Gretchen vs. Gibbs
I’m pretty sure that White House press secretary Gibbs is glad he wasn’t in the same studio with Gretchen Carlson this morning. She interviews him on the upcoming speech tonight on Iraq;
She beats on him for answers on two main points; will the president admit was he was wrong about the surge in 2007, and will he give credit to President Bush for the current situation in Iraq.
We already know the answers, but the Obama Administration is clearly frightened by the answers.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Media
Gretchen certainly did beat Baghdad Bob about the head and shoulders, severely. And yet, all he could do is count the number of times she asked him the question, he couldn’t actually answer the question. WTF kind of press secretary goes on a news program and can’t answer a simple question? That’s a rhetorical question, the answer clearly is, the incompetent representative of an incompetent administration.
Credit!?! Credit!?! Credit for that cluster? You’ve got to be kidding…..
So Joe…it did in fact, fail?
Nattering nabob…
Nice try, Joey boy. But, how’s about you address the point of the post? Will the boy president address the surge, and give credit where credit is due, for the surge? And acknowledge that he, and the rest of his chorus of clowns, was wrong about the surge?
The surge was 4 years too late. The original Rumsfeld inspired privatized invasion-on-the-cheap was a disaster from the start. That’s when we needed a surge, right at the beginning. If we were going to invade, and that’s another long, sad story in itself, we should have gone in with overwhelming force (like several military pundits were saying from the git go) and secured the loose weaponry, weapons which came back to haunt us and kill, what, thousands of US troops? So Bush deserves no credit for belatedly trying to salvage a disaster caused by his, and his staff’s, incompetence. Talk about putting lipstick on a pig!
And if we had, you would have bitched about that too, Joe. Admit it. If a conservative does something, it’s bad. If a liberal does the same fucking thing, it’s good.
Oh, and while we’re on the subject of “overwhelming force”, why did it take Obumbles FIVE MONTHS to give only a percentage of the troops General McChrystal was asking for, and then put a withdrawl timetable on them?
I might have bitched about whether we should have invaded or not, but once our forces were committed, I would have voted for overwhelming force. Had a bad feeling about Rumsfeld’s plan from the start. Just a little to neat and pat. As for Obama and McCrystal, Obama didn’t want to jump in hastily and compound the problems, problems that had their origin in Bush’s putting Afghanistan on the back burner for his own pet war against Iraq. I notice even you hawks aren’t praising the original prosecution of the wars, the best you can muster is to praise the belated “success” of the surge.
And I notice that you can’t keep your arguments consistent. Do you wonder why you’ve got the credibility of Joe Subaru now?
Subaru, Isuzu, what the fuck ever.
Huh?
Like I said–conservative does something=bad, stupid, kneejerk, selfish. Liberal does same thing=good, nuanced, and reasoned.
Joe–is your jaw getting sore? Have you completely worn through those kneepads yet?
If Bush screwed up by not using more troops right away why would you give Obama a pass? Hell, you make it sound like Obama was measured and thoughtful for taking so long and then approving half the requested troops…that is the fastest about face in a single comment I’ve ever seen…
Sparky I got that joke…
To give the man his due, Gibbs has already made arrangements for a good paying gig when the current regime is kicked out of office. He and Obongo will form a band with Reid and Rahm and tour the Northeast club circuit. Patterned after Hootie and the Blowfish, their working name is Homey and the Blowboys.
Rumors that Pelosi and Dowd will seek employment as strippers for the vision-impaired circuit, could not be confirmed.
OldTanker,
Bush had the luxury of time on his side, and months and years to make a plan, and quite a plan it was. He decided when and how to prosecute the war, and he screwed up big time. He had the option of the corporate privatized war on the cheap, or listening to people like Powell and Zinni who wanted overwhelming superiority. Generals who know have called Donald Rumsfeld, and by extension, Bush, “incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically”. Bush and Co. made what another general said “might be the worst strategic mistake in American history”. Obama was presented with a screwed up fait accompli, and he had a few months to turn it around, didn’t want to throw good money after bad, didn’t want to risk more lives than necessary. That’s the difference. So there is no comparision.
You’re right, there is no comparison. You’ll make excuses for liberal bullshit no matter what.
Your playbook is past old.
You mean even older than your Jurassic playbook? Conservative = Dinosaur
Joe,
Obama knew he was going to run for President when he came out against the original surge and he too had “months and years” to plan, it was part of his campaign after all. My point is Obama+time=thoughtful Bush+time=too long. Bush also had a number of options for Afghanistan planned and laid out for the next President to look at/choose from/modify. To his credit, Obama kept the senior leadership around (the ones that helped formulate said options and could explain them to him in detail) Yet he still dithered…he didn’t inherit a brand new war no one knew about…
That’s seriously all you have, Joe?
Go read Ecclesiastes 10:2, fool.
I wish this thread had attracted a more intelligent leftist troll than Joe, but as I paraphrase DOD Rumsfeld you go with the leftest troll you have, not that you would wish for. So far, none of your points make a lick of sense. I imagine they make KOS bloggers swoon, when you post there. But wait a minute, there I go making Ad hominem aruments. My bad.
What I find so interesting was what occurred after the last “combat” brigade left Iraq. Within days a series of suicide bombings occurred, with one day in particular having 40 bombings. I also wonder what Obama will say now that the combat is officially over. Will he look us in the eyes and tell us we are now safer, now that our combat brigades have beeen withdrawn?
Delayed, hoped, prayed that it would go away, yeah. Hell, Obama dithers when he decides where to go on vacation.
Oh, and Joey, you may want to drop Zinni from your pantheon of talking heads you idolize. Zinni was in favor of the surge. Now, I know that upsets you, so just go have another espresso, and wipe the cheetos off your fingers, your fearful leader is on TV.
your fearful leader is on TV.
How is Joe gonna reconcile this one? Obama just took credit for announcing the deadline and combat troop withdrawal within days of his taking office. He could whip that plan together in a mere week while he still can’t figure out Asskrackistan because he’s being too thoughtful…..oh, and Bush made to big a mess out of it….
Well, he did think about how he’d surrender, while running his campaign, thereby getting executive experience, right? Why pay attention to a minor thing like the SOFA agreement negotiated by Bush?
Now, he’s being “thoughtful” about Asscrackistan? Why not admit it, he hasn’t got a clue, and all he’s doing is playing for a tie, until he can dust off the same speech, in September 2012, just in time for the elections?
UpNorth,
Zinni may have been in favor of the surge – years after we originally f**ked up the job. But he was in favor of going in with overwhelming force, and stated we did not have a plan for the aftermath. So he supported the surge as a way of salvaging a bad ituation of our own making from getting even worse. Again, I don’t hear any of you supporting the original prosecution of the war, nor the planning for immediate aftermath. Why plan? They were gonna throw roses at our feet, after all.
Joe–ask yourself a little question and then translate it into how we dealt with Iraq…why is it the UN never declared WWII “officially” over until 1951?
Care to take a whack at that one?
NHS,
You have me stumped. Not sure how that pertains to our current discussion about blaming Obama for Bush’s missteps in Iraq, but you’ll probably enlighten me…..
Somehow, I think that what was accomplished in the first weeks of the war actually went at least as well as could be planned. Joey, ever hear the old saw that a plan only survives until first contact?
For better or worse, Zinni wasn’t in charge at the beginning. If he was all that enamored of his own plan to fight the war, when it wasn’t accepted, perhaps he should have resigned in protest?
Now, perhaps the Taliban will throw roses at our feet as 7-11 approaches? Because they know that’s as far as they have to worry about ISAF, then it’ll be more “advise and assist”? Is there any “planning for the immediate aftermath” of cut and run in 11?
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