isnt all this defeatism a little premature?

[don jose]

Today is a great day for the Iraqi people no doubt - a nasty dictator has been captured. I for one am delighted.
No doubt this will be a boost for the GOP and GWB certainly has the upper hand at the moment but the elections are not for 11 months and a lot could happen in that time. Is it not premature to be defeatist nearly a year before the elections? - We could be in a very different place 11 months from now.

[FDRrocks]

1. I think it is...

This was inevitable. I agree, I am glad Saddam was captured. Although I don't think the propaganda is that powerful, he was basically persona non grata half a year ago.

edit: BTW, welcome to DU :) :) :)

[WhosNext]

2. I think it just highlights how much of a disaster Dean would be.

[HFishbine]

3. I think it's a convenient excuse

for people who cannot assert a persuasive argument for their preferred candidate.

[WhosNext]

5. Keep saying that

Maybe it'll become true? :shrug:

[westman]

4. So,

are you saying that there is still time for something bad to happen, and we should look forward to that? We need to build our own positives. Hoping for GOP negatives is bad for us and for the country.

[Norbert]

6. bu$h had a bigger lead 12 years ago

and look what happened. And he wasn't near the knucklehead we have in their now. It's obvious there are some trollers here that love to stoke a chicken little attitude on DU. I've actually logged on to DU as a result of reading on another message board some far right poster saying DU posters are running scared and saying the ship is sinking.

Remember the old saying folks: "United we stand, divided we fall." Don't let the trollers stoke a defeatist attitude.

For the record I lean toward Dean but will vote for anyone but the shithead squatter we have in there now. Remain calm folks. The upshot in all of this is the US caught a bad guy this morning.

[liberalpragmatist]

7. Yes -- we should at least wait a week before making predictions

This is WAY too premature, even to see how this will affect the nomination contest. If it has an effect anywhere, that's where it'll be, NOT in the general. The election is a yr. away and a pattern has already emerged. W's support will climb (probably to 60% this time) then fall back over the next few weeks. Also note that each spike is less than the last and each spike declines more quickly. The insurgency will not end (though I hope it will even if politically it would be disastrous for us) and Iraq will still be a mess. Plus, a huge # of people just don't trust him anymore.

Besides, much better this happens now, a yr. before the race than a few days before election day. (Although Osama's still at large - hopefully he'll be caught soon or only after the election).

[Kamika]

8. most defeatists are just republicans anyway

Writing a post like "its over" then

"We have no chance in 2004 sorry."

is just some freeper who wants to ignite some kind of defeatism in us so we wont vote.. im suprised so many are buying into it

[Zorra]

9. Capturing that beaten old man is no big deal.

Look at this guy. He obviously has had nothing to do with administrating the Iraqi resistance. He looks like he has been raiding dumpsters in the Haight. This capture was pitifully long overdue, and is basically only symbolic at this point. So, can we give the Iraqis their country back tomorrow, and bring our troops home next week?

Realistically, the US supposedly attacked Iraq because Saddam had WMD and was an imminent threat to the US. That was not true.

So, did we just destroy a sovereign nation, kill tens of thousands of people, and spend 150 billion dollars just to pluck this two-bit despot turned homeless guy from his squat? Let's get real here. This is not at all impressive. It's actually kind of embarrassing.