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Speaking of the woeful rebuttal, it is evident that Nancy Pelosi does not understand plain English:
Because of the courage of our servicemen and women and the determination of the Iraqi people, Iraq’s election on Sunday was a significant step toward Iraqis taking their future into their own hands. Now we must consider our future in Iraq.
We all know that the United States cannot stay in Iraq indefinitely and continue to be viewed as an occupying force. Neither should we slip out the back door, falsely declaring victory but leaving chaos.
Despite the best efforts of our troops and their Iraqi counterparts, Iraq still faces a violent and persistent insurgency, and the chairman of the National Intelligence Council said in January that Iraq is now a magnet for international terrorists.
We have never heard a clear plan from this administration for ending our presence in Iraq. And we did not hear one tonight.
Where do they find these people? The plan has been clear, and the idiotic and facile calls for a ‘timetable’ and an ‘exit strategey’ shoujld be recognized for what they are- empty rhetoric employed for political gain. The President has been clear about when our troops will get hope- when the job is done. But, once again for the perpetually slow, he re-stated this prior to Pelosi’s remarks:
The new political situation in Iraq opens a new phase of our work in that country. At the recommendation of our commanders on the ground, and in consultation with the Iraqi government, we will increasingly focus our efforts on helping prepare more capable Iraqi security forces – forces with skilled officers and an effective command structure.
As those forces become more self-reliant and take on greater security responsibilities, America and its coalition partners will increasingly be in a supporting role. In the end, Iraqis must be able to defend their own country – and we will help that proud, new nation secure its liberty.
Recently an Iraqi interpreter said to a reporter, “Tell America not to abandon us.” He and all Iraqis can be certain: While our military strategy is adapting to circumstances, our commitment remains firm and unchanging. We are standing for the freedom of our Iraqi friends and freedom in Iraq will make America safer for generations to come.
We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out. We are in Iraq to achieve a result: A country that is democratic, representative of all its people, at peace with its neighbors and able to defend itself. And when that result is achieved, our men and women serving in Iraq will return home with the honor they have earned.
Whenever I begin to think we really need a viable opposition party, people like Pelosi chirp up and I realize how much better off we are with these loons marginalized and out of power.
Last nights rebuttal was, well, depressing, as it always is, and it is time to end the damn thing. Rather than actually acomplishing anything useful, or helping the opposition, I think it actually does more damage than good. If you disagree, let’s step into the wayback machine:
– Remember Bob Dole’s rebuttal- snarling at the camera for 10 minutes? I half expected him to dust off his carbine and shoot the cameraman. Halfway through his presentation (and I am being charitable), I realized no matter what he said, all I could hear was ‘Get off my grass!’
– Remember JC Watts, the GOP rising star? I think we can trace the beginning of the end of his political career with his rebuttal.
– Who can forget Gary Locke? Apparently me, because I forgot about his rebuttal until Oliver reminded me.
– Perhaps the worst wasthe blonde Republican woman from the House who did the rebuttal after a Clinton SOTU. I can’t even remember her name, and neither can you. I bet that is the only thing about that rebuttal she is happy about- that none of us remember who to blame.
Who says fierce ideological opponents can not agree? Link to this post if you agree with me and Oliver that it is time to tell our elected officials to just kill the damn rebuttal. Give it a fancy burial if you must, but kill it dead.
I guess I shouldn’t expect more from someone who calls himself RudePundit, but this line of nonsense needs to be addressed:
Let’s get another thing straight: the moment when Safia Taleb al-Suhail embraced Janet Norwood, whose son was killed in action in Iraq, resides in a stomach-churning netherworld between revolting and disturbing. It was revolting for its exploitation of the pain of this mother as a political prop for Bush’s speech. Byron Norwood, a Marine Sergeant from good ol’ Texas, was killed in the destruction of Fallujah. It was disturbing because the media’s perception of the hug was such a product of desired delusion: please, please, please don’t let this mother’s son have died in vain, please don’t let that man on the podium have sold us a bill of goods.
A.) The Norwood’s wrote to Bush, not the other way around. I seriously doubt that the letter read “Please, please, exploit my pain for political purposes.” They were proud to be there, and they have this moment to help them remember their son for the rest of their lives. Fuck you for trying to cheapen it or take it away from them.
B.) For two years, you wingnuts have been dishonestly stating that Bush has been hiding the pain and sorrow of the families of those who have been injured or killed, to includ your despicable campaign to claim that Bush avoids visiting war injured and refuses to go to military funerals. Now, Bush honors our war dead, acknowledges the loss, and you call it poison politics.
C.) It is no wishful delusion on the part of the media or the Norwood’s that their son did not die in vain. He didn’t- ask Taleb al-Suhail.
Jerk.
(via Atrios, who links uncritically to this bile)
This is not getting enough attention:
Muslims in the United States should “behave as if on a mission behind enemy lines.” This is not the admonition of a crank or a freak from the lunatic fringe, but Saudi-funded religious pamphlets distributed to mosques throughout America.
Says who? Freedom House, one of the oldest human rights groups in the United States and currently headed by James Woolsey, who was CIA director during the first Clinton administration.The organization conducted a one-year study of the kind of “hate propaganda” the Saudi government has paid to print and distribute to U.S. mosques. The 89-page report, based on 200 Saudi documents, was released last Friday.
One mosque where Freedom House researchers found evidence of Saudi Wahhabi skullduggery is three miles from where the World Trade Center used to be. Muslim newcomers to America are told Wahhabism, the official creed of the Saudi kingdom, is the only true religion. Anyone who doesn’t conform to the postulates of Wahhabism is an apostate.
For those interested in the details of the study, a more detailed write-up can be found here and the full report can be found here. I am not going to take the time to review the methodology, as it is unimportant in the bigger scheme. That any of this was found in the United States andfunded by the Saudi’s is troubling enough.
How bold are the Wahhabists/Jihadists? Bold enough to push this bile in the neighborhoods surrounding the remains of the WTC:
“We have ascertained that as of December 2004, Saudi-connected resources and publications on extremist ideology remain common reading and educational material in some of America’s main mosques,” explain the researchers, who compiled documents from more than a dozen American mosques – including a prominent one in New York, Brooklyn’s Al-Farouq Mosque. The mosques maintain libraries or racks of literature for parishioners, and often run religious schools for Muslims…
Saudi works on Islamic theology also preach the incompatibility of liberal democracy and Islam. One book published by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, also found at the Al-Farouq Mosque in Brooklyn, even authorizes Muslims to kill converts to Islam who tolerate homosexuality.
This needs to be addressed. Now.
Anyone know how to deal with trackback spam?
Did the Republicans ever actively and openly jeer Clinton during the State of the Union? I don’t remember that kind of behavior, but I am not surprised to see it from the folks across the aisle.
*** Update ***
Apparently the Republicans did boo Clinton in 1995, and some left before the speech ended- Oliver has the goods. Jerks everywhere, it appears. I take this as further validation of Jane’s Law:
Jane’s Law: The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.