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Pelosi/Reid Respond To Bush on Iraq

Pretty well done:

The American people want the President and the Congress to work together to bring this war to an end, safely and responsibly. Congressional Democrats are willing to meet with the President at any time, but we believe that any discussion of an issue as critical as Iraq must be accomplished by conducting serious negotiations without any preconditions. Our goal should be to produce an Iraq supplemental bill that both fully funds our troops and gives them a strategy for success.

"With his threat to veto such a plan for change in Iraq, President Bush is ignoring the clear message of the American people: we must protect our troops, hold the Iraqi government accountable, rebuild our military, provide for our veterans, and bring our troops home.

"The President is demanding that we renew his blank check for a war without end. Despite the fact that the President persists in trying to score political points at the expense of our troops, congressional Democrats have repeatedly reached out in the spirit of cooperation. We renew our request to work with him to produce a bipartisan bill that provides our troops and our veterans with every penny they need, but in turn, demands accountability."

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  • Display: Sort:
    Conscience, intellect, leadership, ethics (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:10:14 PM EST
    and everybody brought their glands. I like this just fine.

    Pretty good? (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by LarryInNYC on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:12:20 PM EST
    Our goal should be to produce an Iraq supplemental bill that both fully funds our troops and gives them a strategy for success.

    You're a big tent all by yourself!

    You missed this? (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:20:45 PM EST
    With his threat to veto such a plan for change in Iraq, President Bush is ignoring the clear message of the American people: we must protect our troops, hold the Iraqi government accountable, rebuild our military, provide for our veterans, and bring our troops home.


    Parent
    Everybody. . . (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by LarryInNYC on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:29:35 PM EST
    (well, all Democrats) want to bring the troops home.  I thought it was all about the funding?

    Parent
    Nope it is all about bringing them home. (none / 0) (#12)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:50:51 PM EST
    If you REALLY are for bringing them home, then you know defunding is the ONLY way.

    Otherwise you are jsut talking BS nonsense.

    Parent

    Closer (none / 0) (#9)
    by Edger on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:38:22 PM EST
    Not there yet. But closer.

    Parent
    Indeed (5.00 / 1) (#17)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 05:27:43 PM EST
    But the right direction.

    Parent
    I didn't (none / 0) (#11)
    by LarryE on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:41:59 PM EST
    I didn't miss it, but when it followed on the heels of "fully funding" and "strategy for success," it left me feeling like the robot going "It does not compute!"

    It strikes me as just another attempt to straddle the divide, to say "We're for the troops! We're for victory! We're for ending the war!" all at the same time.

    Ultimately, I am unimpressed. And until the Dems offer a "strategy for success" involving "bringing the troops home" that differs from the Bush formulation of "I want the troops home as soon as possible but we can't withdraw before victory," I will remain so.

    Parent

    Missing one thing (5.00 / 4) (#3)
    by andgarden on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:13:01 PM EST
    It should say:
    The President is demanding that we renew his blank check for a war without end. Obviously, we will not do that.


    Well (none / 0) (#5)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:21:23 PM EST
    I think it works pretty good.

    Parent
    Sure (none / 0) (#6)
    by andgarden on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:25:30 PM EST
    but let's first see what the conference report says.

    Parent
    Of course (none / 0) (#16)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 05:27:25 PM EST
    As Reagan said, trust but verify.

    Parent
    Your link is broken (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by Edger on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:39:29 PM EST


    Fixed (none / 0) (#15)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 05:26:58 PM EST
    You forgot to add: (5.00 / 2) (#13)
    by Compound F on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 04:23:03 PM EST
    "Of course we're going to fund the troops.  We always fund the troops.  The President is going to veto this and then we'll give him his money."  
    --Carl Levin.

    I've kicked him enough today (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 05:26:49 PM EST
    Greg Sargent (5.00 / 2) (#19)
    by Edger on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 06:49:27 PM EST
    has a good reminder at TPM Cafe.

    Flashback: Dems Repeatedly Invited Bush To Work With Them On Iraq
    Let's not forget that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi already have repeatedly sent letters to Bush asking him to work with them on an Iraq compromise.

    Interestingly, Speaker Pelosi's office confirms to me that the White House hasn't answered any of these entreaties.

    Letter to Bush, March 28:
    ...
    Letter, February 14:
    ...
    ...the Dems' invitations -- and Bush's non-response to them -- are certainly worth keeping in mind now that Bush has "invited" Dems to sit down with him.
    Why even go talk to him about it? He's not going to talk in good faith. They should just turn the tables on him.

    Democrats should be the ones making demands of Bush. Turn it around on him. Box him in. Make it obvious what he's doing. Make Bush respond to them. He's at his weakest now. They need to play the PR game more ruthlessly than the rethugs.

    Feingold and Reid started to do this. Pelosi has to step up as well to counteract Levin, or they'll be dancing on the end of rethug strings again.

    Hmm (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by jarober on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 07:05:46 PM EST
    So how would you have reacted to a similar speech from Bush in 2004, on the subject of judges, given the threat of a filibuster?

    Reid and Pelosi released this statement as theater, because they know they don't have enough votes for anything else - just as Bush lacked the votes to block filibusters in 2005.

    Did this come out after Bush's recent... (none / 0) (#8)
    by cal11 voter on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:30:36 PM EST
    rejection of negotiations with Dems (that you diaried about earlier today)?  Actually, this statement is something I think Obama or Levin could have issued.

    Seabos (none / 0) (#18)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 06:44:12 PM EST
    I had to delete you comment.

    No profanity here.

    Write your comment again minus the F words.