GOP’s Iraq ambush - Senate Republicans work with Bush to turn tide on war

Looks like the GOP Senate leaders have to defend Bush - so today they call a snap 6 hour debate on Iraq led by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Sen. Jon Kyl. It is expected to last close to six hours and could extend into tomorrow.

http://thehill.com/news/022604/iraq.aspx

GOP’s Iraq ambush - Senate Republicans work with Bush to turn tide on war By Alexander Bolton

Republicans plan to stage a lengthy Senate debate on Iraq today to respond to intensifying Democratic attacks on President Bush over his conduct of the war and its turbulent aftermath.

The debate, is meant to catch the Democrats off-guard, will be led by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). It is expected to last close to six hours and could extend into tomorrow.

The leadership initiative provides further evidence of close tactical coordination with the White House at a time when Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has surged ahead of Bush in the presidential popularity polls.

Senior officials from the Bush-Cheney campaign are planning to meet tomorrow with Senate GOP press secretaries and speechwriters at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters.

One apparent aim of the discussion is to put pressure on Kerry, the Democratic front-runner, who has been characterized by the GOP as flip-flopping on the war. With Howard Dean, the clear-cut antiwar candidate, now out of the race, the GOP wants to put the focus on Kerry and stress his seeming vulnerability on national security issues in general and Iraq in particular.

Another prime goal of the floor discussion is to respond to Democratic charges that the administration manipulated intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify last year’s invasion.<snip>

<snip>“Republicans plan to keep this debate with us over the course of the next few months,” said a GOP leadership aide. “There will probably be a steady drumbeat of events to highlight our position on Iraq and to call attention to Democrats’ flip-flopping.” <snip>

Republicans can only regurgitate talking points. Democrats have facts and working brains.

:-)

Bring it on. What time does the debate start?

and driving the debate. Instead of sitting back and absorbing the blows, we are on the offensive with AWOL, chickenhawks, writing intolerance into the Consitution, deficits, and Iraq.

the Republicans mean "find a new lie to spread here at home" not "do something to actually improve the situation IN Iraq."

theres been a LOT of coverage lately on the outrage of the military families and a large huge demonstration about to occur at Dover AF base and Ft Bragg (details at www.mfso.org and http://www.bringthemhomenow.com)
add to that I was just interviewed by the Washington Post and a scathing article will be in there showing the faces of the families and soldiers and the mothers and fathers and loved ones of the kids over there and the ones who are maimed and dead..and the outrage that theres a news blackout...and the outrage that Bu$h is keeping the truth of the real maimed , wounded, and dead coming out to prop up his poll numbers....keep demanding to every news outlet you know that you DEMAND the coverage of the dead and wounded and the caskets..they know the US public will freak out if they see the truth and they will freak out..they need to freak out and it will be the nail in Bu$h 's coffin concerning his poll numbers if the facts of Iraq and the dead and wounded are on national news...in the US
http://www.channel4.com/news/2004/02/week_2/10_iraq2.html

How much more "Saddam was a bad guy" shit will we have to listen to - the issues are the lies and cooked intelligence and war profiteering.

then refuse to extend the deadline.

Do we detect a pattern here?

TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE! BIGTIME!

Can someone please dust off FDR's & HST's speeches and forward them to the Dems?

Include an extra bit of spinal tissue, too!

WHAT ARE THE REPUKES HIDING?

You support Bush's lies that killed them?
When do you run for reelection?

I remember how their last maneuver went. The big all-nighter.

They're getting very desperate.

and they only have a finger to do it with..the dam will burst.

We are living in the closing minutes of a culture war that the American Taliban has been winning.
'Might Makes Right' is WINNING over 'The Rule of Law. '
I've decided to post this synopsis in all my thread responses:

Georgie's brain is much worse than you think and he's being used for terrible purposes. Here's a British clinical psychologist's researched analysis of the boy king. He interviewed Georgie's family, friends and such and determined that he was abused as a child and developed an 'authoritarian personality,' the root of fascism! Read it and weep for him and us.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1033904,00.html
(So George, how do you feel about your mom and dad?)-CLICK

And this personality is being exploited to further the creation of a Hitlerian Theocracy called ‘Dominionism’, which has been going on in this country for the last thirty years. Read it and wonder what the hell we're in for next now that Eugenics is domestic policy and Imperialism is foreign policy.
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_5160.shtml
(God Bless America, The Constitution is Dead)-CLICK

If you'd like to read the full speech of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia back in the dark ages of January 2002 when he said that 'democracy interferes with the Divine Right of Kings and he's doing something about it,' read this and wonder what century we're living in and just what that Constitution was for, anyway.
http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/scalia.htm
(God's Justice and Ours)-CLICK

How can they get away with it when everyone seems to be pissed off at Georgie and we're supposed to be able to vote the bastard out of our White House? By fixing the electronic voting machines for 'the House.' Read this and decide which country to escape to this fall when Georgie is reinstalled to finish the job he was sent to do-eliminate democracy totally, create a police state, and conquer the world.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
(Diebold, Electonic Voting, and the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy)-CLICK

LATE BREAKING NEWS-FEB. 26 2004
Right now the Dominionists are introducing legislation to replace 'The People' as the authority in our democracy’s Constitution with ‘God’ in a bill called ‘The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004,’ exactly the opposite of what it really is. The legalities of the Christian Theocracy are being used to destroy our laws as if by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

This is not a test! It is absolutely real and happening right now while the media are busy covering gay marriage and Mel Gibson’s bloody crucifixion porn film, ‘The Passion of the Christ.’

“…on February 11 , 2004 Dominionist leaders in congress made their move; they introduced a bill in both houses called The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004. Among the sponsors of the bill are Rep. Robert Aderholt (Alabama), Rep. Michael Pence (Indiana), Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, Sen. Zell Miller (Georgia), Sen. Sam Brownback (Kansas), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (South Carolina).

The House version is H.R. 3799 and the Senate version is S. 2082. The bill limits the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts to hear cases involving “expressions of religious faith by elected or appointed officials.”

Although the claim by its sponsors appears to be that the intention is to prevent the courts from hearing cases involving the Ten Commandments or a Nativity Scene in a public setting from being reviewed, the law is drawn broadly and expressly includes the acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law by an official in his capacity of executing his office.”

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0402/S00172.htm
(The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004)-CLICK

You LIAR

enough said

That would have the Repubs shutting down the debate pretty fucking quick.




LA Weekly: News: Soldier for the Truth

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/13/news-cooper.php

They trashed the constitution of the United States based upon lies and manipulated / faulty intel

That there is enough to impeach

How dare that lame ass draft dodgeing repuke stand in the same room with an American flag and order our boys to defend his oil buddies interest in Iraq

His resignation letter says "We are now approaching a long presidential election campaign, in the course of which issues on which I have strong views will be widely discussed and debated," Perle wrote. "I would not wish those views to be attributed to you or the President at any time, and especially not during a presidential campaign."

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/

So the guy who actually drew up the disaster is bailing out ahead of the flak...and the GOP is trying to pretend there is no disaster...

Will the debate include the Reagan enabling of Hussein to commit the atrocities? I doubt it for, according to Peggy Noonan, referring to a past "geopolitical situation" will not resonate with the people. I remember thinking after hearing her that "this is what defines the difference between those of her ilk and mine". I could not think of a "geopolitical situation" where I would arm someone like Hussein with WMD, then provide target locations on where to use the WMD. To me, it would be like giving Hitler the poison gas, then the address of the Jews to use it on. The argument for the Administration's complicity is strengthened because deliveries continued after Hussein used the WMD as directed. The badness of Hussein is well documented as is the Reagan enabling of Hussein's actions which facilitated this badness. While much will be mentioned on how bad Hussein was, little will be mentioned of the Reagan Administration's complicity or of the fact that last of the great atrocities occurred under Bush I. What will also be ignored is that the US had contained Hussein during the intervening period between Bush I and Bush II. It would be nice if we were to have an honest all inclusive debate on the matter; but, (sigh) that is unlikely.

There is no way to spin Iraq into a positive for Bush*. The argument for invasion and occupation was based on falsehoods. The occupation is a disaster. There was no "exit strategy" and the costs in terms of blood, treasure and international alliances are enormous.

Even the most generous interpretation of the events leaves Bush looking like an incompetent fool. They can have as many staged "debates" as they like and Bush will still come out looking bad.

can control events in this war. They should get real.

This war will be settled in IRAQ and nowhere else.

This war will be settled by the IRAQIS and no one else.

:evilfrown: