Reid snatching defeat from victory

The public’s perception of the war in Iraq slowly shifts closer to reality claims John Ward of the Washington Times;

The White House believes it has made significant progress over the past month in swaying public and political opinion toward supporting a continued U.S. military effort in Iraq, one of President Bush’s closest advisers said in an interview.

“The end of the August feels a lot better than the beginning of August when it comes to where we are relative to perceptions of our Iraq policy and what is working,” said Ed Gillespie, counselor to the president.

Congress returns Tuesday from a monthlong recess that did not go according to plan for Democratic leaders and the antiwar movement, who were looking to September as a time to force Mr. Bush into changing course in Iraq.

That moment may still come. But August brought numerous reports from regional specialists and even Democratic members of Congress that the president’s surge of 30,000 troops is producing positive results.

Of course that’s terrible news for the Democrats. They think they won last November’s election on an anti-war platform, so an improved perception of the war bodes ill for the party that wants to abandon national security issues before the next election. The Washington Post reports that Harry “the war is lost” Reid is still trying to attract RINOs to his failures;

Saying the coming weeks will be “one of the last opportunities” to alter the course of the war, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said he is now willing to compromise with Republicans to find ways to limit troop deployments in Iraq.

Reid acknowledged that his previous firm demand for a spring withdrawal deadline had become an obstacle for a small but growing number of Republicans who have said they want to end the war but have been unwilling to set a timeline.
 
“I don’t think we have to think that our way is the only way,” Reid said of specific dates during an interview in his office here. “I’m not saying, ‘Republicans, do what we want to do.’ Just give me something that you think you would like to do, that accomplishes some or all of what I want to do.”

So now he’s willing to compromise with weak-kneed Republican defeatists in order to make himself look less ridiculous. Even though the administration may begin withdrawing troops before Spring without Congress passing any kind of legislation, according to rumors about the upcoming breifing to Congress by General Petreaus, Reid is trying to pull a “compromise” out of his ass to appear as if he still running things.

And he has the audacity to disclaim partisanship;

But looking forward, Reid said he will encourage new coalitions to develop, with a more bipartisan hue. “There is no reason that this be Democrat versus Republican,” he said.

The whole thing has been Democrats versus Republicans since the airliner hit the ground in Pennsylvania. From that point, Democrats warned that their weakness on national defense shouldn’t be an issue in elections – even though it’s the most important issue that should be facing the federal government. 

The Post outlines what Reid wants most;

One measure Reid said he will seek to resurrect would tighten rules on the use of troops by requiring soldiers’ leave times to be at least as long as their most recent deployment. The proposal, offered by Sen. James Webb (D-Va.), would not set withdrawal terms, but it could effectively limit U.S. force levels. A vote of 56 to 41 in favor of the measure on July 11 fell four votes short of the 60 needed to overcome a GOP filibuster, but it had seven Republican supporters.

That’s just plain stupid – and you’d think whiney-ass Jim Webb would know better, supposedly a combat veteran, but I wonder after reading this. To put restrictions on deployment schedules ties the military’s hands tightly – so tightly that they won’t have the flexibility to react to the situation on the ground. But, i think that’s the whole intent of Webb and Reid – to make it impossible to be at all effective on the ground, and to make it easier for the bad guys to kill our troops.

And the Jon Ward article in the Times reports this all comes at a time when the war and the Americans’ perception of the war has improved markedly;

Political reconciliation among Iraqi Shi’ites, Sunnis and Kurds remains problematic, but even there, all three factions reached a still-nebulous power-sharing agreement last weekend, which Mr. Gillespie cited as an improvement.

“Even [the lack of political reconciliation] has changed since last week. We are seeing progress now,” Mr. Gillespie said. “I do think there is a general view that the surge is having its desired effect.”

The latest poll by United Press International/Zogby Interactive showed that 54 percent think the war is not lost, with respondents splitting sharply along party lines on that question. 

So Reid figures he has to hurry up and do something, anything, before we’re successful in Iraq.

But if you think you’re mad about Reid, the KosKids are madder;

[They’re] [n]ot Chamberlain Democrats. Chamberlain was arguably trying for peace.  Harry Reid knows the score and knows the consequences of his actions.  And he doesn’t care.

The only way to turn this around is 10 million people on the streets, engaged in an organized occupation of every Congressional office in the country. 

And even if that happened, I think Harry would continue to bend over and wait to get spanked by his Daddy.

And; 

The only one REALLY publicly insisting that funds be cut off is Dennis Kucinich in the House.  He has resolutions that he’s been begging people to pay attention to!  He’s been saying it all along.  We need to insist that this (these) resolution(s) come to the floor and get the attention they need to help thwart this very issue. 

These are the people Reid is trying to please.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Politics, Support the troops, Terror War