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  • WEDNESDAY JUNE 13 2007 9:00 AM

Democrats: Classic Fuck Ups

Submitted by FearTheReaper

Edited by erin_broadley

Tags: Democrats, Bush, Republicans, Iraq



After the 9/11 attacks, George Bush had political capital to spend. With his support skyrocketing, he chose to make every idiotic choice he possibly could, alienating America across the globe and becoming the worst President in US history. Politicians do not get many opportunities like the one George Bush was given. But he blew the support in such a horrific fashion that in November of 2006, the Republicans suffered one of the worst defeats in Congressional history, losing both chambers of Congress. The American public wanted the Democrats to do one thing: Get the US out of Iraq. And, not surprisingly, the Democrats took that political mandate and totally fucked it up.

George Bush’s approval numbers are nearing Nixon territory. At this point, he could probably rape a blind 13-year-old midget on camera in the Oval Office and his numbers would not get much worse than they already are. Now, ad that to the fact that Americans support some sort of withdrawal from Iraq by a large margin and it sounds like a great combination if you are the opposing party, right? Not if that opposing party is The Party of Being Afraid. Like the pussies they are known to be, the Democrats caved on the recent spending bill and gave Bush a blank check.

The Republicans called the Democrats’ bluff and they scampered away like the frightened kittens they are. A tremendous opportunity lost. I believe the Democrats made a political calculation – one they will come to greatly regret. New polls out this week suggest the public is upset that the Democrats caved on the Iraq spending bill. Way back in April, the Democratic led Congress had a 54% approval rating, but that has now plummeted to 35%. In April, the Democrats held a 24% approval rating advantage over Bush. That advantage has now dropped to 3%. That is what happens when you play politics instead of doing what you were clearly elected to do.

The Democrats stupidly thought keeping Iraq alive and in the President’s court, would benefit them as people became increasingly upset over the summer. But that plan quickly backfired. The Democratic base, many of who were energized in their opposition against the war, has bailed – hence the rapid drop in poll numbers. Staffers on The Hill are said to be completely shocked at the anger spewing forth from the base. This just goes to show how distanced from reality they are. Did they not see the polls? Did they think they were given control of Congress to talk the talk and not walk the walk?

During the long standoff over the funding, Republican lawmakers kept throwing the month of September around. “We’ll wait until September to see if the surge is working,” they kept saying. The Democrats believed they could use the entire summer to hammer away at Bush on the war and they chose to wait until September. They were totally outflanked by Republican leaders. Now Republicans are beginning to float bills around, different ways to withdraw or reduce troops in September – in other words, the Republicans in Congress will take the credit for any withdrawal that takes place. After all, it will be done on their timetable. And worst of all, by signing onto the funding bill, the Democrats took part ownership of a war that was never theirs.

And make no mistake about it, the Democrats could have stopped this war – by not funding it. Bush could not veto an end to funding. He would not get a bill to veto, just a letter saying, “No more money after March. Sorry, bro.” All Congress had to do was grow a backbone and tell the President that funding for the war would end in March. If a year is not enough time to safely withdraw our troops, then we will never be able to remove them.

Will this translate in the next election? Probably not. The Republican field is one of the most pathetic in generations. They are a group of hardcore right wing/religious fanatics who are completely out of touch with the average American. Republicans will suffer greatly until they purge their party of lunatics.

But the Democrats had a moment in time they can never get back. A moment they wasted. They will now be seen as the “other” party. The party you go to if you don’t want to vote for the other guys, not as a party of action, not as the party a backbone, not as a party you can believe in to stand up for doing what is right.

Reid and Pelosi took it up the ass one this one, and they will deservedly suffer the consequences.

FearTheReaper hates Democrats but he hates Republicans more. He supported them hoping they would put a stop to the war. Now he thinks they can fuck off.

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Comments
bugbue

bugbue

Beaverton, OR
August 2006

JUN 13, 2007 11:35 AM

If it is "every one of our faults" then we all are "personally involved" so each and everyone of us has the right to bitch and moan all we want.

herbancowboy

herbancowboy

Houston, TX
June 2004

JUN 13, 2007 11:36 AM

SignalNoise said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

herbancowboy said:
And I wouldn't call it "stiffing someone else." Iraq is a mess. US troops are just a further provocation. At this point, it is in everybody's best interest--including, first and foremost, Iraqi civilians'--for a third party to intervene and calm things down.

Of course, that also means opening up the "reconstruction" efforts to non-US companies, which is one reason BushCo hesitates to do it. They want the spoils for their cronies.



I agree an outside force is necessary - but the problem is: Has the situation gotten *so toxic* that no one wants near it?

It seems like the US ("we" I guess?) needs *some* kind of success before anyone else will be willing to touch this shit. And I dunno wear those wins are coming from. Maybe the petro bill?



Do you mean the bill that's before the Iraqi Parliament? The "benchmark?" The one that will give Iraq's oil to Big Oil for at least 35 years? No, that bill is a very bad idea--for Iraqis, for oil consumers, for the planet...for everybody but Big Oil.

Zarth

zarth

Seattle, WA
December 2004

JUN 13, 2007 11:37 AM

aldushuxley said:
I hate to say it, but we have become a pretty lazy country. No I am being nice, the vast majority of our country have become idiots. It is simple, when you wreck your parents car you pay for it, when you knock a chick up you step up to the plate when you totally fuck up some ones country you fix it. It is seriously just a matter of taking responsibility, thats the right thing to do.


It is not "simple." If it were so goddamn simple, then how did this quagmire happen in the first place? It happened because people looked at a complex issue and treated it as a simple one. More of the same will lead to . . . more of the same.

And for the record, those who advocate immediate withdrawal are just as guilty of oversimplification.

FearTheReaper

FearTheReaper

NEWSWIRE

I'm lost

JUN 13, 2007 11:38 AM

aldushuxley said:
I hate to say it, but we have become a pretty lazy country. No I am being nice, the vast majority of our country have become idiots. It is simple, when you wreck your parents car you pay for it, when you knock a chick up you step up to the plate when you totally fuck up some ones country you fix it. It is seriously just a matter of taking responsibility, thats the right thing to do. Yes the war is unpopular, but it is each and every one of our faults that this happened, maybe next time more people won't sit out on the next election day, maybe more people will vote. Look out of Americans I think it is people in my category who stand the most to lose, I actually have to shovel the shit we created. Yes it is expensive and unpleasant, but it is the responsible and correct thing to do. We as a country are paying for our fuck up's, and honestly I am so tired of listening to people who are not personally involved whine about this war it makes me sick. Oh well, hopefully next election things will change.



You are trying to fix a car that burst into flames, was driven off a cliff, landed on train tracks and was hit by a bullet train. At some point you accept your failure and move on. Those of us who were opposed to the war from the beginning because we had read books about Sunnis and Shiites and knew the make up of the country are not now going to support what is and always would be a disaster. There is no repair. There will only be watching to see what happens and letting it play out as it will.

herbancowboy

herbancowboy

Houston, TX
June 2004

JUN 13, 2007 11:39 AM

aldushuxley said:
I hate to say it, but we have become a pretty lazy country. No I am being nice, the vast majority of our country have become idiots. It is simple, when you wreck your parents car you pay for it, when you knock a chick up you step up to the plate when you totally fuck up some ones country you fix it. It is seriously just a matter of taking responsibility, thats the right thing to do. Yes the war is unpopular, but it is each and every one of our faults that this happened, maybe next time more people won't sit out on the next election day, maybe more people will vote. Look out of Americans I think it is people in my category who stand the most to lose, I actually have to shovel the shit we created. Yes it is expensive and unpleasant, but it is the responsible and correct thing to do. We as a country are paying for our fuck up's, and honestly I am so tired of listening to people who are not personally involved whine about this war it makes me sick. Oh well, hopefully next election things will change.



You don't get it. The Iraqis want us gone. If we are there to "instill democracy," then we should listen up to the majority and get the fuck out.

Our presence is making things worse. Our presence is making things worse. Our presence is making things worse. Our presence is making things worse.

Get it? Our presence is making things worse. They want us to leave.

[Edit] And we may also want to rethink this whole "arming both sides" tactic.

SignalNoise

SignalNoise

USA
February 2004

JUN 13, 2007 11:48 AM

herbancowboy said:
Do you mean the bill that's before the Iraqi Parliament? The "benchmark?" The one that will give Iraq's oil to Big Oil for at least 35 years? No, that bill is a very bad idea--for Iraqis, for oil consumers, for the planet...for everybody but Big Oil.



I actually don't know *much* about the details of the petro bill - outside of the debate over sharing of revenue. But I'm not surprised the bill is heavily flawed. What I mean by a "win" would be successfully passing the bill ("meeting the benchmark") - not necessarily getting an objectively good bill. My point about the petro bill was just about building political capital, via progress, in order to stem the violence in Iraq and attract the interest of other nations in helping with situation there. That's all - I wasn't making a statement about the content of the bill itself.

Zarth

zarth

Seattle, WA
December 2004

JUN 13, 2007 11:53 AM

herbancowboy said:
You don't get it. The Iraqis want us gone. If we are there to "instill democracy," then we should listen up to the majority and get the fuck out.

Our presence is making things worse. Our presence is making things worse. Our presence is making things worse. Our presence is making things worse.

Get it? Our presence is making things worse. They want us to leave.

[Edit] And we may also want to rethink this whole "arming both sides" tactic.


Why do you hate America?

SPOILERS! (Click to view)


Bladen

Bladen

USA
February 2007

JUN 13, 2007 11:54 AM

FearTheReaper said:

aldushuxley said:
I hate to say it, but we have become a pretty lazy country. No I am being nice, the vast majority of our country have become idiots. It is simple, when you wreck your parents car you pay for it, when you knock a chick up you step up to the plate when you totally fuck up some ones country you fix it. It is seriously just a matter of taking responsibility, thats the right thing to do. Yes the war is unpopular, but it is each and every one of our faults that this happened, maybe next time more people won't sit out on the next election day, maybe more people will vote. Look out of Americans I think it is people in my category who stand the most to lose, I actually have to shovel the shit we created. Yes it is expensive and unpleasant, but it is the responsible and correct thing to do. We as a country are paying for our fuck up's, and honestly I am so tired of listening to people who are not personally involved whine about this war it makes me sick. Oh well, hopefully next election things will change.



You are trying to fix a car that burst into flames, was driven off a cliff, landed on train tracks and was hit by a bullet train. At some point you accept your failure and move on. Those of us who were opposed to the war from the beginning because we had read books about Sunnis and Shiites and knew the make up of the country are not now going to support what is and always would be a disaster. There is no repair. There will only be watching to see what happens and letting it play out as it will.



So whats the point of having history to study and learn from if we don't actually use the history to learn from....Do you think that it was a matter of directing a war from a chair. These are american soldiers out there dieing. George W. didn't just do it with his pen...it took a lot of peoples vote to put us into this situation.

AND, democrats were pretty much the majority of who voted for the damn war in the first place!

Reaver

Reaver

I'm lost
August 2003

JUN 13, 2007 11:55 AM

Ah, backlash.

Nothing is as simple as the Dems would have us believe, and stupidly everyone likes to buy into their sunshine and flowers view and they think they can always get away with blaming the Republicans or someone else for it when the sunshine and flowers never appear.

But it looks like that isn't working this time.

Oh, and I imagine that things will become much more awesome when we leave. I mean there will be less Iraqis killing Iraqis, and less death squads, and no one will indulge in any sect violence, and in that single day?

Things will get better.

Fuck, sit there and repeat 'Our presence is making things worse.' all you want? Because I for one don't fucking buy it.



Davegeek

davegeek

Trail, BC
December 2005

JUN 13, 2007 11:57 AM

Zarth said:

herbancowboy said:
You don't get it. The Iraqis want us gone. If we are there to "instill democracy," then we should listen up to the majority and get the fuck out.

Our presence is making things worse. Our presence is making things worse. Our presence is making things worse. Our presence is making things worse.

Get it? Our presence is making things worse. They want us to leave.

[Edit] And we may also want to rethink this whole "arming both sides" tactic.


Why do you hate America?

SPOILERS! (Click to view)




Cause it fucked my girlfriend from a few years back.

Zarth

zarth

Seattle, WA
December 2004

JUN 13, 2007 11:59 AM

Reaver said:
Ah, backlash.

Nothing is as simple as the Dems would have us believe, and stupidly everyone likes to buy into their sunshine and flowers view and they think they can always get away with blaming the Republicans or someone else for it when the sunshine and flowers never appear.

But it looks like that isn't working this time.


Right. The "Dems" oversimplify and blame their political opponents for all their failures.

Look in the mirror much?

herbancowboy

herbancowboy

Houston, TX
June 2004

JUN 13, 2007 12:00 PM

SignalNoise said:

herbancowboy said:
Do you mean the bill that's before the Iraqi Parliament? The "benchmark?" The one that will give Iraq's oil to Big Oil for at least 35 years? No, that bill is a very bad idea--for Iraqis, for oil consumers, for the planet...for everybody but Big Oil.



I actually don't know *much* about the details of the petro bill - outside of the debate over sharing of revenue. But I'm not surprised the bill is heavily flawed. What I mean by a "win" would be successfully passing the bill ("meeting the benchmark") - not necessarily getting an objectively good bill. My point about the petro bill was just about building political capital, via progress, in order to stem the violence in Iraq and attract the interest of other nations in helping with situation there. That's all - I wasn't making a statement about the content of the bill itself.



It will essentially privatize Iraq's oil for ExxonMobile, Chevron, Shell and BP. I say "essentially" because it calls for a 35 year lease, rather than an outright sale, but this would de facto make this war "blood for oil."

Antonia Juhasz has written much about the proposed law.

Zarth

zarth

Seattle, WA
December 2004

JUN 13, 2007 12:00 PM

Davegeek said:
Cause it fucked my girlfriend from a few years back.


Heh. I remember that. Salty wench, she was, too.

Uncognitive

Uncognitive

Brooklyn, NY
May 2003

JUN 13, 2007 12:07 PM

Bladen said:
Do you think that it was a matter of directing a war from a chair. These are american soldiers out there dieing. George W. didn't just do it with his pen...it took a lot of peoples vote to put us into this situation.



George Bush deserves the lion's share of the blame for the Iraq debacle because not only was he in charge of the administration that fast-tracked the rush to invade Iraq without bothering to have any post-Saddam planning other than "it'll be a cakewalk" and "we'll be greeted as liberators", but because he sucks at directing a war from his chair.

I'm hoping that Zombie Truman shows up and beats Bush about the face and neck with this:



Bladen

Bladen

USA
February 2007

JUN 13, 2007 12:15 PM

Uncognitive said:

Bladen said:
Do you think that it was a matter of directing a war from a chair. These are american soldiers out there dieing. George W. didn't just do it with his pen...it took a lot of peoples vote to put us into this situation.



George Bush deserves the lion's share of the blame for the Iraq debacle because not only was he in charge of the administration that fast-tracked the rush to invade Iraq without bothering to have any post-Saddam planning other than "it'll be a cakewalk" and "we'll be greeted as liberators", but because he sucks at directing a war from his chair.

I'm hoping that Zombie Truman shows up and beats Bush about the face and neck with this:





ok so yeah, let's say for the sake of argument that bush does just take his time going about the war, and there was some kind of attack on US soil. Guess what?? Then we're throwing him behind the gun for not acting quick enough!!

This is all political bullshit to help other candidates gain ground on their own campaigns and shoving their own side of the story down peoples throats.

I'll vote for the first running officer that puts this quote on paper:

"well um, yes I did vote for the war then, but I was actually very stressed at the time as my head was too far up my future campaigns ass so I just did what everyone else was doing...kind of like I'm doing right now..."

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