Democrats Refocus Message on Iraq After Military Gains

[wellst0nev0ter]

Source: Washington Post

Democratic leaders in Congress had planned to use August recess to raise the heat on Republicans to break with President Bush on the Iraq war. Instead, Democrats have been forced to recalibrate their own message in the face of recent positive signs on the security front, increasingly focusing their criticisms on what those military gains have not achieved: reconciliation among Iraq's diverse political factions.

And now the Democrats, along with wavering Republicans, will face an advertising blitz from Bush supporters determined to remain on offense. A new pressure group, Freedom's Watch, will unveil a month-long, $15 million television, radio and grass-roots campaign today designed to shore up support for Bush's policies before the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, lays out a White House assessment of the war's progress. The first installment of Petraeus's testimony is scheduled to be delivered before the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a fact both the administration and congressional Democrats say is simply a scheduling coincidence.

The leading Democratic candidates for the White House have fallen into line with the campaign to praise military progress while excoriating Iraqi leaders for their unwillingness to reach political accommodations that could end the sectarian warfare.

"We've begun to change tactics in Iraq, and in some areas, particularly in Anbar province, it's working," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) said in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Monday.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

---

More bullshit from the Emessem. This month Eye-Rack suffered through the WORST terror attack anywhere in the world since 9-11 and 14 more American lives were wasted because they had to go through yet another Blackhawk Down scenario.

No, there are no direct quotes from Democrats saying they are going to be changing their tune because Eye-Rack is going so well because the bushtards says so, so this is just the reactionary media catapulting the propoganda again.

[subsuelo]

1. At least we know of one Democratic congressman that wont change his tune

[saigon68]

40. PUPPET PETRAEUS AND HIS PACK OF LIES

Ie: "Victory is just around the corner"

"See the light at the end of the tunnel"

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"

He is a War criminal

[Kagemusha]

2. Wow, look, kids! Hillary's created Conventional Wisdom!

Now everyone accepts that the US military has made military progress in Iraq.

Not that I have any idea what this progress is, since the article makes no effort to explain what the gains might be, but even Democrats are saying there's been progress so it must be true!

Thanks, Hillary!

[deacon]

3. Yeah, she stinks. The last thing we need in the next president is

more of the same.

[WillTheGoober]

4. :-/

... that's not what she said.

[leftchick]

5. really?

enlighten us as to what she said.

[luckyleftyme2]

6. good try

another smear tatic with a mis-leading agenda to bait you for the switch! well buzz bomb hillary is here to stay-shes gonna be the next president so jump on the band wagon-stop the smear -no room for repukes in this lobby!

[rodeodance]

7. she also said it was Too late (paraphasing). And that makes a difference as

I think you are implying.

[tom_paine]

12. Yep. And just like the Nazis (and the Social Democrats who enabled them)

"conventional wisdom" not only has nothing to do with reality, when it comes from Nazis or Bushies, completely contradicts reality.

Don't just thank Hillary. She just put the final touches of varnish on a frame which was built long before she arrived on the scene.

She only helped.

[Kagemusha]

16. Helping is enough.

nt.

[tabasco]

26. No sh*t.

I feel nothing but disgust.

[rodeodance]

8. a few Representives now say give it more time (after they visited Iraq)

[rodeodance]

10. McNerney made clear his views have shifted since returning from Iraq.

Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), who made waves when he returned from Iraq by saying he was willing to be more flexible on troop withdrawal timelines, issued a statement to constituents "setting the record straight."

"I am firmly in favor of withdrawing troops on a timeline that includes both a definite start date and a definite end date," he wrote on his Web site.

But in an interview yesterday, McNerney made clear his views have shifted since returning from Iraq. He said Democrats should be willing to negotiate with the generals in Iraq over just how much more time they might need. And, he said, Democrats should move beyond their confrontational approach, away from tough-minded, partisan withdrawal resolutions, to be more conciliatory with Republicans who might also be looking for a way out of the war.

"We should sit down with Republicans, see what would be acceptable to them to end the war and present it to the president, start negotiating from the beginning," he said, adding, "I don't know what the leadership is thinking. Sometimes they've done things that are beyond me."

[JTFrog]

9. Give it a couple days.

She'll say something to appease the left next week and then the right the next. Nothing to see here.

[rodeodance]

11. features a gut-level appeal from Iraq war veterans and the families of fallen soldiers, pleading:

The burst of effort has been striking, if only because Democrats left for their August recess confident that Republicans would be on the defensive by now. Instead, the GOP has gone on the attack. The new privately funded ad campaign, to run in 20 states, features a gut-level appeal from Iraq war veterans and the families of fallen soldiers, pleading: "It's no time to quit. It's no time for politics."

"For people who believe in peace through strength, the cavalry is coming," said Ari Fleischer, a former Bush White House press secretary who is helping to head Freedom's Watch.

GOP leaders have latched on to positive comments from Democrats -- often out of context -- to portray the congressional majority as splintering. Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.), an Armed Services Committee member who is close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said many of her colleagues learned a hard lesson from the Republican campaign.

[karynnj]

20. That shows the damage the forced FISA vote had

Yet, had they refused to pass it - even had they stayed in session - the attack would have been that the Democrats are jeopordizing security. Instead the Democrats (not the Republicans who all voted for it) were blamed for giving up more privacy rights.

It is frustrating as they always seem to win the PR war, even when the facts favor us. To me, it is amazing that even now when the news from Iraq is scary beyond belief, faced with a choice of believing that or believing the Bush people, who have been shown to have lied continually - many have believed Bush. I can't believe his poll numbers are gaining.

[Doctor_J]

30. that's because the have complete control over the MSM

99.9% of radio, 100% of TV, and 95% of the newspapers. Once the MSM is burnt to the ground, we'll start to reclaim democracy.

[Zhade]

34. Of course, that bill never had to come to the floor.

It was within the Dems' power to not allow it up for a vote, yet they did anyway.

WHY?

[karynnj]

43. I think they could not have prevented it in the Senate

The minority can bring things to the floor. They COULD have prevented it under House rules.

[WillTheGoober]

13. Ok ...

The video is widely available.
It was a speech -- and a small part of the speech.

I don't believe any amount of marketing on behalf of Bush is going to change the country's perception of this war.

But -- we have to understand that a large portion of this country really wants to succeed. Now, I know the absurdity of succeeding in a war with no purpose is overwhelming at times -- but there are a lot of people in this country that just do not want to feel like their boys lost. We need a leader to get us out of Iraq while making sure our troops' honor and respect here at home is in tact.

Now we can make fun of that -- we can call it stupid -- but it is real.

Building bridges isn't easy ...

[ohio2007]

14. It comes down to poll #'s ( Gallup)

Information needs to be disected.
Why was public opinion so high in April '02 ? ( review MSM articles from Mar/Apr '02 )
What was being done that garnered so much public approval of the workings inside the beltway ?



http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28456

Something shifted and it shifted for the worse imo.
What must be changed to change public opinion? At least reaching out to those that actually vote.

[karynnj]

21. That spike was April 2003, not 2002

The answer was that the country invaded Iraq in mid March 2003 and the media told us the mission was nearly accomplished. I looked at the numbers in the chart at your link - the conjecture is mine, but nothing came close to that at that point.

[ohio2007]

37. The graph shows April 2002 you stand corrected

your conjecture is wrong unless you have some other poll ( zogby or whatever ) that shows April 2003 is when the spike was at 84% but this graph only picks small points when the polls were given is what they may be suggesting with the random spacing. jmo


April 2002 is when the northern alliance ( and other forces )
pretty much knocked the Taliban out of the ball park for good. But the cancer was allowed to fester just across the border.

We never should have played with honoring an out of bounds area. ( Obama talking point )

[karynnj]

45. Oh the big 84% peak - I thought you were speaking of the next blip

The 84% peak - from the data in your link is Oct 11 - 14, 2001. The previous point was Sept 7 -10.
That blip is very easy to understand. The April 2003 point was the first one after we invaded and at a point where we were about 2 or 3 weeks into the war and people still thought it would be a cakewalk.

The earlier 18% was March 1992. But the previous point was Oct 1991 and that was 40%. The point after it was a 27% in 1993. I know the economy was bad and GHWB tanked at the same time. People were not happy - I can't remember anything happening then - but I was home with 3 kids under 5 then.

Observation - That is one distorted time axis - note that the same length of line could be a year or 3 years - at other points - weird.

[sendero]

15. There is NO..

... .possibility of success and anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together knows it.

Why would I rely on the moronic assholes who got us into this mess to get us out? Bush doens't care about ANYTHING other than not being seen as a failure on Iraq. He is willing to drain the treasury and see half the military dead or maimed in his vain quest.

The time to worry about putting the egg together is before you break it. Many of us warned this would happen, generals were FORCED OUT for voicing their concerns.

I'm sick of you dumbasses who think you can play double or nothing with other people's lives forever. THERE IS NO MILITARY SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM, and the POLITICAL SOLUTIONS ARE GOING NOWHERE. What part of that do you not get?

[WillTheGoober]

17. ...

I understand. I'm not arguing against your opinions there. In fact, I agree for the most part.

But -- we can't make people who disagree with you just disappear.
And we can't deny that there is a large population in this country who do not want to "lose."

Considering them dumb, moronic, 2 brain celled assholes isn't helpful to our cause, I don't believe.
If anything it makes this conflict more convoluted with distractions.

I should also mention that war builds on itself ...
Soldiers who have lost a fellow soldier are now fighting out of revenge for that soldier's death.
All of a sudden we have a situation that is no longer about why we went in -- because there are reasons that occurred after the fact that now justify fighting for men/women on the ground.

[sendero]

18. My friend..

.... the majority of Americans want OUT. So what is the problem?

[WillTheGoober]

25. Well ...

That's the real debate, isn't it?

I think you get a mixed message from the American people -- as is always the case.
We have a lot of people in this country.

I think most people want out.
How/when that's to take place is the real debate.

I think we need to be strategic -- and I think we need to be careful.

It's very easy to say leave -- but unless each of our troops gets the ability to pick up and fly, it's not so easy.
Getting out of a fortified situation like this, in the Middle East, is not simple and requires attention to strategy.

Democrats really need to work with military experts and draft a solid plan for leaving Iraq.
This Administration refuses to plan for leaving because if they don't plan, they don't have to leave.

[OzarkDem]

36. There already is a plan

Dem leaders need to get off their asses and get on with it.

We're out of money - we can't afford the cost of this war any longer, especially while the economy is failing and millions of Americans are losing health care.

[ohio2007]

38. "If you fail to plan....plan to fail"

Americans don't want to be a crutch for a country that has the recourse to stand on its own.
jmo

[OzarkDem]

35. 51% of Americans think Iraq was a mistake, 69% disagree w/ *'s war

So Dem leaders now want to kow-tow to 30% of the electorate?

Are they hoping to get 29% approval ratings by agreeing w/ Bush?

Wouldn't it make more sense to follow the wishes of most Americans and start getting us out?

[ohio2007]

22. You should pass that post on to

the campaign HQ's of all the leading canidates.

they have flip flopped. So my question is; What do they know and when did they know it?

btw
insults are a trolls best weapon

just saying.
Brainstorming requires many braincells from all the various sources......

[wellst0nev0ter]

27. Sorry, The Hillary Quote Was Just Part Of The Four-Paragraph Limit

I knew her quote was probably taken out of context of her larger criticisms, and Ellen Tauscher from the same article says as such:

GOP leaders have latched on to positive comments from Democrats -- often out of context -- to portray the congressional majority as splintering. Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.), an Armed Services Committee member who is close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said many of her colleagues learned a hard lesson from the Republican campaign.

"I don't know of anybody who isn't desperately supportive of the military," she said. "People want to say positive things. But it's difficult to say positive things in this environment and not have some snarky apologist for the White House turn it into some clipped phraseology that looks like support for the president's policies."

[WillTheGoober]

28. Thanks ...

That makes sense.

[ohio2007]

39. We live in a soundbyte world. Its all about hot button catchy phrases

doesn't matter which side gets talking points taken out of context, the MSM will run with what sells the best.

[Rydz777]

19. The "military gains" are smoke and mirrors. Eighteen more US

military deaths on PBS last night; helicopter down today with about as many dead. These are not gains. These are tragedies - akin to the miners' deaths in Utah. Mindless leadership and bungling, bungling, bungling. The American people want this travesty to end. Why can't the politicians understand that?

[bemildred]

23. Most Policy Experts Call U.S. Surge a Failure, Survey Says

A majority of U.S. foreign policy experts — conservatives and liberals — believe the U.S. “surge” strategy in Iraq is failing, in a sharp reversal of opinion from six months ago, a survey released August 20 has found.

Most favored a drawdown of most U.S. forces over 18 months, but few supported an immediate withdrawal, and a majority believed that regional instability and civil war were likely to follow a pullout, according to the results.

More than 100 foreign policy experts took part in the survey by Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank.

They included two former secretaries of state, a former national security adviser, and former military and intelligence officials, Foreign Policy said in a statement.

http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/wars/Most_Polic...

[bemildred]

24. Victory in Iraq may not be in sight

The next time you hear confident assurances from the White House and its supporters that the "surge" of U.S. troops in Iraq is working and that something called "victory" is within sight, remember the Yazidis.

The who? Before last Tuesday, you almost certainly would have asked that question -- before two villages in northern Iraq, populated by an obscure religious sect, suffered what is now officially the deadliest terrorist attack of the war, with more than 400 people confirmed dead. The final toll is expected to rise, but the coordinated suicide truck bombings in the Yazidi towns already constitute the second-worst terrorist attack of modern times, trailing only the carnage of Sept. 11, 2001.

Thanks to online encyclopedias, veteran foreign correspondents and the work of dedicated scholars, we now have a boilerplate definition. The Yazidis are ethnic Kurds who practice an ancient, pre-Islamic religion. Among their beliefs is that God created seven archangels, one of whom is sometimes called Shaytan, which is the name given to Satan in the Koran. This has led some Muslims to believe, incorrectly, that the Yazidis are devil-worshipers.

We also now know that in April, a Yazidi woman who had married a Muslim and converted to Islam was stoned to death by irate members of her community. This horror was captured on video and disseminated widely; angry Muslims gunned down 23 Yazidis in reprisal.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070...

[THUNDER HANDS]

29. i wouldn't worry

as soon as summer is over, things will heat up again over there. Regardless of what this general's report is going to state. By the time the election rolls around, things will be worse in Iraq than they are now. Even terrorists don't want to fight every day when it's 130 degrees out.

[Magleetis]

31. One big

media blitz full of shit, Again.

[Exiled in America]

32. Every day I move one step closer to just declaring that democrats plain fucking suck.

I don't know whether to be angry or just cry.

I'm so goddamned sad about the state of our party. What I want from the leadership of the party, the congressional leadership, and even the majority of congressional representatives of the party I never get.



By the way OP, you're wrong - democratic congressman was just on NPR yesterday, saying how well the surge was going. I heard it myself. And Hillary Clinton was right out front to set the tone for the party by declaring that the surge is working.

I'm more than certain the congressional leadership will continue to show its total lack of spine and say the same thing. And certainly the party leadership wait to see which way the wind blows before following the same meme that's already been distributed to the media - that its working.

[HuffleClaw]

33. WHAT 'military gains' ???

and now, after years of 'righteous indignation' of even a HINT of comparison between the iraq war and vietnam the white house itself is making the same comparison? wtf is going on?

[saigon68]

41. 3607 NEW GOLD STAR MOTHERS--gaining in numbers

Those are the gains

[Warren Stupidity]

42. I am really hoping that this is bullshit.

I fear that it is not and that we will see a long string of triangulated position statements carefully tuned to use the september bullshit event as cover for not taking an actual position on anything, from each of the annointed bullshit media system candidates.

[mzmolly]

44. "reactionary media catapulting the propoganda again."

Yup.

[xxqqqzme]

46. Any rumors of Dems growing spines is just that - rumors

I am so f*cking tired of being disappointed by this bunch of yellow jello cubes!