Posted on 05/09/2007 5:55:32 PM PDT by kellynla
TIM RUSSERT, NBC NIGHTLY NEWS: Brian, all eyes on the Republican party. How long will they support the president's position on the Iraq War? Yesterday may have been a defining, pivotal moment.
At two-thirty in the afternoon, in the private quarters of the White House, the Solarium Room, eleven Republican congressmen had a private meeting with the president, the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, the chief political advisor Karl Rove, and the White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, and others.
This delegation was headed by Mark Kirk of Illinois and Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania. It was, in the words of one of the participants, the most unvarnished conversation they've ever had with the president.
Another member has said he has met with three presidents and never been so candid. They told the president, and one said, quote, "My district is prepared for defeat. We need candor, we need honesty, Mr. President."
The president responded, "I don't want to pass this off to another president. I don't want to pass this off, particularly, to a democratic president," underscoring he understood how serious the situation was.
Brian, the Republican congressmen went on to say, "The word about the war and its progress cannot come from the White House or even you, Mr. President. There's no longer any credibility. It has to come from General Petraeus.
The meeting lasted an hour and fifteen minutes, and was, in the words of one, " remarkable for the bluntness, and no holds barred honesty and the message delivered by all these Republican congressmen.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: And Tim...how did the president react and how did this then affect the instructions for VP Cheney heading off to Iraq?
RUSSERT: One congressman said, "How can our daughters and sons spill their blood while the Iraqi parliament goes on vacation? The president responded, "The Vice President is over there to tell them, 'Do not go on vacation.'"
Developing...
Thank you, Owen. ;o)
You can't run a war on bargain basement budgets dragging them out for years and years and not expect citizens to question the sanity of it.
Bush like LBJ sent good men into combat with hideous R.O.E.'s written by state department liberal morons and thus the end result. Bush ignored that "D*** Piece of paper as he calls it and sent troops to war without a congressional declaration of war. He and congress ignored the wisdom of George Washington and used U.N. propaganda as the reason. The authorization for use of force was a farce and now we see the end result. LBJ got one about like it for Nam called Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. I can't believe the GOP made the same stupid mistake as well.
Is Bush smarter than LBJ? No! As one poster put it he's running even with Carter another POTUS with no military knowledge and planning skills. I hope a true conservative gets in the White House in 2009 and the Bush/Cheney era for this nation is finally at last over. Those three Bush Sr and Junior along with Clinton have nearly destroyed our military with their bad judgments on military polices. Cheney didn't help matters either.
If Bush and congress had let the soldiers do their job to start with and not labeled certain things hands off it would have been a quick war. He prevented them from leveling Iraq from day one they would have been home several years ago had they done so. Bush wanted a nation building legacy instead. Iraq will never be stable. The hate there is thousands of years old. What next rebuild Babylons for them? He's already building an improved Iraq for the next dictator the radical clerics install. How many will die for that mistake? You don't go to war to build nations but rather destroy them. That is what Bush can not comprehend.
“Who leaked?”
Probably one of the guys who got their name mentioned in the paper, part of the background deal to show he is standing up to the president, or something like that. Everything in politics is calculated. Because if it isn’t, you aren’t politiking.
Of course there have been wars like this one.....the US just didnt participate in one yet...
When you REALLY think about this...
remember that your Senator is Gordon Smith.
:o(
The problem with Bush is that he isn’t articulating progress in Iraq very well. I would have only 3-5 bullets, no more:
1) Ensuring the fundamentals of self-governance are in place (i don’t care if it is democrat or shari law)
2) Ensuring basic utility infrastructures are in place in two to three major cities, no more.
3) Ensure that there is new iraqi army is in place to kill the insurgents, rather than coalition kill them.
And THAT would be my three barometers for success. have a few points under each of those to determine indicators of success and be done with it. If the indicators are met by next spring, then downscope the troops. That way, Bush can say he ended the war on his terms. This B.S. that him and Gates continually repeat “we don’t know how long its going to last,” and “nobody knows what success is” is getting pretty old. Let the iraqis govern iraq. We need to concentrate on pounding Iran.
One for the history books, that's for sure.
Don't confuse us with FACTS.
We are too busy being close-minded.
I agree. If the RINOs abandon President Bush and we lose Iraq, I will no longer be a registered Republican.
It would be time for us to leave the party en masse and form a new party (a coalition similiar to what the Republicans consist today only that we have balls)
- It is not unpatriotic--nor are we "DU plants on FR" to call a spade a spade, to read the handwriting on the wall, and say this is one big massive four-year FUBAR both in planning and execution as well as overal general assumptions (total victory trajectory vs. "nation building" for example), for precisely the eloquent reasons you have articulated. You would think we would have learned a few things in this country from the 1960s and 1970s about NO-WIN WARS run by stupid bureaucrats who don't know what troops want and can do, and who often can't even park their own bicycles straight. Our troops never deserved this morass, as great as they are. Nor did the country. It is a shame we returned to our vomit and did not learn some important lessons.
I stand by my statement. The White House hasn't done much to inspire confidence among GOP ranks. Republicans are still reeling from the loss of the House and Senate in November; and remember this was after the great consigliere himself, Rove, repeatedly assured them that this would not happen. Relations have understandably deteriorated between the GOP ranks and the WH after that debacle.
Then you have the WH's mind numbing ineptitude regarding the firing of the U.S. Attorneys. A non-scandal that was allowed to transform into a big ugly political/media circus. Hell, I bet even the democrats really can't believe their good fortune on this issue.
Finally, the post war transformation of Iraq has been bungled. The rules of engagement remain a joke. It's really anyone's guess even four years into the occupation if the Sunnis and the Shiites will actually be able live and work together in a unified post-Saddam Iraq. Like I said before, I'm afraid that the country will have to be partitioned at some point.
Putnam who?
Boehner is important because he not only represents his views, he’s speaking for others in the House as the Minority Leader.
You know why.
Then start leading in the information warfare against the media. You're like a boxer who throws one shot per round. Every now and then a couple months apart, you'll give a key speech. Then you'll retreat again.
I heard Hannity explaining that you're just not any good at media. This is a flippin' war. Forget good and just get in the fight.
It reminds me of that scene of Tom Cruise's in "Top Gun" when they just kept yelling at him to engage.
How is it that the minutes of a PRIVATE meeting between Republican members of Congress and the President make their way to Tim Russert within mere hours?
Who requested the meeting?
Who leaked word of the meeting to Russert?
What ‘typeface’ is Russert using?
If these events are true, some RINOs set this whole thing up as a big CYA for their political careers, methinks.
I really wish the President would do an interview with Rush on the WOT in general and on this incident in particular. Won’t happen, will it? It should.
Thanks, Just a Nobody .... your list mirrors mine except I did not have Bob Goodlatte. But I like your choice.
It is a difficult question. When I ask it in public, people will say that is easy and tick off 1-2 senators, and 3-4 congresscritters. And then they start stammering. In reality, that is just plain down right pathetique to this ole farm boy. pathetique, pathetique, pathetique ......
This is a good thing, it shouldn’t be described any other way. Bush needs to know he has one chance left, the surge, it’s all up to Patreaus, and if he fails, well, we’re gone.
Very well said.
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