Posted on 01/09/2007 7:58:06 PM PST by bd476
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 “Cut and run” versus “stay the course” is so 2006.
This week has ushered in a new political battle over the language of the war: “Surge,” meet “escalation.”
The Democrats introduced the latter word to portray President Bush’s expected proposal for a troop increase in Iraq in a negative light.
“An escalation, whether it is called a surge or any other name, is still an escalation, and I believe it will be an immense new mistake,” Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said Tuesday in a speech critiquing Mr. Bush’s as-yet-unannounced Iraq plan.
Should the significance of the word be lost on those too young to remember its loaded usage during the Vietnam War, Senator Kennedy added: “The Department of Defense kept assuring us that each new escalation in Vietnam would be the last. Instead, each one led only to the next.”
On Sunday, the new House speaker, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, used “escalate” or “escalation” six times during an interview on the CBS News program “Face the Nation.”
Asked at his regular briefing on Tuesday about the Democrats’ use of the “E” word, Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, initially said, “I think a lot of times people are going to try to find a one-word characterization that allows them to make a political point without perhaps diving into the details.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Semantics is the offering, as usual, from the Democrats.
eff 'em....
Lets see they have the power of the purse but they settle for "symbolic" votes, what a joke
It's a bogus characterization. I'd say what we did in Somalia was an escalation. Adjusting troop levels in Iraq is just troop management.
Have the Rats complained about the real escalation yet?
Why should we be surprised?
The murderous drunk's father was a Nazi sympathiser and appeaser.
The drunk, himself, helped sabotage the Vietnam war.
And now he is wanting to do the same in Iraq.
At least he's consistent..
The President should call their bluff. Even the crazy ones know that America won`t stand for cutting the legs out from under our troops. Of course if falls for it (he won`t), that w3ould be just fine with them. Watch the attacks on our guys really pick up in Iraq as this is decided.
What do you say about a man who is willing to trash his own dead brother to score political points?
Which only post - Baker report, they were hell bent against.
They confuse me,
Agree, Dog Gone. I think they're playing mind/word games for an audience, to set people up for tomorrow night. Just hard to believe anyone could take them seriously.
Lol! And it's unlikely they will.
never seen so much bullshitting with the meaning of words in my entire life.
Exactly. It is just another example of Madison Avenue meets the Democratic Party. The Democrats no longer try to make an intellectual case for their views; they simply push the hot buttons in people's minds. The Democrats' trotting out the hot-button word "escalation" is not essentially different from a beer company's using bikini-clad girls of college age to sell its product.
It is insulting when Madison Avenue treats us so condescendingly, and even more so when a major political party does the same thing. But what else can one expect from a party that uttered barely two words in 2006--"corrupt" and "incompetent"--and uttered them over and over?
Sadly, it worked for them. They are no doubt counting on its working again.
Two words: Cindy Sheehan.
She's gotten perks we could only dream about by trashing what her son did.
I think Teddy's just following in the footsteps of his old dad:
"Kennedy rejected the warnings of Winston Churchill that compromise with Nazi Germany was impossible; instead he supported Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement in order to stave off a second world war that would be a more horrible "armageddon" than the first."
Fine. If the word has negative connotations, I say we had an escalation of Democrats in Congress after the elections.
Let them scream from now until eternity, President Bush will get the troops surge, and the funds, we will win this war and the traitors and defeatists among us will be crushed.
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