So another repuke jumped ship!!

[malaise]

broke ranks, whatever. Where was Gordon Smith before the elections? Too late Gordie. You're just another opportunist.

http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2006/12/08/cq_2019.html
<snip>
Smith offered no specific road map of his own detailing how the administration should proceed, other than suggesting it may be time to withdraw U.S. troops.

“I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day,” he said.

“That is absurd; it may even be criminal,” Smith continued in an emotional speech in which he also expressed regret that he had never served in the military.

Smith’s spokesman R.C. Hammond said the senator did not warn Republican leaders or any other colleagues of his plans to speak on Iraq.

Hammond said Smith returned from the Thanksgiving recess having made up his mind that he could no longer be “a good soldier” and support the Bush administration policy on the war.

[More Than A Feeling]

1. Ah, yes, just in time to run for re-election in '08

Like clockwork.

[malaise]

8. Yep

<snip>
Smith’s Senate seat is up for election in 2008. Should he seek a third term that year, Smith will face an Oregon electorate in which most voters appeared opposed to the war. Bush lost the politically competitive state to Democrat John Kerry by 4 percentage points in 2004, and his job approval rating has plummeted since — standing at just 38 percent, to 61 percent disapproval, in a SurveyUSA poll released Nov. 16.

[madokie]

29. Maybe but he sounded sincere

he was obviously disillusioned with bushco*

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Never too late

for someone to change their mind. It's better then never changing it at all.

[malaise]

3. Valid point

Wolfie discussing this now.

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. Now that doesn't mean

we have to be nice to them though. ;-)

[SeattleGirl]

4. He's considered a moderate conservative, actually.

I don't know that I would assign any devious motives to his speech. People wake up at different times; today may have been his.

[ROakes1019]

10. his son

His son died (I don't remember from what)and I think the deaths of all the service persons in Iraq affected him greatly. Having lost a son myself, I can say this is a life-altering experience. Give the man credit.

[malaise]

12. His son died in Iraq?

Wow! I take back my 'opportunist' comment.

[malaise]

14. Did his son die in Iraq? n/t

[SeattleGirl]

17. I hope my comment didn't sound negative; it wasn't meant that way.

And I did not know that his son had died. I cannot even imagine what that would be like. My condolences to him, and to you, ORakes1019.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

18. His son commited suicide after suffering from depression for

years. After that, gordo puke puke decided that it would be a good idea if the Feds devoted more resources to helping clinically depressed people. Of course before that, he never even thought of funding for any mental illness. gordo puke puke must have thought that everyone owned a frozen food factory & could afford all the private help that they needed.

I feel sorry for his son & sorry for gordo's family, but fuck gordo & the horse he rode in on.

[malaise]

20. So what does that have to do with his

sudden change of heart re Bush and Iraq. Many more depressed soldiers have committed suicide. Sorry - one more rat jumps ship.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

23. His change of heart is because Oregon went blue, blue, blue.

Dems control the State House (for the first time in 16? years?) the State Senate & the Gov's office. Gordo puke puke knows he's in for a tough re-election fight in two years. Gawd, I wish he'd been up this year. He would have had his clock cleaned.

[malaise]

28. No surprise n/t

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

16. gordo puke puke plays the moderate on TV.

He votes with the repugs 95% of the time. He's a hard RWer in moderate clothing. He also said when the Iraqi's topped hussein's statue how glad he was that dumbya hadn't listened to the Washington Post or the New York Times or Hollywood.

[napi21]

5. I saw this on cspan, and they're rerunning it on CNN right now.

I had cspan on in the background when I heard this. I stopped to check the screen to see who that was! I didn't recognize the face, and then glanced down at the bottom of the screen to see it was a PUB!!!!

HEY Shrub! You're almost left with Barney as a supporter, and after you dropped him, I'm not sure you even have him!

[Counciltucky]

6. "A good soldier", eh?

So, Gordon, who's your real allegiances geared toward? The Republican Party, or the United States of America?

[malaise]

9. Election 2008 n/t

[pdxmom]

11. Smith is one of my senators and after his actions regarding ANWR

and his absolute party line votes, I don't believe one word that comes out of his mouth. This is electioneering and reinvention on a grand scale.

Smith was the only Repuke that basically contributed nothing from his war chest this year to help out other Repukes. He knows he's going to be in for a battle, because he broke many of the promises he made in his last campaign. Given the opportunity of hindsight, he'd support the war again, given the chance. He's slime.

[malaise]

13. Did he lose a son in Iraq? n/t

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

19. Gawd, no. gordo's kid's don't fight in wars.

His son committed suicide.

[malaise]

21. Thanks n/t

[Philosoraptor]

15. It has begun.

Like with Nixon, once the republics start in on him, he's fucked.

[lyonn]

24. Yup ---nt

[patricia92243]

22. A journey of 1,000 miles starts with one step. Smith may be the first step in the end of the Bush

era. I believe more and more Republicans will jump ship and go privately to Bush and allow him to either go home - or stay and be impeached. When his own party turns against him, Bush really is toast.

I thinks we are in for some BIG changes in the next couple of weeks.

Bush MAY be able to pull it out of the fire if he cooperates with the ISG 100%, but if he shows any of his arrogance - he's gone. I think the report was marching orders from on high - not just suggestions. I'm not sure Bush has enough sense to know this.

[paulk]

26. well, I've been thinking more along the line of a couple of months

but, overall, I think you're right.

[Dogfur]

25. Just another West Coast Republican Rubberstamp

He and Ensign from Nevada has some 'splainin' to do to for their voting records, although Ensign just won his seat back.

[Nick Fallon]

27. Could've fooled me.

Nice try Sen. Jack Off