Saysyes,

Well I don't know what is going to be honorable if you listen to the right. They seem to say, "any mention of withdrawing before victory is ludacris." And so when you ask to define winning, they say, "that they can't do that or that creating a time line for victory is impossible" So they just talk in circles until you just give up and walk away.

Posted at June 11, 2008 3:29 PM in response to McCain Campaign: Dems Took "Not Too Important" Quote Out Of Context

another point to make on the Not too important comment. We saw what failing to plan did to post conflict Iraq and where it lead us (today) and so I think that there is a broader message that McCain is sending with that comment. I feel like that says, "we don't need to plan for a way out" That's like saying I didn't study for my midterm, got an F, but for the final I don't need to make a plan to get a better grade because it's not too important, what is important is that I don't fail. I don't know that just doesn't seem to me to make much reasonable sense. If McCain had said: "It is important to have a plan for ending the conflict because we do not want to leave Iraq without creating stability. We want an Iraqi force that can secure it's borders and city streets and keep it's people safe because we care. And it is important that I bring our troops home safely, however, we don't have that plan in place yet." Well then perhaps we could say ok your working on the problem and we could trust you to actually do something about it. But as he said it, it makes him look just like Bush in his inability to address the American people with any honesty. It makes him sound like he has no idea what he is going to do to end this conflict.

Posted at June 11, 2008 3:00 PM in response to Lieberman: McCain's "Not Too Important" Comment Doesn't Matter Because He Served In Vietnam

For me there seems to be a basic problem with McCain's arguement. He say's it's not too important about when then troops come home and what is important is the loss of life and the risk to american lives. Well ok but conflict has existed in this region for thousands of years. It's fairly easy to understand that we're not going to solve those issues in 6 months. So I think it's easy to argue that American lives with be in danger as long as Americans are there. The best way to remove the threat to Americans is remove the Americans. Set a timetable for withdraw, intensify the transfer the responsibility of security to Iraqi forces and go home. We can maintain strong diplomatic relationship without a military presence. Be alert to the need to aid in any response to Iran and be willing to lend aid. And it wouldn't be failure as Bush already said, "Mission Accomplished!"

Posted at June 11, 2008 2:46 PM in response to McCain Campaign: Dems Took "Not Too Important" Quote Out Of Context

Agreed that this war was fought for reasons other than the administration let on, however, it's not in the best interest of the economy to keep middle eastern oil in the ground. Currently costs of the war are estimated (depending on source) between 1 and 3 trillion dollars. This is not sustainable and the costs that are being passed onto the average American are going to keep us in a recession if we don't act in proactively different way. Stablizing Iraq is very important to the world economy and world safety. But it won't come from our military presence. Instead of engaging Iran in war, we need immediate diplomatic talks with Tehran. There is no reason to keep them at an isolated distance.

One thing to keep in mind is that this war has not negatively affected the production of oil. Stablizing Irag and Iran, should lead help with oil futures buying, one of primary reasons that oil is being driven up, not the supply. Think about it, because the predominate suppliers of oil to the US are Canada and Venezuela (which is why Mr. Chavez is a much more important player than Sadam ever was)so we can't blame the cost of gas entirely on this war.

However, we can blame the incredible waste, the senseless loss of life, the inept pre and post war reconstruction planning on the administration.

Posted at March 25, 2008 1:33 PM in response to What is victory in Iraq? Not leaving. How oil defines everything.

I actually watched that piece, and I have to say that I can't believe that Carl Rove is not in a federal prison. I can't imagine for one minute if the DOJ turned their microscope on him or almost anyone else in this administration, they would find some pretty nasty stuff going on.

Posted at February 25, 2008 2:14 PM in response to 60 Minutes Siegelman Story "Blacked Out" in N. Alabama