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...
"Sometimes there aren't enough mops."
Apologies to Forrest, Forrest Gump.
Guess what? The troops want to win the war.
Failure. Oh yeah... that’ll make our military feel real good about themselves, and we know after Blackhawk and many terror attacks up to 9-11, what the jihadists take it for... weakness=more attacks.
I see you missed all the vets with us in DC for GOE; They’re just trying to come to terms with what Congress did to them when they were kicking *ss in Vietnam... and it’s been how many years? I had friends who just couldn’t go down with me to the wall, some too methadoned out to go and etc.. I also had many who lives changed by going and finally telling them what it meant for them and their families... as well as the families of the friends they left behind. Seeing guys they didn’t know made it, hearing about others that couldn’t take it and checked out when they came back. They came for those who couldn’t come... and cried at the wall, they wouldn’t let their accomplishment be mocked again. How will the troops in Iraq feel for thirty years after they’re pulled out?
I see someone hasn’t been following the news from our soldiers, the Iraq freedom journals and ex-mil bloggers there and prefers to listen to the BS coming from the MSM and RINOs... remind me never to come to SE Ohio.
Out of 18 provinces in Iraq how many have been turned over?
What are the two hotbeds left?
What infrastructure projects (total #), have been built?
What did the Sunni and Shia get together on recently to fight Al Q?
How many stories have you seen on the Iraqi Police and civilian sacrifices to keep mosques and public areas from being blown up? All the tips from civilians? Forget about it.
Do you know how many businesses have been set up?
They’re over there kicking ass and taking names; I talk to them everyday. They’re laying it on the line... and they don’t want to leave. So are you listening to fat *sses in Brooks Brothers shirts with lobbyists and the traitorous media or reading what our troops have to say?
http://www.mudvillegazette.com/
Congrats. Seeing the climate of the yellow in this country, your grandkids will not have to go back to Iraq... cause they’ll all be here fighting in this country, after Iran takes over Iraq and the terrorists are free to travel... it wouldn’t be six disaffected yutes trying to shoot up Ft. Dix, it would be more (matter of fact, there are more associated with this story... you haven’t been told yet, by the wonderful media, maybe your representatives can tell you about it).
Don’t you see the enemy inside is making the military obsolete? This isn’t only about Iraq and terror all around the world. So the next time we’re hit, I guess we just sit on our hands... that’ll work.
I hope you’re not one to complain about the price of gas either.
This from a state that has muslims buying up thousands of tracfones rolling through Walmarts there (with airport data mind you), a Somali was going to blow a mall there, an imam in Cleveland arrested for terror ties, the huge Toledo terror case, the terrorist truck driver from there who attempted to blow up our bridge here in NYC and provided direct support to OBL, the Ohio guy who trained at the terror camps who was caught, the state’s investment funds refuses to note terror connections and the Warren County cell (oh, and the jail lockdown associated with it).
Yeah... maybe you’re right. See if your congresspersons can give you updated info on all those cases while you’re at it.
See, not only do I drill my representatives (Hillary and Schumer btw), I go to Washington and I watch whats going on in my state. I don’t have much time to whine. Sure W could present his case better against a biased press... but so can the representatives, that’s what they’re there for.
Rant off/
I don’t care. If taking the chance of the GOP being wiped out is what it takes to not give our enemy the country of Iraq on a Silver Platter, than that is what we will do.
Saving the World, and protecting our country from destruction, is more important than winning the next election.
Anyway, if we do what the DEmocrats want to do in September, the GOP will be routed next year, because Bush, and the GOP WILL BE BLAMED for the hell that follows. That is a certainty.
The Democrats don’t care how many people die, they will end up in greater power.
The Republicans better care, because either way we are screwed. The only way Republicans win is if we finish the job in Iraq or get it through the thick skulls of America that our “sacrifice” in Iraq has been minimal compared to the tremendous benefits it has had, like minimizing the number of terrorists trying to do things like the six guys invading Fort Dix.
If the American People think Iraq is bad (which for us, it isn’t, we lose more lives on the highways, and spend more money on junk food), wait until they see an Al-Qaeda-supporting, Iran-loving Iraq crush all of our allies in its borders, and then set out for Saudi Arabia.
There won’t be a leader in the Middle east that will even TAKE A CALL from us after that. Until we put a half-million men in Jordon, assuming they don’t just surrender instead, in which case we’ll spend 2009 debating whether we should send troops to help save Israel, or just let them fight it out with their own nuclear weapons.
Of which even the administration has admitted Iraq was not complicit in
If this country were united we would have won this war by now.
False. The war, for what it was, was indeed won. However, keeping the peace in a region that does not want intervention (as history as shown) is what has been lost. In fact, the US may have done the Islamic nuts the biggest favor they themselves could not do by removing Saddam Hussein.
Over the upcoming months we will see more and more Republicans questioning the police action in Iraq. As the public moves (you remember that lot that vote for them?) the politicians will. I will submit a prediction that by this time next year less than half of the 10 Republican nominees will be as gung ho about Iraq as they were the other night.
That bears repeating!
This whole article frosts me! So these "Republican" congressman also believe that the President is lying and has no credibility? MAYBE THEY SHOULD STOP WATCHING CNN AND HANGING WITH HILLARY!
Is it not totally discouraging that the GOP will always choose to run for the political hills and cower rather than stand courageously? So, basically, these RINOS have totally bought into the Dem taliking points, huh?
I hate seeing anybody lose life or limb, but that vastly overstates our losses, even now with the surge. Our citizens are target-practice fodder for bad drivers on our highways, maybe we should shut them down and retreat into our homes. We lose dozens-times more lives to traffic accidents than to the war in Iraq, and for what? So we can get from here to there?
If we reduced the speed limit on every highway to 40 MPH, and strictly enforced it, we'd save thousands more lives than leaving Iraq. And it would only cost us a little of our time.
Of course, that's absurd, we are all happy to sacrifice dozens of lives a day so we can get to Grandma's house a little faster. Much better we sacrifice a few lives a day to keep Terrorists pinned down in Iraq.
Yeah, some people might have told you the polls were lying. Most knew they weren’t, and just ignored you because your “warnings” were nothing more than what we already knew just looking at the numbers.
“Predicting” the obvious doesn’t make you a Seer.
The men at the Alamo had to know they were going to lose. But they also knew they loved their homes, and were willing to defend freedom. They did it at the cost of their lives.
Republicans know Iraq is our stand for the defense of freedom. They don’t have to give their lives, just put their party power on the line. If the people of the Alamo could give their lives, we can give our political futures for the defense of freedom.
You do not appear to deserve your Freeper Handle, “freedomdefender”, if you are willing to give up the defense of freedom simply to win elections with politicians who stink of defeat and power-lust.
Speaking of absurd . . .
People who die in traffic accidents don’t die in the name of their country.
You have spoken well. It is heartening that there are fellow Americans who feel the same. I wonder what all the patriots who were fully prepared to sacrifice their name, their honor, their livelihoods all for our independence would think of these weenies today?
They aren’t RINOS. They are trying to save this party. The GOP will be crushed in 2007 if we “stay the course”, letting more Americans die while trying to police a civil war.
“prohibiting anything resembling sharia law”
good luck on that. as soon as we are out of there, all bets are off. because, my friend, all the reasons for going in, are not there any more (i.e. WMD, Saddam and Sons), so we can’t go back, and besides Cheney and his halliburton buddies will have made all the money they need...ha ha just kidding.
President Bush is very popular, praise Allah. He has vanquished the Democrat cowards. There are no Democrats in DC, never.
Thanks, bears repeating over and over:
Reaping the fruit wont be today, it will be in the future after patience and great fighting.
Some will keep on blaming America and her policies and they will consider anything America did and does wrong whether America stayed or left, fought or ran away, negotiated or boycotted. There will always be those who blame America for everything that goes wrong in this world but that doesnt mean America has to listen to them. America instead should listen to the spirit of America and what it stands for.
“I don’t want to pass this off to another president. I don’t want to pass this off, particularly, to a democratic president,”
don’t really know what this means. He won’t be able to pass it off to a dem anyway, because they would just fumble it, or dropkick it into the opposition’s band section. Man, I’m clever. I should write for SNL.
We don’t know how many of the 11 were of the opinion expressed by the two who leaked information. Boehner may have been there so he would understand exactly what was said at the meeting.
Very good points. People think this thing can be over in a couple of years, they are wrong. The only ones who seem to get it are the president (who is almost too ‘nice’ to realy do what has to be done), the military, and about half of the republicans in congress.
The rest don’t know, don’t care, are only looking out for their own short term political gain, or secretly or not-so secretly hope we get whacked because we’re so “evil”.
With their blades in their hands to behead the population one at a time...............
Yes, Democrats saw that the conservatives were mad at Rick for supporting Specter. But the conservatives would vote for him anyway simply for his pro-life, pro-gun position.
So the democrats ran a pro-life, pro-gun candidate. That neutralized the conservatives, who stayed home knowing that either candidate would be OK on the critical issues.
Rick was also getting hit for his kissing up to Imus on mercury, his bizarre stance on weather service stuff on the net, and his support for the internet gambling bill.
The War of course was a big part as well.
And since Bush had not been able to win PA in either of his elections, it could be that it was Rick’s time. If you alienate your base when your state is trending away from you, and the opponents run a candidate that appeals to your base, you could well lose.
I take it you mean as someone who could set things straight as the leaks continue to come out?
I’d agree with that except Boehner has been making his own noises about the war.
Republicans can blame the media and democrats all they want. The fact is the White House will be taken by a democrat if this mess in Iraq is still going on next year.
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.