Analysis: Candidates won't risk votes as troops risk lives

[gateley]

(I don't agree with his stance that the situation in Iraq has improved, but I'm disgusted and disheartened that this doesn't seem to be important enough to discuss during the campaign any more.)


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Whatever happened to the war?

For months, it was all the rage on the campaign trail. Democratic contenders never missed a chance to pound on the Bush administration, rip the Republicans and remind voters over and over how badly things were going in Iraq.

Republicans, as often as not, staunchly insisted that distant battles and homeland security went hand-in-hand. Day after day, stop after stop, the war was the focus of all things presidential.

Now, the war is little more than a distant echo in most stump speeches. The Democrats are generally saying little more than "We should get out as soon as we can." The Republicans are hardly mentioning it.

Why?

Here's a theory: Republicans know that a defining characteristic of the electorate now is widespread distaste for the war that Bush launched and has continued with the help of the Republican Party.

more... http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/13/raw.politics.foreman/index.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. Honestly, what more can they say? Dems want the occupation over, and

Republicans want it to continue. Dems have all introduced their exit strategies and discussed them, Repubs do not WANT exit strategies. It's that simple.

[gateley]

2. It's almost as though we've accepted our presence in Iraq as a way of life.

When people are still dying, when we're still disrupting a nation's way of life, I think it's shameful that they don't keep bringing it up.

Biden kept it in the forefront - I don't understand why the others aren't too.

Edit to add -- it DOES seem like it's not POLITICALLY positive for either side to address the situation. Despicable behavior. Do they just want to WIN, or do they want to do what's RIGHT?

[Name removed]

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