Posted on 12/05/2006 6:50:29 AM PST by Mo1
FROM THE SENATE Hearing on Robert Gates
The Senate Armed Services Cmte. holds an open hearing on the nom- ination of Robert Gates to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Sec. of De- fense. CIA director from 1991-93 under Presidents Bush & Clinton, Gates is currently President of Texas A&M University. Senators are expected to call for a new Iraq strategy during the hearing.
NOW ON C-SPAN2 & C-SPAN3
no comment on that one .. LOL
bttt
grrrr
Gates says now = Gates says no
Have we heard from the future Queen yet?
***MY (TXRANGERETTE'S) "TAKE"***
I've been watching the hearings since Senator Imhofe was questioning.
There seems to be some kind of general consensus around Gates. Imhofe did not raise a stink nor did Jeff Sessions, that I saw. Byrd was thrilled to get Gates agreement on some of his rhetorical flourishes about Osama, but Gates finished strong with his views that Osama is NOT the be-all end-all figure that he was once thought to be, and refused to blame US for his being on the loose. Byrd wanted to get agreement that Osama, not Saddam, was the true threat, yet Saddam was captured and Osama was not, and he wanted somebody on our side to be blamed for it. Gates gave to, then took away from, Byrd's emphasis.
Most revealing was Gates and Lieberman's coloquey on the need for politics to stop at the water's edge when it comes to fighting the international WOT, including Iraq. It was then, especially, but through ALL I heard, that I came to understand why Robert Gates is sitting there. He talked about the need to operate in the culture of Washington, to work within a system where many, many people and egos have to get along, including many partisan people, in order for a victory such as winning the Cold War over many many years to be achieved. He said THIS is what he plans to devote himself to. He will do all within his ability and power to work with all of these interests successfully to forge a war policy where politics stops at the water's edge so our enemies don't think all they have to do is play politics with a divided, weakened America and they will win.
As much as I love Donald Rumsfeld, and even though none of it is his fault but is the Dems' and Media's fault, there is no way Donald Rumsfeld could remotely hope to get anywhere if he had stayed and had attempted to do that.
Apparently President Bush has come to believe that the extreme divisiveness in America is the worst threat to our survival that we have, and he is going to give Gates a chance to work with these partisans and these hyped-up egos and the Media, et al, as well as within the Administration itself where there is division, to forge something as close to a bipartisan war policy as we can get.
Then, if some of these who vote for Gates and praise Gates go off into Partisan La La land again as they have been, dividing and ripping apart our country in order to "get" the President or gain political advantage, Gates will have the creds to call them on it. I for one can understand this effort. I hope it does some good.
For any who think I want Gates and the President to give away the store to these terrible people, I absolutely defy you to find anything in my past here to justify such a charge against me. If I am so charged, I will not dignify the stupidity of the accuser by replying. Besides, my time is gone and I must do something personally more important even than this Hearing. Those who know me know what I refer to.
Cheers, ALL...
Not yet .. Bayh is up now
dang ... not Bayh ... it's Thune
***Ping*** to #207
I hope you're right and it's very possible that's what's going on
But I will say this ... he needs to watch what he says .. cause the media will jump first and ask later
And that could hurt us very badly
I appreciate your thoughtful comments.
There is nothing that will get the dems to change their tune. "We're going to work together and be bi-partisan, but Republicans are bad."
I'll watch the hearings when I get home but he's not exactly making me comfortable. It's hard enough to overlook the fact that he's replacing Rummy but if he's going to start providing headlines for the MSM like that, I really can't support him.
Been reading a bit of what Gates is telling the committee. I think I like this guy.
CLINTON IS UP NOW!!
Hellary is jumping on the Levin question about not winning the war
She wants to know when he decided we weren't winning the war
Here comes the beast! She brings up the Rumsfeld memo...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.