Moderates Talk the Talk (but do not do the walk)

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/22/AR2007092201027.html?hpid=topnews

Moderates Talk the Talk

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 23, 2007; Page A06

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and her band of Senate moderates chatted amiably last weekend as they sat knee to knee in an armored van for a half-hour trip up a desert mountain to meet with Kurdistan President Mustafa Barzani.

They fretted Sunday night over their just-ended meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as their Army Strykers slowly made their way to a Baghdad market. And before their military 737 landed at Andrews Air Force Base, bringing them home in pre-dawn darkness Monday, Snowe and Democratic moderates Max Baucus (Mont.), Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Ken Salazar (Colo.) talked intensely for two hours, struggling to find a bipartisan way to shift course in Iraq over omelets, waffles and bacon.


In Baghdad, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe meets with Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Summers. She went to Iraq last weekend to meet with other service members from Maine, U.S. commanders and Iraqi government officials.
In Baghdad, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe meets with Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Summers. She went to Iraq last weekend to meet with other service members from Maine, U.S. commanders and Iraqi government officials. (Courtesy Sen. Olympia J. Snowe)
In Their Own Words

Listen to the four lawmakers discuss their views on the Iraq war:
Excerpt of Rep. Boren's Interview

Excerpt of Rep. Schakowsky's Interview

Excerpt of Sen. Isakson's Interview

Excerpt of Sen. Snowe's Interview

But for all that talk, the group of Senate moderates who had promised to find the 60 votes needed to change course in Iraq seems no closer to that goal, even as the latest debate on the war winds to a close this week.

"If we go through this repetitive process with no resolution, it will be a major letdown to the American people," Snowe warned her colleagues during a Wednesday morning meeting of the Senate centrists. "It will erode the public's confidence in our ability to address major issues, especially on Iraq.

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1. there is no such thing as a moderate. n/t