Who Is Doing the Politicizing? You Decide.
Rep. Dick Armey was on the Hardball College Tour tonight, and he was asked what the Daschle speech on the floor of the Senate was all about. Armey responded (and I paraphrase), “You have to understand that when you are a liberal, you never pass up an opportunity to be the victim, to feign moral outrage.”
Here are the remarks that Bush made that ‘set off’ Daschle:
“So I ask congress to give me the flexibility necessary to be able to deal with the true threats of the 21st century by being able to move the right people to the right place at the right time so we can better assure America that we are doing everything possible. The house responded but the senate is more interested in special interests in Washington, and not interested in the security of the American people. I will not accept a department of homeland security that does not allow this president and future presidents (the flexibility) to better keep the American people secure. People are working hard to get it right in Washington, both Republicans and Democrats. You see this isn’t a partisian issue. This is an American issue. This is an issue which is vital to our future…”
I guess right from the beginning, I felt, well, first it was pollsters, then it was White House staff, and then it was the vice president, and all along I was asked, are you concerned about whether or not this war is politicized, and my answer on every occasion was yes. And then the follow-up question is, is the White House politicizing the war? And I said without question, I can’t bring myself to believe that it is. I can’t believe any president or any administration would politicize the war.
But then I read in the paper this morning. Now, even the president. The president is quoted in The Washington Post this morning as saying that Democratic–the Democratic-controlled Senate is not interested in the security of the American people. Not interested in the security of the American people? You tell Senator Inoue he is not interested in the security of the American people. You tell those who fought in Vietnam and in World War II they are not interested in the security of the American people. That is outrageous–outrageous.
The president ought to apologize to Senator Inoue and every veteran who fought in every war who is a Democrat in the United States Senate. He ought to apologize to the American people. That is wrong. We ought not politicize this war. We ought not to politicize the rhetoric about war in life and death.
Soo.. The day after Al Bore’s politicized polemic, the Senate Majority Leader deliberately misinterprets the President’s remarks, and becomes the victim.
BTW, for bonus points, even though Bush was not even talking about the resolution, which party was playing politics with the Iraq resolution (We neeed a debate, we need the U.N., we need Congress involved, etc)? Now they have what they want, and they accuse the President of playing politics. How do you people vote for these scum?