Should Democratic leadership come out unequivocally against the Iraq

Invasion and Occupation, the whole sordid enterprise now?

It can't possibly get any worse than this.

Who cares if we lose more elections. It looks like the party is lost for a time now anyway. This will then have stated in the starkest terms that the Republican Party is the party of this war and all the deaths that are its fruit.

Bush and Republican voters must then claim entire responsibility for the consequences of Iraq, even though the will surely try and duck this. Right now they have a little cover, flimsy as it is, to claim "shared" responsibility.

I have come to believe that we should have begun withdrawing yesterday.

Meanwhile, forgive me for going off subject, but as I cannot post topics anymore...

Please read this email I sent to Senator Durbin and tell me what you think

Dear Senator,

Today you were quoted in the Chicago Tribune as saying "President Bush may have received a mandate, but he did not receive a free lunch" The idea that President Bush received a mandate is a Republican talking point that has no business being repeated by the new minority whip.

A mandate does not come from winning the popular vote by three percentage points and the electoral college by 34 votes, the worst an incumbent has done since Harry Truman and Woodrow Wilson, respectively. Democrats should be continually reminding people of that fact.

However, I do appreciate the toughness that you were attempting to convey. I am counting on "you few, you happy few, you band of brothers" in the senate to stand fast against the onslaught of right-wing legislation coming down the pike. Good luck.

Hopefully, it was a "misstatement" on his part? If he reads your letter, he will rethink his words and choose more carefully next time!

Bush is gonna ask for 70 bil more for Iraq. I won't hold my breath--after the beating Kerry took re his votes, who among them would be willing to sacrifice their precious seats?

A great number of Democrats voted for this god-forsaken loser of a war. Many of them will simply tell you that "we've got to stay there and fix things" regardless if 80% of Iraqis hate us and want us gone. After Tuesday's election, I don't think the leadership of this party has the fight left in them anymore.

P.S. It can get much worse, especially if we're gonna destroy Fallujah to save it thus ensuring that we'll piss off even more Iraqis.

dems to * re: "you are either with us or against us"

we are against you.

eom

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

The war is a disaster. We are already defeated. The only question left is how many Americans are going to have to die before we admit it.

I think that must be done.

the fact that the soldiers who have died, "will have died in vain." That's what they did during Vietnam, and it became a very big issue. Of couse, ending the war would save countless American soldiers' lives, but it seems the other side screams louder.

That's what happens when you fight an unwinnable war of choice based on lies.

The more who die, they will not bring back those already dead.

for now in this country. All we have left is to stand on principle for now. Time to start doing it.

(i.e. "If we do things that will make us unpopular with Repubs and 'indeps', we might not win presidential and Senate elections anymore! Oh yeah!")

We need to stand for peace and international cooperation. As long as we try to appeal to the Repugs locked Stepford voters, we will lose. Let them be. We don't want them in our party anyway at this time. Once we win, we can be magnanimous towards them, but for now, we need to stick to the loyal and faithful and not spend a penny on getting any marginals elected.

Our big mistake in the past has been to try to defend marginal folks, like Daschle, who had to kiss Repug butt to get accepted in their home states. We need to put our money behind true Democrats, and our leaders need to come from Blue states. We can slowly try to work back in from the edges until we can collapse the red balloon slowly, but for now, let the south go. Let the ultra-christian middle states go.

Fight to get the edge states, NV, NM (which I believe we have), CO, IA, OH, KY and a few others. Work to eliminate all repugs in the main blue states. It is really stupid of us to have allowed NY, CN and CA to have Repug governors, and it is near criminal that NM has any Repugs in national office at all. I used to live there. It is a wholly democratic state. There is no excuse for Dominici to still be there, and certainly no excuse for that Stepford wife Wilson to be a Rep. Maybe the southern area will always be Repug, since it is run by Texans.

We need to stand on our strengths, which are compassion, support for the working class, support for universal health care, support for peace, openness in government, and all the rest of it.

The more we try to be like Repugs, the more we will lose.

NOW- I,ve seen this movie before (Vietnam)

Show some g*ddamn SPINE, already!

The war was wrong to begin with-- how will staying in Iraq make things better?

Turn over control (and rebuilding funds) to the UN or other disinterested third party. Let them help the Iraqis rebuild their country the way THEY want it-- not the way we want it.

Yes, we may have "broke it", but that in no way qualifies us to fix it. After all, do you call the locksmith to fix your furnace?

Absolutely we should come out unequivocally against it. I mean, it is a corrupt war with obscene numbers of Americans and Iraqis being killed in the name of greed and stubborness, so why not come out and make a firm "we are against the war at all odds" stance?

time to stand up for our values and JUST SAY NO TO THIS FUCKING IMMORAL WAR.

the blood won't be on our hands anymore.

The same ones who roll up or run away?