The Dems are desperately trying to get out in front so it can look like they're leading the way. Why do you think Kennedy's out there shooting his mouth off (other than sheer stupidity, that is)?
Posted on 01/31/2005 12:02:12 PM PST by kattracks
WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The two top Democrats in the U.S. Congress challenged President George W. Bush on Monday to draft an "exit strategy" in Iraq and work with them in his drive to revamp the Social Security retirement program.With Bush set to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, Democrats made a political pre-emptive strike or, as they put it, a "pre-buttal," in a joint appearance of their own at the National Press Club.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, hailed as "a milestone" Sunday's Iraqi elections, when millions defied threats and went to the polls.
"But on Wednesday night," Reid said, "the president needs to spell out a real and understandable plan for the unfinished work ahead: defeat the growing insurgency, rebuild Iraq, increase political participation by all parties ... and increase international involvement."
Without offering a timetable, Reid added, "Most of all, we need an exit strategy so that we know what victory is and how we can get there."
House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, focused her remarks on domestic matters, and took aim at the administration's drive to revamp Social Security by allowing workers to invest part of their payroll taxes in stocks and bonds.
Many oppose such private accounts, fearing that they could undermine rather than strengthen the program and provide retirees a gamble rather than security.
"Social Security does face problems down the road. We need to solve them. But we have time to do it right," Pelosi said.
"We can solve this long-term challenge without dismantling Social Security and without allowing this administration's false declaration of a crisis to justify a privatization plan that is unnecessary, unaffordable and unwise," Pelosi said.
"To be sustainable, any long-term solution must be bipartisan," Pelosi said.
Millions of Americans are certain to tune in at 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Thursday) on Wednesday to Bush's state of the union address, an annual event that hands the president an unmatched bull horn to speak to the nation and the world.
Afterward, Reid and Pelosi will again team up to deliver to their party's official response. If history is any indication, many will have turned off their TV or switched channels by the time they speak.
Still, as former Democratic House Speaker Tom Foley put it, citing his own experiences, Reid and Pelosi will likely be addressing their biggest audiences ever.
"They will be heard," said Foley, who attended the pair's joint appearance.
As a result of the Republican's success in the November elections, Reid and Pelosi face expanded opposition majorities in Congress as they seek to rally public support for the Democratic case for change.
Said Pelosi, "As the president begins his second term, it is fitting that we pause to look at where our nation stands, where we are headed and what better course of action should be taken."
"Today, America faces the threat of terrorism, a war in Iraq, a ballooning budget deficit, and a society where too many people go without jobs, health care, educational opportunity or retirement security," Pelosi said.
Reid said, "Let me be clear; There is no partisan split in our commitment to defending this nation. America stands united in waging the war on terror. We Democrats simply believe we need a stronger strategy for winning this war."
A strategy that's working? They really don't get it, do they!
HE has to work with THEM, notice, not vice-versa. They don't have to try AT ALL--he's the one that has to give.
Gosh I wish the Pelosi, Kennedy, Clinton, Reed, Boxer et al cabal would step it up a notch ... at this rate of dribbling drivel, someone will start to listen to them instead of tuning them out.
For some reason these clowns think that they're in some sort of a position to set the agenda???????
I thought this might be Scrappleface.
Its funny, when it is Scrappleface I think its for real and when its real, I think its Scrappleface. This is just sad.
Hey plastic face, health care will not be addressed until elected officals have to comply with the same rules that the people who elected your kind have to live under.
You and your kind have the best retirement, and medical benifits that we tax payers are forced to provide you with. The majority of those overtaxed tax payers make a lot less and are worth a lot less that those who keep whining while doing nothing.
"To be sustainable, any long-term solution must be bipartisan," Pelosi said.
Why must any social security solution be bipartisan?
Maybe she meant to say "We dims must be included and don't want to lose this as an issue. Basically, we should only fix this crisis when it is politically expediant for us."
Why is it WE always have to work with THEM? Why is it we never hear "And we promise to try to work with the President to reform Social Security so the future elderly of our nation blah blah blah..."
Its always "We challenge the President to work with us blah blah blah". Its like they can't get it through their heads. They LOST.
Whaaaaa, baby, whiners, criers, bellyachers, tattletales, they are all the same. In the end: Sore Losermans.
Scrappleface? Who is scrappleface?
The last thing on earth I want to see is Pelosi or Reid's BUTT.
I just hope the 'stars' of the democRATic party keep on talking. Let them forever tie themselves to the left-wing whack-jobs within their own party.
Sore-Loserman.
The Dems are desperately trying to get out in front so it can look like they're leading the way. Why do you think Kennedy's out there shooting his mouth off (other than sheer stupidity, that is)?
What the Dems don't get is that it is up to the Iraqis what the timetable is for crying out loud.
Should not the Democrat ("gay") party have gone to the UN first before launching such a PRE-EMPTIVE strike? The Democrats have demanded French approval for everything else.
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