McLaughlin Group tonight - DEMS' WITHDRAWAL TIMETABLE WON THE WEEK!!!

[blm]

I just watched McLaughlin Group and had to log back on.

McLaughlin was really cagey drawing answers from the round, but when all was said and done about the vote and how the Repubs defeated it, he brought up the poll of the American people SIDING with a timetable, and said that the Republicans would regret being forced to declare that they side with Bush on this. Also sounded like many GOPs privately are not HAPPY that they were forced into declaring their support.

And then he said DEMOCRATS WON THE WEEK BECAUSE OF THIS VOTE.

[pooja]

1. I was wondering how many of these senators listened to their constituents

[INdemo]

7. This is a good point

And I have always wondered how any Senator or Congressman gets by with voting their own person preference..Of course I understand the lobbyist factor too.

[JI7]

2. we have the truth on our side

Democrats want a change for the better, Republicans want to stay the failed course of disaster.

[INdemo]

9. When the death toll reaches 3,000 will Bush still insist

on staying the course?

[ginnyinWI]

18. sadly, we'll probably find out.

They seem to be killed at about the rate of five a day lately. At that rate, it will be just about 100 days from now. :cry:

[MissWaverly]

13. I saw Chris Shays (R-CT) interviewed on Tv tonight

He running to be re-elected to the House of Representatives and he said something like
if he's not re-elected then he will say that the people just don't support his Stay
the Course policy. I really don't understand this, what part of being a "representative"
do they not understand. We went to war based on a lie and I and many like me are tired
of bluster. I read "Armed Madhouse." This war is a super cash cow for military contractors
selling obselete equipment that have nothing to do with the war at all.

Page 46 Armed Madhouse - Greg Palast

"The defense expert snorted at our lack of knowledge of the weaponry. For an extra 400 million
per vessel, they had been "refitted." The torpedos had been retooled to fit nine sailors each so they can be shot onto the beach." The submarine which will be used to sneak up on terrorists
is "the size of an underwater aircraft carrier." "I remembered the Israelis, who have a smaller
budget than ours, land commandoes in canvas canoes."

[blm]

28. Sounds like Shays is not his own man - - how many Republicans are?

Ron Paul, Walter Jones maybe.

[ProSense]

34. Shays reminds me of

Hagel with the look of concern on his face at all times, but when it comes to action, he's a rubber stamp Republican.

[blm]

35. Completely agree - they act concerned about their own party but do NOTHING

to oppose it.

[MissWaverly]

3. Yes we did

Because that is exactly what the Iraqis are saying that they want a timetable.

[blm]

4. After all the handwringing from nervous nellies about divided Dems, I knew

this would be a welcome respite.

Even the Repubs were saying they couldn't declare the GOPs won definitively and that they would have to see in November. McLaughlin really backed them into a corner the way he worded his questions.

[JI7]

6. that's why they are starting up with the terrorist fears

with the arrests of those idiots who posed no threat to us. there will be more to distract us from the real issues and the truth.

[MissWaverly]

10. No, I think that the Dems pulled off a brilliant strategy

Kerry was criticized on the Lehrer report tonight for the timetable but I thought it was brilliant because there were 2 options on the table.

1. you could have a timetable for withdrawal
2. you could have a draw down leaving a strike force to cope with whatever may arrive

those are basically the only options right now, people are smart enough to realize that the
war on terror has lasted as long as our involvement in WW II and there are no tangible results.
What part of Iraq have we secured, there is open fighting outside the Green Zone which is
a glorified bunker. What did the Republicans do, puff themselves up and strut around
crowing: Stay the Course which is just meaningless bluster.

[Guaranteed]

5. Yup.

Kerry did very well, blm. He and all Democrats who voted correctly are going to be very happy that they did so.

[wisteria]

8. This, thanks to Kerry and Feingold. n/t

[bleever]

11. That's what I've been saying, while the pundits say Dems Divided!

There's no reason to be ashamed of being right.

:)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. But Rove is their genius, they gotta ride that fascist groove!

[ginnyinWI]

19. They'll ride it straight over the cliff together, like lemmings.

There are a couple of lessons from previous elections--I'm sketchy on the details, but the gist of it is that a scare tactic might last one or two election cycles, but then the people get wise to it. I think the "red scare" of the 50s was one example. It worked for two elections, and the third time the Congress flipped over to the Dems.

[bridgit]

14. McLaughlin is a straight up conservative no doubt, old school, so...

it seems to me he is in that strata that believes bush is driving this nation off the cliff...and of course he is right, i've seen him treat buchanan like a bit of a goof at times, which is good to see he is able to be that balanced

[MissWaverly]

16. McLaughlin is the shrewd dude who knows the score

McLaughlin said there is an effort going on to get us out of Iraq, I believe
he called it back channel-getting the Iraqis to ask us to leave. I give Mr. McLaughlin points
for not being a bush cheerleader and I like how everybody argues on his show and how he won't let his guests get away with a mealy mouthed response. I heard him say, what is the answer-
YES or NO!

[bridgit]

17. i believe that's correct, MissWaverly, he knows full-well that you...

cannot follow behind a slogan such as 'either vote for bush (our madman), or you're with the terrorists', it just doesn't float boats, and it is falling beneath the weight of it's own hubris

the only followers left will be the wing-nut fringe duuph's over at fox, and his donor base, which while wealthy; just isn't that broad really, or at least imo

[MissWaverly]

20. I think Bush is losing his base for 2 reasons

1.) Ron Suskind's book: the One Percent Principle, he's been awarded the Pulitizer Prize and
he was the senior national affairs reporter for the Wall Street Journal. This book has been
red meat for many of the fox news watchers, they are not stupid, just conservative. 2.) Many
of his base are against the proposed highway to go from Mexico through Kansas City to Canada
and his immigration policies.

I don't think that his donor base is the wealthy, I think that he appeals to those who are ruthless, that want no government regulation at all, and they donated to him solely so
they could cash in big time, like we have discovered to our sorrow over the mistreatment
of the Indian tribes over casino gambling.

[blm]

26. Exactly - Bush's base is the truly RUTHLESS, not the truly religious

.

[JudyM]

29. ... and the truly clueless... n/t

[Cha]

15. COOL! And what about the dems

who sided with bush?

I caught up with a friend today, who really likes Kerry, on the latest political maneuverings. I told her how proud I was of Kerry and the thirteen Senators who voted to get out of Iraq now.

As an aside..She teaches political science here in New York and she does not want hillary to be our Dem candidate.

[MissWaverly]

21. they did not side with Bush, they hid from Rove

but that's what he wants, first he has the media toadies bash them whenever they speak out,
now he's playing to show them as "gutless" so that he can go for a trifecta, but it's not
going to work a third time.

[blm]

27. I think you have something there.... and Dems would be SMART to use it.

Turn it all on the Repubs - even the Repub senators and congressmen are too scared of Rove to represent the common sense of their constituents so they HAVE TO GO.

MissW, you should press that aspect in a thread of its own - maybe left media can catch on.

[Innocent Smith]

22. That is still on the air?

The last time I saw it the panel was: Pat, Jack, Mort, Eleanor, and John

Who's on nowadays?

[blm]

30. Larry O'Donnell, Tony Blankley, Eleanor Clift, and Pat Buchanan

although the list is subject to change.

[Polemicist]

23. Last week was a great week for Democrats....

We just stapled all the Republican Senators and Congressmen directly to George W. Bush's back and have them on record as again blindly rubber stamping Bush's failed war policies.

The vote this week, wipes out the bogus vote the previous week and leaves this subject positioned squarely where Democrats wanted it.

Bush and his GOP cheerleaders are going to have to answer for their failed war policies this November. And they can't now say Democrats are the same as they are. Because almost all Democrats are now on the record as opposing Bush's failed war and calling for Troop withdrawals.

Good job Reid and Pelosi.

[blm]

36. Kerry and Murtha did a great job of sticking their necks out on this and

keeping it there for so long.

[AtomicKitten]

24. Lawrence O'Donnell had Buchanan and Blankley HOWLING

when he kept saying Nixon cut and ran from Vietnam.

Really funny.

[blm]

25. At that point, I thought Buchanan was going to leap out of his chair and

strangle McLaughlin.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

31. Thanks for the preview. Mr. Wonderful and myself never

miss "The Screamers" as the McLaughlin Group is called in our home. It'll be shown here on our local PBS station in about 30 minutes. Now I have something to look forward to.

Really looking forward to Lawrence O'Donnell v "Fat" Tony and Pat....

[ProSense]

32. Yes, the GOP voted to stay the course

of death and chaos!

[Avalux]

33. Yes! I agree completely.

So many of us were caught up in the media-hyped split among our Senators and on the surface, it did look like Kerry was out there by himself with little support. Once I thought about it though, I realized that almost all of our Senators were in agreement about a timetable, just not the specifics, so they offered two different plans and the Republicans refused BOTH. Senate Republicans have sealed their fate by supporting Bush's failed Iraq policy.