Despite Its Unpopularity, Iraq War Hurts Democrats, Helps GOP in Congress

Human Events Online ^ | June 22, 2006 | Robert Novak

[aynrandfreak]

We have to keep publicly calling them on their cut & run mentality to help show undecideds why they can't be trusted with National Security.

[Brilliant]

The mistake that the Dems made was in trying to turn it into a partisan issue.

[gedeon3]

'Murtha's role in this drama continues to smack of opportunism, particularly since his announcement of candidacy for majority leader. His suggestion on NBC's "Meet the Press" last Sunday that troops could be "redeployed" to Okinawa'

What a senile imbecile. Even I could tell right away that such move is pure stupidity. The old bag thinks he is now a great strategist.

[MikeA]

"and the discovery of intelligence information that suggests al Qaeda feels it is losing in Iraq." The Bush administration could make a little more of this fact.

I think we need to get away from calling the Democratic policy on Iraq "cut and run" and call it something that puts it in starker terms in regards to the stakes here, "retreat and defeat."

Funny only a year ago Democrats were saying we didn't have ENOUGH troops in Iraq to do the job, now they're wanting us to cut troop levels?? These people will flip flop on every position to get some perceived political gain, and all the while not a single voice in the media will call them on it.

[MNJohnnie]

National Security is not a popularity contest. Leaders lead, political whores read polls.

[BrynS728]

I'm always curious when they talk about how "unpopular" the war in Iraq is. The MSM wants it to be unpopular, and they try their darnedest to make it seem so. However, I think it's clear that in middle America, national security is a still a prime concern among Democrat and Republican voters alike, and the MSM just doesn't get it - and they never will.

[w_over_w]

[TNCMAXQ]

As Rush said the other day, this so called unpopularity is based on polls only. If there were really a populist groundswell against the war then more people would be speaking up and showing up at these "rallies."

[Hydroshock]

Yes, some things are above politics. And the second thing they did was want to cut and run. Even friends and family I have who are agains GWB and going in to Iraq realize we have no other recourse at this point but to win. Anything else emboldens the terrorists. I figure most Americans know this.

[aynrandfreak]

The MSM wants it to be unpopular, and they try their darnedest to make it seem so.

True, just like in the exit polls in 2004 showing Kerry winning easily.

[BrynS728]

The MSM wants it to be unpopular, and they try their darnedest to make it seem so.

True, just like in the exit polls in 2004 showing Kerry winning easily

LOL! That's right! Probably one of the most blatant examples of poll manipulation, and it blew up in their faces. Beautiful.

[Beckwith]

The vote benefits Kerry in his quest for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination

We have enough history on Kerry to know that Kerry is the only thing important to Kerry.

[Hydroshock]

Kerry is a self serving git. He amply proved that in 2004.

[GOPJ]

Of eight members of Congress on videotape being offered bribes by a phony Arab sheik, Murtha was the only one who did not take the cash -- but he did express interest in further negotiations while bragging about his political influence.

Dems - cut from the same cloth...

[bassmaner]

The Iraq War is apparently unpopular

What war is ever 'popular'? It's not about popularity, Bob, it's about getting the job done. If anything, a component of the bad Iraq poll numbers are disaffected conservatives, who think (accurately) that we're handcuffing ourselves with p.c. rules of engagement. The bump in the polls after the Zarqawi takedown are those folks getting back on the train.

and Americans supposedly want the troops to come home

Of course they do. They want them to come home VICTORIOUS, and not be evacuated from Baghdad by helicopter as the enemy closes in, as traitors like Murtha and Kerry are trying so hard to reprise.

[Busywhiskers]

Just shows that Americans overwhelmingly prefer incompetence to treason.

[Radix]

"Funny only a year ago Democrats were saying we didn't have ENOUGH troops in Iraq to do the job, now they're wanting us to cut troop levels??"

They are just throwing up anything and everything in order to find something that sticks.

The poll numbers must be all over the place, and so naturally they don't know what to think or say.

[karnage]

LOL!

[rake]

As each house of Congress began its own Iraq War debate, the unpopular war continued to have the curious effect of hurting those it should help, and helping those it should hurt.

It's not at all curious that it would help the Republicans. Of course the war is "unpopular." It's not a sitcom. The American people are understandably ambivalent. They hate war but they know how important this is, and that there's no choice but to fight and finish what we began.

The Dems who voted against running away know this despite what media polls say.