show, human pieces of stagecraft -- a fact the Republicans don't even bother to conceal.

"I remember one incident very clearly -- I think it was 2001," says Winslow Wheeler, who served for twenty-two years as a Republican staffer in the Senate. "I was working for Pete Domenici at the time. We were in a Budget Committee hearing and the Democrats were debating what the final result would be. And my boss gets up and he says, 'Why are you saying this? You're not even going to be in the room when the decisions are made.' Just said it right out in the open."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever

[Leilani]

5. I think the nasty comments about Warner

are over the top.

Warner & Levin have worked together in a bipartisan manner for years. I think he's a gentleman, & though you may not agree with his positions, I don't see him in the same way I see many other Republicans.

He held hearings on Abu Garib, tried to do the right thing on the torture issue, even though he was overruled by Bush.

He made it his mission to keep Oliver North out of the Senate.

And I think his position is an honorable one. He's leaving the Armed Services Committee, but I think he thought this was the right thing to do.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. There does seem a reluctance to acknowledge a positive move...

and, instead, to focus on past sins. We have a chance now, I hope, to leave some of the past behind, and look ahead.

[atreides1]

11. But remember this

"They who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it".

I agree let's look forward, but we cannot ignore what has happened in the last 6 years, and how the opinions of the Democrats in Congress and the people who support the Democratic Party was considered
to be treasonous and not even worthy of consideration.

We cannot let our guard down just because of a call for bi-partisanship when the Republicans are not going to be in the majority, Warner would have had more credibility if he had actually practiced what he preached in the last 6 years, but his voting record shows the opposite.

So let's move forward, but we need to watch our backs because the first chance they get the Republicans will put a knife in it.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. Oh, I agree completely. I'm just saying that we can be thankful for small steps forward...

when they happen.

[SquireJons]

19. Agreed, heartily.

I'm a Virginian, and greatly respect John Warner. I don't agree with his stand on many issues and wish he would vote differently most of the time. But I don't fear him, I just disagree with him. There's a huge difference.

He is nothing like the Delay's and Gingrich's of the pugnacious party. He is smart, diplomatic, respects the constitution and our current system of government, and without question greatly loves his country.

How many times has he stood up to BFEE, the neocons and the RNC? If it weren't for him, we'd be dealing with Senator Ollie North, a neutered minority party in the Senate, torture would have been codified and swept under the carpet and civil rights would have been further trampled. Hell, he's one of the best leaders the this country has... except he's not a democrat. I can live with that.

[LynnTheDem]

8. "in this fight for freedom"

I'm so bloody tired of that bullshit.

Even bush has admitted it's the OIL, stupid.

[SpiralHawk]

10. "I didn't ask you that..." - Commander AWOL

"So all you Dems and honored veterans and citizens can just shut up and sit down. I'm the decider, and I decide with my corrupt war-profiteering cronies. End of debate."

- Commander AWOL

[yellowcanine]

14. I give Warner the benefit of the doubt here. He has not been a bomb thrower in the

past so I take him at his word even if he is a Republican.

[underpants]

16. I do too but I have already here that there needs to NOW be "Accountability"

for our Iraq policy. Seriously, guess who I heard say that.

HINT:I was driving in my car getting lunch.

[goforit]

15. And Hillary and Lieberman will say.."send more troops"