A Pathetic Congress
From Counterpunch
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs11192005.html
"As I watched the pathetic body we call Congress debate this resolution Friday night, I was reminded of the defense argument in the trial of the LA police accused of beating Rodney King back in 1991. In those trials, the jury was told to ignore what they (and much of the known world) saw on the videotapes of the beating. Instead of trusting their senses, they were told by the cops' defense team to believe what the cops were saying.
On the night of November 18, 2005, the Democrats were like those cops' lawyers as they told the world that the resolution demanding a US withdrawal from Iraq wasn't what it said it was. Don't believe the words that are on the paper, they told us, believe what we want you to believe, no matter how much it doesn't jibe with what you see."
Read More HERE
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs11192005.html
"As I watched the pathetic body we call Congress debate this resolution Friday night, I was reminded of the defense argument in the trial of the LA police accused of beating Rodney King back in 1991. In those trials, the jury was told to ignore what they (and much of the known world) saw on the videotapes of the beating. Instead of trusting their senses, they were told by the cops' defense team to believe what the cops were saying.
On the night of November 18, 2005, the Democrats were like those cops' lawyers as they told the world that the resolution demanding a US withdrawal from Iraq wasn't what it said it was. Don't believe the words that are on the paper, they told us, believe what we want you to believe, no matter how much it doesn't jibe with what you see."
Read More HERE
posted by Nadir at 12:31 AM
2 Comments:
Sympathetic Vibrations
By Chris Cillizza and Peter Slevin
Sunday, November 27, 2005; A04
Democrats fumed last week at Vice President Cheney's suggestion that criticism of the administration's war policies was itself becoming a hindrance to the war effort. But a new poll indicates most Americans are sympathetic to Cheney's point.
Seventy percent of people surveyed said that criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale -- with 44 percent saying morale is hurt "a lot," according to a poll taken by RT Strategies. Even self-identified Democrats agree: 55 percent believe criticism hurts morale, while 21 percent say it helps morale.
The results surely will rankle many Democrats, who argue that it is patriotic and supportive of the troops to call attention to what they believe are deep flaws in President Bush's Iraq strategy. But the survey itself cannot be dismissed as a partisan attack. The RTs in RT Strategies are Thomas Riehle, a Democrat, and Lance Tarrance, a veteran GOP pollster.
Their poll also indicates many Americans are skeptical of Democratic complaints about the war. Just three of 10 adults accept that Democrats are leveling criticism because they believe this will help U.S. efforts in Iraq. A majority believes the motive is really to "gain a partisan political advantage."
This poll is one of the few pieces of supportive news the administration has had lately on Iraq. Most surveys have shown significant majorities believe it was a mistake to go to war, as well as rising sentiment that Bush misled Americans in making the case for it.
Even so, there is still support for Bush's policy going forward. A plurality, 49 percent, believe that troops should come home only when the Iraqi government can provide for its own security, while 16 percent support immediate withdrawal, regardless of the circumstances.
The Washington Times' Jennifer Harper and the Los Angeles Times' Max Boot both note the result of another poll, this one by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which shows that the general public is considerably more optimistic about Iraq than just about any group of "opinion leaders." Respondents were asked if they thought efforts to establish a successful democracy there will succeed or fail:
Succeed
Fail
News media
33%
63%
Foreign affairs
28%
71%
Security
28%
70%
State/local government
51%
45%
Academic/think tank
27%
71%
Religious leaders
41%
56%
Scientists/engineers
13%
84%
Military
64%
32%
General public
56%
37%
Watching "Meet the Press" on Sunday, we were especially struck by the dour drumbeat from the journalists' panel, which consisted of David Broder, David Gregory, Eugene Robinson and Judy Woodruff. All agreed that democracy in Iraq is simply hopeless. But their pessimism was totally divorced from the facts: Not one even mentioned the elections scheduled for two weeks from Thursday. Maybe it will turn out that we can do without experts after all.
I agree that most of the recent Democratic attacks on the handling of the war are political. The party proved again in the vote last week that they support the war.
Only three senators voted for a withdrawl of troops, so the debate was almost pointless. The Democrats were once again outmaneuvered by the Republicans.
This should hurt troop morale. They are in Iraq following orders, but their leaders can't decide whether they should be there or not. And if they had hoped for the Democrats to have the backbone to stand up to the Republicans and get them out of this quagmire, they are surely disappointed.
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