Bush Tries to Tone Down High-Pitched Debate on Iraq (Praises Murtha)

a little late on the draw!


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/20/AR2005112001167_pf.html
Bush Tries to Tone Down High-Pitched Debate on Iraq

President Praises Rep. Murtha and Says 'People Should Feel Comfortable' Expressing Opinions on the War

By Peter Baker and David Brown

Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, November 21, 2005; A04

BEIJING, Nov. 20 -- After more than a week of increasingly harsh rhetoric, President Bush sought Sunday to tone down the raging debate on Iraq and offered an olive branch to the pro-military Democratic lawmaker condemned by the White House last week for turning against the war.

Summoning reporters between meetings with Chinese leaders here, Bush said he welcomed the political battle over the war as a "worthy debate" and rejected attempts to question the patriotism of those who oppose it. He also said he did not want the bitter conflict to degenerate into a partisan showdown.

"People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about Iraq," the president said. "I heard somebody say, well, maybe so-and-so is not patriotic because they disagree with my position. I totally reject that thought. This is not an issue of who's patriot and who's not patriotic. It's an issue of an honest, open debate about the way forward in Iraq."

Without being asked, Bush praised Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a decorated Vietnam War veteran and hawkish legislator who last week declared that the Iraq situation had become so bad that the United States needs to immediately withdraw troops.

"Congressman Murtha is a fine man, a good man, who served our country with honor and distinction as a Marine in Vietnam and as a United States congressman," Bush said. "He is a strong supporter of the United States military. And I know the decision to call for an immediate withdrawal of our troops by Congressman Murtha was done in a careful and thoughtful way. I disagree with his position."
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© 2005 The Washington Post Company

of last week?

.......The Bush team accused congressional Democrats of hypocrisy for accusing him of skewing prewar intelligence because the same Democrats also had thought Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction before the invasion in March 2003. In questioning the justification for the war, Bush and his lieutenants said, the Democrats were undermining troop morale and sending a message of weakness to the enemy.

Perhaps the most striking moment came after Murtha's proposal. The White House assailed Murtha, likening him to liberal maverick filmmaker Michael Moore, characterizing him as a newfound ally of the "extreme liberal wing" of his party and accusing him of wanting to "surrender to the terrorists."

Such a direct attack on a member of Congress is more typically delivered by the Republican National Committee, not on White House stationery, and the tone only grew angrier the next day on the House floor when a freshman Republican suggested Murtha was a coward.

Bush appeared to be trying to ratchet back the dialogue to a more civil plane Sunday. "This is a debate worthy of our country," he said. "It's an important debate. It does not have to be a partisan issue. Fine Democrats like Senator Joe Lieberman share the view that we must prevail in Iraq.".......

ail in Iraq"---says Jr.

I smell blood. ATTACK!

If everyone thinks that this war is wrong and Pres. Bush lied to us, why did only three congressmen vote to pull out of Iraq? The message doesn't follow the votes very well...

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...we're content to let your side cut your own throats for the time being. You've been doing a great job of it for months now.

http://canofun.com/blog/ where you can see the video's. Educate yourself.

out of his mind now? i think it's completely finished for the administration... stick a fork in them, Dems... stick multiple forks in them. they're done.

The Dems need to stand united and fight back hard. I still hope Fitzgerald will indict Rove.

coming from him.

really, 5 years and it was the only sane thing he's ever said. I think he's crazy.

Attack the honest marine not polling well.

(open honest debate about Iraq....bwahhhhhh)

...Luntz is easily THEE creepiest GOP shill.

...Crashcart continues the attacks here at home.

:eyes: