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Kristol: Pathetic (The me-too Republicans wimp out on Iraq)
The Weekly Standard ^ | November 15, 2005 | William Kristol

Posted on 11/15/2005 5:30:28 PM PST by RWR8189

Pathetic.

One expected no better of the Senate Democrats, who want to get out of Iraq as soon as possible, or sooner than possible--most of them don't really care--and who want to embarrass president Bush. But couldn't the Senate Republicans have stood and fought against passing an irresponsible resolution suggesting that Americans want to get out of Iraq more than we want to win?

The Republican leadership may have figured they didn't have the votes to defeat the Democratic proposal without giving their members a weaker alternative to vote for. But better to lose such a vote by a small margin than to go on record voting for a resolution that sends a signal of irresolution and weakness at precisely the time when a message of strength is most needed. After all, in precisely a month, the Iraqis will vote for their first government under the new constitution, and one thing they must weigh in their calculations is whether they can count on U.S. staying power in the fight against the terrorists. With today's vote in the Senate, the Republican leadership, apparently working hand in glove with White House staff, showed itself today to be tactically myopic and politically timid.

One hopes Republicans in the House will show more spine. One trusts that President Bush will not bend in any way to these winds of worry. One hopes that a year from now this vote is simply remembered as a minor hiccup on the way to success and victory in Iraq. But one doesn't win a war by showing weakness. And one doesn't win a political fight by half capitulating to one's opponents, and, in effect, accepting the premises of their critique.

All honor to the 13 Republican senators who stood up against the me-too, we-want-to-get-out-as-well-but-not-quite-as-quickly, Republican leadership: Bunning, Burr, Chambliss, Coburn, DeMint, Graham, Inhofe, Isakson, Kyl, McCain, Sessions, Thune, and Vitter. Let's hope their colleagues reconsider and join their ranks in the near future.

--William Kristol


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 109th; 109thcongress; 1firstkeyword; bunning; burr; chambliss; coburn; demint; foxnews; frist; graham; inhofe; iraq; iraqwar; isakson; kristol; kyl; mccain; pinktutu; rino; rinos; senateleadership; sessions; thune; timetable; vitter; wariniraq
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To: saganite
Republicans surrender again. Apply for asylum in France.

With this kind of sh$t going on almost weekly, my opinion is that 2006 is looking bleaker.

21 posted on 11/15/2005 5:47:39 PM PST by p23185 (Why isn't attempting to take down a sitting Pres & his Admin considered Sedition?)
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To: RWR8189
I posted this elsewhere, posting it here as well. Agree with the blogger. Excepted..

http://varifrank.com/archives/2005/11/notonefreakindi.php

Not.One.Freakin.Dime

Is there any victory secured by the United States Armed Services that cannot be stolen and turned into defeat at the hands of the cowards in the Congress?

......Senator Warner, does it occur to you that the Iraqis are working their asses off to take control of their country? Does it occur to you that they are dying every day in their country? Does it occur to you that up till now the official view of this country is that THEY ARE ALREADY SOVERIEGN, BUT THANKS TO YOU AND YOUR HEADLINE OXYGEN SUCKING BLATHER, THEY THINK THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A FRAUD? Yes, our men and women are dying, but so are theirs. How condescending can you be to people who have struggled in the front line of the war on terror to say such an asinine thing?

...Harry Reid said this today that the President needed to “take the training wheels off the Iraqi government”. I’m not an Iraqi, I’m an American and there is nothing I have ever heard uttered by a member of my government that has made me angrier than that statement. Training wheels? Are the Iraqis babies? People who have taken on the burden of Saddam and the Tikriti clan, outright genocide to have a hack politician from Nevada call them babies? You should be censored for that Senator. The Iraqis aren’t a burden on this country, they are a godsend, they are our allies, they passed the ‘global test’ they are the emerging third world we all hope to help, and you COWARDS cant wait to beat feet out of their at the earliest opportunity.

...The President needs to go to war on the Senate. He comes back; he calls the republican leadership into his office; he shows them the pen. You know the pen I mean too, the veto pen. He tells them “ Kiss my ass if you think I’m signing a goddamned thing for anyone at anytime. We’ll just sit here for the next three years and we’ll see which of you figures out that the Executive branch actually means something in this government”.

I'm standing with the President on this one, and I don’t much care if we lose the Senate at this point, because as far as I cant tell, we already have. These pinheads can sit in the minority for awhile for all I care.

Not one dime you jackasses, not one freakin’ dime.

22 posted on 11/15/2005 5:48:52 PM PST by Soul Seeker (Mr. President: It is now time to turn over the money changers' tables.)
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To: Flightdeck

Of course, Billy Boy was a me too Republican on the Kosovo war.....though in that case peacenik Republicans (such as Rush, Delay, and Ollie North) were antiwar while Kristol and McCain toed the Clinton line. Heck, I remember that Kristol even angrily ruminated about rejoining the Democratic party! Now, the Democrats are the peaceniks and the Republicans are the pro-warriors. All that in less than ten years!


23 posted on 11/15/2005 5:50:04 PM PST by Austin Willard Wright
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To: RWR8189

George Allen voted for this?


24 posted on 11/15/2005 5:50:23 PM PST by slowhand520
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To: RWR8189

Pathetic!


25 posted on 11/15/2005 5:51:06 PM PST by Pietro
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To: RWR8189

Wow. Allen didn't join the nays? Bad news. Someone remind him of why Kilgore lost the Governor's race.


26 posted on 11/15/2005 5:51:15 PM PST by Cosmo (Liberalism is for girls)
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To: slowhand520
My adopted senators George Allen and Sam Brownback both voted for it.

I was disappointed...
27 posted on 11/15/2005 5:51:42 PM PST by RWR8189 (George Allen 2008)
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To: Soul Seeker; CBart95
What the hell are you talking about? Let kristol seal what fate? he's rightly reaming out the fools that voted for this reoslution.

Thanks. I didn't understand his point either. Perhaps CBart95 agrees with sellout senators.

28 posted on 11/15/2005 5:51:56 PM PST by Zechariah11
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To: RWR8189

Bunning, Burr, Chambliss, Coburn, DeMint, Graham, Inhofe, Isakson, Kyl, McCain, Sessions, Thune, and Vitter.

Not sure why Linds and McCain jumped on board, but I'll take it. Sessions as ALWAYS in the right position.

I no longer want to hear Allen's name mentioned in the same sentence of Reagan or even Bush. This is at least the third time he's stabbed us in the back about THE most important issue- THE WOT.

1) Cindy Sheehan
2) McCain Terrorist protection
3) Warner White flag waving amendment.

He's a poll watcher. Pure and simple. He doesn't have the backbone to be president.


29 posted on 11/15/2005 5:52:10 PM PST by Soul Seeker (Mr. President: It is now time to turn over the money changers' tables.)
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To: Peach
Lindsey Graham may have stood up to this amendment, but he is trying to get access to the appeals courts for the terrorists.

I don't think that's the case.

Instead, didn't Graham sponsor a bill that would eliminate the appeals of detainees declared to be "illegal combatants"?

30 posted on 11/15/2005 5:53:26 PM PST by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
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To: RWR8189
It's a good piece but I still don't trust Kristol as far as I can throw him and who the hell is this guy "One"!!
31 posted on 11/15/2005 5:53:27 PM PST by rodguy911 (Support Able Danger and Lt.Col Shaffer,Condi Rice/VP in 08--)
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To: onyx

McCain voted against the GOP absurdist Warner amendment which adopted a lot of the leftist anti-American cut and run logic--only not so fast. I am not a McCain fan, but I welcome his correct "nay" vote on this.


32 posted on 11/15/2005 5:53:30 PM PST by ontos-on
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To: RWR8189

Who is left to vote for in 2008? Gingrich? I hope Mike Pence considers a run because he is all we have


33 posted on 11/15/2005 5:54:20 PM PST by slowhand520
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To: RWR8189
Fantastic piece Bill Kristol. You said quite eloquently what lots of Republican voters have been thinking. Thanks to John Kerry's blunder in the debates regarding an income over $200,00.00 annually he confirmed what most people suspected; Democrats are elitists that look down on the typical American. This move by the Republican wimps will surely backfire on them too for the same reason; they think the typical American voter is stupid.

Many American voters refuse to vote for a wacky lib so perhaps a new political party in America is in order.

34 posted on 11/15/2005 5:54:54 PM PST by libill (Socialism is Communism with a happy face)
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To: Bahbah
I'm outraged by this entire vote Bahbah. I can't believe it happened, right when we are closing the door on the terrorists.
35 posted on 11/15/2005 5:55:07 PM PST by rodguy911 (Support Able Danger and Lt.Col Shaffer,Condi Rice/VP in 08--)
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To: cubreporter

Excellent post, right to the core of things.


36 posted on 11/15/2005 5:56:24 PM PST by rodguy911 (Support Able Danger and Lt.Col Shaffer,Condi Rice/VP in 08--)
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To: RWR8189
Oh Man, that makes it unanimous. Even Kristol gets it.
37 posted on 11/15/2005 5:56:40 PM PST by MNJohnnie (100% of Islamic Terrorists disapprove of the job President Bush is doing)
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To: Peach

What's going on? Bill Kristol is finally writing as a true conservative and the GOP Senators minus RINOS have sold us down the river? Did I wake up in a parallel universe this morning?


38 posted on 11/15/2005 5:57:43 PM PST by demkicker
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To: Bahbah

Sessions is admirable. He was blocked for the Appeals Court by the democrat @#$%^&*(. So, he ran for the Senate and won, and is on the very same Judiciary Committee. Those good for nothings must recognize their sin every day they see him. Without a word, that is real revenge.


39 posted on 11/15/2005 5:58:17 PM PST by ontos-on
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To: RWR8189
One hopes Republicans in the House will show more spine.

ROLTLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!

Yea, right...

40 posted on 11/15/2005 5:58:20 PM PST by CommandoFrank (Peer into the depths of hell and there you will find the face of Islam...)
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