Posted on 10/20/2003 7:19:59 AM PDT by PhiKapMom
October 20, 2003
Harman Can’t Explain Why Saddam Hussein Would Have Defied International Community For Twelve Years If He Didn’t Have WMD. FOX NEWS’ BRIT HUME: “You’ve said in relation to [Saddam’s reasons for ignoring U.N. resolutions] that it was counterintuitive he would have done those things. You also said, and I quote, ‘his would have been the greatest intelligence hoax of all time, fooling every intelligence agency, three presidents, five secretaries of defense, and the entire world into thinking he still had weapons.’ The greatest intelligence hoax of all time. You now believe that?” REP. JANE HARMAN (D-CA): “I think, let’s see what David Kay finds …” HUME: “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. A minute ago you just said that you were – that you believed there are no weapons of mass destruction.” HARMAN: “I said it is unlikely there are weapons of mass destruction. If anyone can find them, David Kay can.” HUME: “Don’t you now need … You suggested at the time when I asked you those questions [in July], critics would need to come up with some other explanation for what he did, you have no other explanation, other than a guess, right?” HARMAN: “I think we should all suspend a little longer and see what David Kay finds. But I read his report carefully and I listened to him carefully twice – I was in Baghdad meeting with him, too. I think he is unlikely to find anything like what we all believed was in Iraq.” (Fox News’ “Sunday,” 10/19/03)
Harman’s Vote Against $87 Million Was “Protest Vote.” FOX NEWS’ BRIT HUME: “[I]f you were casting the deciding vote on this, would you vote as you did [against the $87 billion supplemental]?” REP. JANE HARMAN (D-CA): “If I were casting …” HUME: “The deciding vote.” HARMAN: “I think if the vote … Frankly, I think that the administration assumed this would be a slam dunk and that it didn’t have to deal with folks, and that’s infuriating.” HUME: “Congressman Harman, would you have cast the deciding vote as you did [vote]?” HARMAN: “Well, I would hope if this were a close vote the administration would have put better information on the table and been more fiscally responsible. I support the troops and I would do what I thought at that point was in the interests of the troops and I would make up my mind once I saw what was on the table.” HUME: “Would I be wrong in characterizing your vote as a protest vote?” HARMAN: “My – no – well, I guess you could, you could say that, but what I would call my vote is a vote to try to push for better policy …” (Fox News’ “Sunday,” 10/19/03)
Harman Doesn’t Think Senator Ted Kennedy’s (D-MA) Charge That President Bush Lied Is “Constructive Thing To Say.” FOX NEWS’ TONY SNOW: “The President saw the same intelligence you did. Senator Kennedy has called the President a liar on this. Do you think the president was a liar?” REP. JANE HARMAN (D-CA): “I don’t want to go there. I don’t think that is a constructive thing to say. What I have said, and I said it on a bipartisan basis with Porter Goss, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is that the sources of the intelligence used, the pre-war intelligence on Iraq, were deficient. Particularly after 1998, when we lost our ground troops, when the U.N. inspectors left – not that they were intelligence agents but they gave us a lot of information on the ground that turns out to actually have been truer than we believed, the sources of our intelligence were deficient. I believe the analysis we produced was also deficient, and therefore what policymakers were basing their statements on was deficient.”
Kristol Says Party Out Of Power Hasn’t Split On Foreign Policy Like Democrats Have “In An Awful Long Time.” THE WEEKLY STANDARD’S BILL KRISTOL: “It’s pretty stunning, I think, that two of the major Democratic presidential candidates voted against the $87 billion in the Senate. Two of only … 12 Democratic Senators to vote against it. They’re obviously spooked by Howard Dean’s example and they want to – this is John Kerry and John Edwards – and they want to join the anti-war forces. Lieberman and Gephardt voted for the $87 billion. I’m not sure we had this kind of split on the fundamental foreign policy issue of the day among the major presidential candidates in the out party in an awful long time. I mean, in 1999-2000, McCain was a little more hawkish than Bush on Kosovo, but they basically all decided we’ve got to support … for example, to pick an analogy, a president they didn’t like, Clinton, with an intervention they were queasy about, Kosovo, nonetheless, the major Republican candidates supported Clinton’s intervention in Kosovo. If you go back in history, Clinton in ‘92 – it’s been a long time since you have the out party deeply split on the key foreign policy issue of the day.” (Fox News’ “Sunday,” 10/19/03)
McCain Does “Not Believe … Dean Has Any Fundamental Understanding” Of Stakes In Iraq. RUSSERT: “Some comments you made last week, they have found their way into the Democratic primary debate. This is what you said about former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. ‘I’m not surprised that Governor Dean would oppose [the $87 billion to fund Iraq reconstruction]… I’ve lost confidence that he has any understanding of the national security responsibilities of a president.’ Why did you say that?” SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ): “Because I don’t believe that he has any understanding of the international role that the United States has to play in the world. I think it’s a kind of a pseudo isolationism that appeals to the base of the caucus voters. I do not believe that particularly in the case of Iraq that Governor Dean has any fundamental understanding of what’s at stake here.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 10/19/03)
Floridians On Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL): “Who Is This Person?” RUSSERT: “Senator Bob Graham, Ed Gillespie, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee had this to say about you the other day. ‘I think a lot of Florida voters have looked up and are wondering, ‘Who is this person? This is not the person that we voted for repeatedly for statewide office.’ I think a lot of the support that Bob Graham has enjoyed from independent voters and frankly many Republican voters in the past, is not going to be there for him next November and he’s very likely to be defeated.’ If in effect you run for re-election as senator from Florida.” GRAHAM: “Tim, the reason that I felt so passionate and have expressed myself, with, I hope, clarity, is the fact that I think this country has tremendous opportunities….” RUSSERT: “But do you believe your pointed criticisms of the president will harm you with independent and Republican voters in Florida when you run for re-election?” GRAHAM: “I think the American people and certainly Floridians want their leaders to be frank and to talk about the facts as they see them and the judgments that they apply to those facts….” RUSSERT: “So you will be running?” GRAHAM: “I will make a decision in the next period as to what my political future will be, but whatever it is, I will continue to speak out strongly about the opportunities that America has and how we are now squandering those opportunities by the actions of this administration.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 10/19/03)
Graham Claims We “Abandoned The War On Terror Since The Spring Of 2002.” GRAHAM: “[W]e’ve essentially abandoned the war on terror since the spring of 2002. We have made very limited progress other than capturing a few of the Taliban and al Qaeda leadership. We need to get re-engaged on this war on terror. The terrorists are becoming more dangerous. They are now targeting U.S. citizens in Israel, as they did a few days ago. The groups that are being given sanctuary in Syria have grown in strength while we have not laid a glove on them. I think we need, as part of our strategy of an honorable and expeditious exit from Iraq to restart the war on terror.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 10/19/03)
In Fact, War On Terror Was Anything But “Abandoned.” Among numerous other successes, “[i]n November 2002, joint investigations of the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration resulted in four individuals being charged in a $25 million drugs-for-weapons scheme and three individuals being indicted for trading drugs for anti-aircraft missiles, which they said they planned to sell to Al-Qa’ida forces in Afghanistan.” (“Results In War On Terror,” FBI Website, www.fbi.gov, Accessed 10/19/03)
Al Qaeda Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Was Captured In March 2003. “[T]he capture Saturday [March 1, 2003] of alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the biggest prize so far. ... Mohammed’s capture is also a direct rebuttal to the argument that the Bush Administration’s focus on Iraq distracts from the pursuit of al Qaeda.” (Editorial, “Al Qaeda On The Run,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/3/03)
Florida Editorial Board Said Graham’s Attacks On War Progress Lack “Logic Or Merit.” “Graham’s claim that the liberation of Iraq is a ‘distraction’ from terrorism … seems lacking in logic or merit.” (Editorial, “Terrorism, A Spying Shame,” Florida Times-Union, 5/16/03)
Lieberman “Not Auditioning” To Be “Host Of ‘Entertainment Tonight.’” ABC’S GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: “How about the argument that maybe part of the reason you haven’t caught on has to do with personal style? That this is a year where voter anger, especially in the Democratic Party, something that the candidates want to tap into, Howard Dean has done that….” LIEBERMAN: “…Look, I’m not auditioning to be the host of ‘Entertainment Tonight’ or even to be the host of ‘This Week.’ I’m asking the American people to trust me to be their president. And ultimately, that goes a lot beyond theatrics and anger.”
(ABC’s “This Week,” 10/19/03)
Lieberman Says “It Takes More Than Anger To Be President.” LIEBERMAN: “[P]eople are angry about what George Bush has done to America. You’d have to go a long way to find two people angrier than Al Gore and me about what George Bush has done to America. But it takes more than anger to be the President of the United States. These are very serious times. We’re facing challenges today at home and in the world the likes of which we have not faced together in a long, long time.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 10/19/03)
Lieberman Calls Howard Dean And Wesley Clark “Rookies.” LIEBERMAN: “It is a time for change from George Bush. But it’s not a time for rookies.” STEPHANOPOULOS: “Who are the rookies?” LIEBERMAN: “Well, Howard Dean has been a governor. Wes Clark is brand new to politics. So, there’s two. In other words, I think the voters are going to look this year for a combination, experience and independence and integrity and new ideas. Because in the end, they want to have the confidence that they can trust this person they’re putting in the White House to protect their security to improve their lives…” (ABC’s “This Week,” 10/19/03)
Lieberman: Clark Is Not “Above Questioning.” STEPHANOPOULOS: “You called General Clark a rookie, but how do you explain why he jumped in the race and jumped right to the top of the pack?” LIEBERMAN: “…I got a kick out of the fact in the debate in Phoenix last week when I and others were asked questions about what sure looked to me like inconsistent positions Wes has taken on whether it was right to go to war in Iraq, that he said that he wouldn’t raise such questions, that they were embarrassing. But none of us is above questioning. Maybe generals don’t get questioned, but candidates for president ought to be questioned.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 10/19/03)
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What a Wild Man ! lol !
Oh. Like this ?? ...
Scary ! ...
To: ATOMIC_PUNK
They can bash Bush all they want. The problem is eventually they will have to turn on each other if they really want the big prize.
2 posted on 09/12/2003 3:43 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
This is going to get really ugly.
Howard Dean:
Pseudo-Isolationist Weenie
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