Rumsfeld on Iraq War Critics: ‘Quitters’ Who ‘Blame America First’ And ‘Cannot Stomach A Tough Fight’
Rumsfeld on Iraq War Critics: ‘Quitters’ Who ‘Blame America First’ And ‘Cannot Stomach A Tough Fight’
Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld gave a speech in Reno, Nevada to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Rumsfeld could have taken the opportunity to address the critical challenges of the war in Iraq: the security situation in Baghdad, mounting U.S. military and Iraqi civilian casualties and out-of-control costs.
Instead, he took the opportunity to repeatedly attack — implicitly and explicitly — anyone who dares to criticize the administration’s “stay the course” policy. Some excerpts:
– “And while some argue for tossing in the towel, the enemy is waiting and hoping for us to do just that. Early on, I learned from my dad — a veteran of World War II — that if you start quitting things, pretty soon you’ve become a quitter.”
– “Surely by now we have learned the lesson that when our country gives our troops a mission, they should have the resources and support to finish the job. And surely, we have learned the dangers of giving the enemy the false impression that Americans cannot stomach a tough fight.”
– “I do worry about the lack of perspective in our national dialogue today — the perspective of history…Today we are engaged in conflicts that are again testing whether or not we believe that the defense of liberty is worth the cost.”
– “[W]e must keep a “Blame America First” mentality from undermining our efforts today in another long war against a determined enemy.”
Apparently, the problem isn’t that our strategy in Iraq is failing. It’s that the critics aren’t as macho as Donald Rumsfeld.
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Get this through your head, Rummy: We don’t want to toss in the towel, we want to toss YOUR INCOMPETENT ASS OUT THE DOOR!
(pant pant pant)…
August 29th, 2006 at 10:07 am‘I’d love to be human. I’m not.’
August 29th, 2006 at 10:08 am-Donald Rumsfeld
I’ve been pondering these guys’ behavior and comparing it to my my own management style in my work. These assholes will never know what real power is. It shows on their faces. These guys are frauds. They aren’t leaders. They’re posers. They’re dangerous. They have no business being responsible for others people’s lives.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:09 amWhy did rumsfeld quit the fight against osama bin laden?
August 29th, 2006 at 10:11 amOh that’s marvelous. Now they’re using Nazi techniques against us.
“…the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.” - Hermann Goering
Achtung! Heil Let’sGetReadyToRumblesfeld!
August 29th, 2006 at 10:11 amNazi Propoganda I should say. Hermann Goering must be so proud his techniques are being applied in such a shining beacon of democracy and freedom.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:12 amEarly on, I learned from my dad — a veteran of World War II — that if you start quitting things, pretty soon you’ve become a quitter.â€
Your dad didn’t quit America, Donald, why have you? Do you think pops would be proud of your America?
August 29th, 2006 at 10:13 amdefense of liberty
freedom agenda
freedom fries
operation freedom
“they want to kill us and convert us to Islam”…
If I spoke this way in my day to day affairs they would lock me up. These assholes belong in mental hospitals.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:13 amWhy did rumsfeld quit the fight against osama bin laden?
Comment by g — August 29, 2006 @ 10:11 am
Ditto.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:14 amIt’s just plain sickening to see and hear the bullshit and drivel that spews from Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush which clearly is the most vindictive and incompetent administration in U.S. history.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:16 am“[W]e must keep a “Blame America First†mentality from undermining our efforts…
So who the hell is blaming America? I’m blaming the living f**k out of Rummy, Cheney, Shruby, Rove and all the rest of the control and war crazed neo-con cabal that lied us into this crap. I don’t view them as being Americans and I don’t believe that their intentions are to promote the forward progress of this country on the world stage or domestically. It’s all about the well larded wallets of their corporate friends and themselves. They couldn’t care less about anybody but themselves.
BushCo is the underminer. BushCo is to blame. Not America.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:16 amI’m going to put that again in bold because it’s important people realise just how similar all this bullcrap is to Nazi propoganda
“…the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.†- Hermann Goering
I looked and I looked, and I can’t tell the difference. Different faces, same message.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:16 amFor Buch/Cheney and other neoconservatives, the Iraq war has become more about “appearances” than reality.
All they seem to care about is the P/R of “how we are perceived” if we withdraw — yet, they seem unconcerned about “how we are perceived” by muddling our way through a conflict that is not longer ours.
Whe you criticize neoconservatives, they HIDE BEHIND THE TROOPS. They need to stop using the lives our brave sons and daughters to shield themselves from criticism.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:17 amWhile the Iraq issue is a problem, I am still waiting to hear a solid plan that will speed up democracy and peace in Iraq. If we just leave Iraq, it will surely become a failed state. “staying the course” is vague and isn’t working either. What is the Dem plan to speed up freedom and peace in Iraq? Honestly, because simply leaving Iraq would make the problems they have worse. But we all know that.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:18 amWhen you are so stupid that you keep trying to fix something and you keep breaking it worse, you lash out and blame those around you who point out you are screwing things up. Just like a frickin’ child, knows better than anybody else.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:18 am“I learned from my dad — a veteran of World War II…”
Oh goody, using WW2 philosophy in the 21st century. That’s a warning sign.
Btw Rummy, our participation in this affair has now outlasted our participation in WW2.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:19 amHaving said the above at #11, I must also say that it would certainly be nice if American’s were better at waking up and smelling the B.S.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:19 amHell yes I want to quit.
I want to quit abusing our military.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:21 amI want to quit making thing worse.
and I want to quit having to listen to this chicken hawk freakshow pound his podium while he lies and lies and lies.
I don’t blame America. I blame Republicans.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:21 am“engaged in conflicts that are again testing whether or not we believe that the defense of liberty is worth the cost.â€
This is amazing this administation did everything in it’s power to squash any real discusion on what the cost of the misadventure in Iraq would cost prior to the War. Don should be driving a shuttel bus from Bagadad international aiport to the green zone and not running the defese department.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:24 amGreat post’s all, Untill we are able to take our country back we will be subjected to this sort of crap (propagnda ) from this administration…Rove is doing his job, smear and lie for the reich wing……Blessings…We need them..Peace….Demand it
August 29th, 2006 at 10:25 amI don’t think any Republican should call others quitters who can’t stand a tough fight. Especially since most of the Republicans suppsoedly had better things to do when they had their chance to fight. Any excuse in the book not to go fight for their country back then…but now they are the heroes while the people who know are the quitters who can’t stand a tough fight.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:26 amThe idea that a redeployment of US forces in Iraq will make things worse is a THEORY, and a bad one at that. Nothing really more than a scar tactic.
The troops have done their job already. We asked them to take over Iraq, and they did that - in two weeks, with minimal casualties.
We asked them to pave the way for elections, and they did that - despite the odds.
Now we have done all we can do in Iraq, but we’ve left our troops hanging and put them in a terrible situation. We shoudl not be asking them to police a country that is near anarchy and wants us out.
The best thing to advance freedom and democracy in the middle east is to redeploy, and let democracy take its course.
Believing in freedom and democracy means accepting the results when people vote. You will never advance freedom and democracy as long as you interfere with the will of the very people you are trying to give that freedom to.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:27 amDear Progs - How completely laughable! You are offended when Don Rumsfeld calls you “quitters”. You are. It’s tantamount to a pig being offended when someone calls it a pig…..
August 29th, 2006 at 10:28 amBush Still Has No Plan for Iraq
August 29th, 2006 at 10:28 amAugust 21, 2006
Today, President Bush again failed to recognize the changing reality on the ground in Iraq, reiterating instead his ongoing commitment to a failed strategy in the region. The President distorted the Democratic position on the war and national security…
poor grummy grumsfeld crawl back into your hole coward and take the other losers with you
August 29th, 2006 at 10:28 am#3 - Nicely put.
Isn’t it amazing that Rumsfeld brings up how his Dad fought in WWII but always forgets how many liberals also fought in that war? In fact, that war turned a lot of my father’s generation against war. Think of Vonnegut & Joseph Heller. I’m sick & tired of these cowards calling us on the left soft.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:32 amI notice the trolls are mysteriously silent about how Rumblesfelds comments are virtually identical to the lines which came out of the mouths of Nazis.
For someone named after the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite you sure seem to be big on ignorance and insults and defending warloving chickenhawks. MOST OF WHOM WERE DRAFT DODGERS OR NEVER FOUGHT A MAN THEMSELVES.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:32 ami bet rumsfeld could stomach a tough fight while doing his “administrative assignments as a drilling reservist.”
August 29th, 2006 at 10:33 amBlame Rumsfeld First, Cheney second and Bush as usual, last.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:33 amFor Buch/Cheney and other neoconservatives, the Iraq war has become more about “appearances†than reality.
Comment by D.Tree — August 29, 2006 @ 10:17 am
Yep. Rummy was never serious about stepping down when he submitted his resignations to Bush. Otherwise, he’d be long gone. He did it for appearances; it gave Bush extra oomph in his support of Rummy, and by retaining Bush’s support, in his and his supporters’ eyes he has been absolved of any wrongdoing or shortcomings.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:33 amIraq - Finally, The Democratic Position
by Bob Burnett
The March 10-12 Gallup Poll, found that 32 percent of Americans felt that President Bush “has a clear plan for handling Iraq,” but only 25 percent thought that the Democrats did. On Wednesday, March 29, Democratic leaders finally unveiled their plan for Iraq, as part of Real Security: The Democratic Plan to Protect America and Restore Our Leadership in the World. Will the public now be able to tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans? Probably, if the Dems get some media time.
…
and guess what?…
August 29th, 2006 at 10:34 ammighty aphrodite is a pig.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:34 am#24
The Constitution is a document which defines the obligations of our citizenry and governance for long-term national benefit. It is the foundation of America.
A war is the application of brute force to create immediate, tangible gain.
You choose to quit the constitution, but not the war. What does this say about you?
August 29th, 2006 at 10:36 amThe left makes the revolutions. Hows that for softies?
August 29th, 2006 at 10:38 amSignificantly more democrats haver served in the armed forces than republicans.
That’s why republicans are so loud-mouthed and ignorant about war… they never fight in them.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:38 am“It’s that the critics aren’t as macho as Donald Rumsfeld.”
should be:
It’s that the critics aren’t as STUPID AND CLUELESS as Donald Rumsfeld.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:39 am.
“[W]e must keep a “Blame America First†mentality from undermining our efforts today in another long war against a determined enemy.â€
The sad thing is that people will believe all this crap without questioning this scumbag.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:39 amHere’s a suggestion for Rumsfeld:
You’re on the right track. Hold that thought and hop in the next plane to Iraq.
Once you get there, keep talking and don’t stop until the job is done.
Stay the course.
We’ll seee you when you’re finished.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:41 amRummsfeld is calling the marjority of American Voters “Quitters.”
We citizens know a coward when we see one: his name is Donald Rumsfeld, and he’s hiding behind the troops.
Americans are smarter than the neoconservatives think, and come November we the people are going to kick these crooks and liars out of washington!
August 29th, 2006 at 10:41 amRoger and out roger roger, What is the Dem’s plan? You see unlike good administrations the opposition in this one has no voice. If you opened your mind and eyes ou would see this. No Democraatic bill ever makes it to the floor. Bush won’t hear any views that don’t agree with their position.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:45 amDoing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is a sign of mental illness. Look it up. This war on terror is new to all of us. But they need to rethink their strategy because it is not doing what had been predicted. Impeachment might be a great start. Peace!
BrokeBack Rumsfield - I wish I could quit you.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:46 amHey “patriots” who love war, some thoughts from people you might have read about:
“My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.”
…George Washington
“There never was a good war or a bad peace.”
…Benjamin Franklin
Now the trumpet summons us again - not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are; but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, ‘rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation’, a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.
…John F. Kennedy
I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed . . .I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.
…Franklin D. Roosevelt
You chickenhawk supporters call yourselves Patriots and those who don’t support these wars are un-american? I hope one day your children die in some far off oil war for the benefit of some old draft dodgers in Washington. Perhaps then you might wake up.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:47 amI don’t blame America first.
I start with Rumsfeld.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:47 amThe NYT is reporting that “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday challenged the authority of the U.N. Security Council as Iran faces a deadline to halt its uranium enrichment and he called for a televised debate with President Bush on world issues.”
A televised debate with Bush? LOL Good luck Ahmadinejad. Rove is way to smart to allow that too happen. It would be funny, though to see this nutbar rip Bush to threads on TV. Would get good ratings.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:48 amSurely by now we have learned the lesson that when our country gives our troops a mission, they should have the resources and support to finish the job
WAIT…..that’s a lesson you had to learn??? Implying you didn’t know this until you “learned” it? Holy Jesus on a popsicle stick….
August 29th, 2006 at 10:50 am#28 - “….you sure seem to be big on ignorance and insults and defending warloving chickenhawks.” - Comment by Go Back to Sleep America
**********Dear GBTSA - Forgive my confusion re: “big on ignorance” - Agreeing with statement, “if you start quitting, pretty soon you become a quitter,” makes one ignorant - HOW??? Please…..
I don’t understand why being correctly described as quitters would offend any intelligent prog. Many progs advocate withdrawal from Iraq ASAP - translation: QUIT.
Many progs advocate a cessation of monitoring patterned international phone calls - translation - QUIT. One of your more vociferous and colourful members actually said he would rather see his family DEAD than lose “liberty” - translation: loser. (Note: this persecuted prog can’t demonstrate ANY loss of liberty, but please, let’s not be confused by the facts…)
Gone for the day…carry on bravely….
August 29th, 2006 at 10:51 amfunny, someone that doesn’t have a clue about actually being a soldier or a citizen of this country telling others how to behave?
August 29th, 2006 at 10:52 amjail for the remainder of his life for war crimes
Ahmadinejad would hand him a wet paper bag and ask ” Can you debate yourself out of this?
August 29th, 2006 at 10:53 amMr. Bush deserves no air time but Carl is the ‘puppet master’
burro (#11) - You don’t understand. Rumsfeld and Cheney are America.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:54 amThat’s right Wimpy, run off. You are an insult to the notion of what the Goddess Aphrodite is supposed to represent.
Instead of responding to the points raised, and the quotes about war from people you should really know about, you resort yet again (like the average chickenhawk) to goading insults.
You have absolutely no idea what a warrior is. You have no clue the best fighters are the ones who fight for peace. You cannot possibly grasp that the greatest feat a warrior can do is to put down his weapon.
This is all beyond you, as you’re the kind of vermin who would start wars and send other peoples children, brothers and sisters, even mothers and fathers to die for it. YOU are the cowardly loser.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:55 am47. Heil Hitler, MA, has spoken.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:56 amsad, really. This is all they have. Insults and twisted logic. Nonthinking bloviators repeating every line spewed by their masters, the fourth reich.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:58 amIt cannot be coincidence that the attack dogs are being unleashed as the election nears.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:03 amMy hope is that the American voting public sees through this shrill rhetoric and throws the current congress out on its ass.
Someone please remind me of what military time old Rummy did himself…..”Well my dad was tough and he said…” C’mon. Old Rummy and Dick “had better things to do than serve my country” Cheney should put on some boots, grab a weapon and join the fight. I’m sick to death of these talk tough cowards that love sending GOOD Americans to go fight and die so that they have the liberty to run around pretending that they are the ones doing the fighting. It’s criminal. Take a lesson from the Greeks (founders of Democracy). When wars went bad they blamed the guys that started it (politicians, desktop generals in the Pentagon) and they held them accountable. Sometimes they were banished and sometimes…well let’s just say they didn’t cause any more trouble…for anyone. Down with despots! Up with democracy!
August 29th, 2006 at 11:07 amRoger, how many times are you going to foist this false assumption crap on us?
August 29th, 2006 at 11:11 amA couple of weeks ago we took your straw man arguments and trashed them.
Why are you back with the same weak shit?
Go away or come up with something original.
Rummy is clearly psychotic.
But Roger has the talking points to divert attention from this fact.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:18 amIf Rummy actually knew anything about “the perspective of history”, he’d have remembered what happened to us in Vietnam and to the Soviets in Afghanistan, and demanded we never invade Iraq in the first place.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:18 amClearly, the perspective of history is no match for the giant-sized egos of this administration.
How come even Think Progress identifies the administration’s plan with “stay the course,” a phrase that has noble connotations of “we just need the will to win,” but lets opponents call the rational plan of withdrawing from a bloodbath “cut and run?”
Shouldn’t the administration’s plan be identified with a phrase that more accurately represents what it is? Atrios used to say “clap harder,” which is at least more concise than calling the plan “la-la-la-everything’s-going-great-I-can’t-hear-you-la-la-la.”
Maybe “Operation Sitting Duck?”
August 29th, 2006 at 11:22 amTalk about saying something unbelievably stupid and off-the-charts outrageous just to distract attention away from the Katrina debacle.
How sad and pathetic that the Donald Rumsfeld has been given the job normally reserved for sewage scum like Bill O’Reilly and Ann Coulter.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:22 ammighty is a chickenhawk. She loves her murderous ideas but won’t go any further than Think Progress to defend them.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:25 amLetsGetReadyToRumblesfeld I think is the only one who has actually served. He served in the US navy as an aviator and flight instructor (1954-57)
The rest of them are pretty much chickenhawks. You’d think Rumblesfeld might have learned the hard way the awful truth about warfare, much like many veterans have, but he hasn’t. I can only think he is not in complete control of his faculties and/or is thinking of political career first.
Example: enough Generals were grumbling the “light and fast” armed forces doctrine preached by Rumblesfeld was going to cause problems. He ignored all that and the price has been paid. I question his military strategic and tactical competence.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:30 ammighty has confused her real enemies with posters at Think Progress. Funny.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:32 am“Blame America First” is neoconspeak for “Take No Responsibility”.
It was America that invaded Iraq and destroyed infrastructure. Shouldn’t it be our responsibility to help rebuild?
It was America that defeated the Saddam regime and disbanded the Iraqi army. Shouldn’t it have been our responsibility to provide security and military protection for the people of Iraq?
Wake up, Rummy! No one really cares what you think nor believes what you say anymore. A broken clock is correct at least twice a day… why can’t you be correct even once?
August 29th, 2006 at 11:32 am#47, by the way we aren’t “progs”, we are “progressives”. Furthermore, if you think that we haven’t lost liberties then you haven’t been paying attention since 9/11. The Bush Administration has used every excuse to attack the Bill of Rights - and they smear anyone who stands up and calls them on their anti-Constitutional attitudes and actions!
August 29th, 2006 at 11:35 amThis is what Dumsfled/Darth Cheney/Emperor Bush have done to Iraq.
[from: http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ ]
Residents of Baghdad are systematically being pushed out of the city. Some families are waking up to find a Klashnikov bullet and a letter in an envelope with the words “Leave your area or else.†The culprits behind these attacks and threats are Sadr’s followers- Mahdi Army. It’s general knowledge, although no one dares say it out loud. In the last month we’ve had two different families staying with us in our house, after having to leave their neighborhoods due to death threats and attacks. It’s not just Sunnis- it’s Shia, Arabs, Kurds- most of the middle-class areas are being targeted by militias.
Other areas are being overrun by armed Islamists. The Americans have absolutely no control in these areas…
…During times like these I remember a speech Bush made in 2003: One of the big achievements he claimed was the return of jubilant ‘exiled’ Iraqis to their country after the fall of Saddam. I’d like to see some numbers about the Iraqis currently outside of the country you are occupying… Not to mention internally displaced Iraqis abandoning their homes and cities.
I sometimes wonder if we’ll ever know just how many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis left the country this bleak summer. I wonder how many of them will actually return. Where will they go? What will they do with themselves? Is it time to follow? Is it time to wash our hands of the country and try to find a stable life somewhere else?
Is it a “Tough Fight” to turn a nation against itself and to start a civil war? No. I think that’s what’s called a war crime.
It’s long beyond time to bundle the Bush Cabal up and send them to the Hague to stand trial before the world!
August 29th, 2006 at 11:36 amWhen rummy says quitters, such as Cut and Run Ronnie, or Bush Sr, Rummies former quitter boss, is he talking about the Chicken Hawks?
Maybe he means ‘quit and run’ Nixon?
Karl never finished College he is a quitter as well.
Shrub Jr never finished the 6 years he signed up for in the Guard only to become a ‘quitter’ [cut and run] and head off to school.
Hey, rummy, didn’t you look the other way when Saddam gassed the kurds and then shook his hand for not being a ‘quitter’?
Watching these guys talk about “tough” is like watching the movie revenge of the nerds…The bush regime is a tragic comedy written by ‘tough’ neo-con chicken-hawks, such as those mighty warriors of the keypad such as Wolfowitz, Perle, Kristol, Kagan, Buckley, Robertson, Limbaugh, Coulter and Olielly.
Could you imagine this platoon of neo-con chickens in a fire fight?
LMAO…Rummy your way to old to try pulling off the tiff guy lingo. You are more like an aged Fonzarelli…
August 29th, 2006 at 11:41 am*tuff
August 29th, 2006 at 11:42 amRepublicans, especially neoconservatives like Rumsfeld, love to look at World War II for inspiration in how to perserve in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. But notice how most of them almost never bring up the topic of Vietnam, a conflict that is so similar to what is happening in Iraq. Vietnam was never considered to remotely be a threat to this country. Most of all, the Vietnamese, like the Iraqis, were never going to allow a foreign invader, i.e. the United States, to kill their citizens and occupy their country. The United States became bogged down in that ill-beggoten adventure, which eventually cost the lives of some 58,000 people. The U.S. military will continue to get blown up and picked apart as long as they persist in occupying a country which, like Vietnam, was never considered to be, in any remote way, a threat to the security and welfare of this country. The last thing for someone like Rumsfeld to do is to mention the word Vietnam while the Democrats illogically seem to do everything they can to make sure that they too will never allow that word to pass from their lips.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:45 amwhat was that you said about “resources and support ” rummy? WHO sent troops over there without armored vehicles and proper body armor??? who was that again?
August 29th, 2006 at 11:50 amThat’s why I keep smoking. I don’t want to be labelled a quitter.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:51 amThe problem with Rumsfeld and the Neo-cons is that they’re still fighting the Vietnam war. Hell, sometimes I wonder if Rumsfeld doesn’t actually think this is 1974 and not 2006.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:58 am“And while some argue for tossing in the towel, the enemy is waiting and hoping for us to do just that. Early on, I learned from my dad — a veteran of World War II — that if you start quitting things, pretty soon you’ve become a quitter.â€
Quit and run Nixon
Quit and run Reagan
Quit and run Bush Senior
Quit and run to School Junior.
Quit and run Karl.
Oh and BTW Rummy Dummy, WWII was a fight against might is right, shock and awe, blitzkrieg. In effect what Rummy just said is that his Dad fought extremist fascism in world war II and today Rummy is the right wing fascist.
Way to go Rummy, fight for what your Father fought against.
Jeez. These people are so ‘Hegalized’ and screwed up they think completely backwards. Next thing you know rummy will be talking about a thousand years of peace..
August 29th, 2006 at 11:58 am“Blame America first”?
I blame Bush and the stay the course policy that has no end in sight. Is Rumsfeld saying that Bush is America? Just how tightly is Rumsfeld attempting to wrap the American flag around Bush.
Bush has said that he will turn the Iraq debacle over to a new administration in January 2009. With an average of 50 Americans killed per month it means another 1,450 Americans will be killed in Iraq. And for what purpose? Just yesterday we learned that many in the Iraqi military are refusing to be redeployed to Baghdad. Now how is that for standing up so America can stand down.
So, no, Mr. Rumsfeld, you are simply wrong once again. With your batting average you should be a bench warmer in a rookie league, certainly no more than a ball boy in the big leagues.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:07 pmOnce again chickenhawk spews sh*t out of his mouth. Blame everyone and everything besides your own poor planning and stupidity.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:14 pmmighty aphrodite,
How laughable that you think one person on this board gives a rats ass as to what you have to say. It’s tantamount to us calling you a pig when you are one.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:30 pmI guess RUmmy doesn’t quite grasp that America expects competence in leadership.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:34 pmRummy you’re doing a heck of a job
August 29th, 2006 at 12:37 pmHope he & King George are proud that such talk has ruptured a family, probably for at least another generation. The fact that we have been proven right since 1999 doesn’t count with those who send their sons off to drink the KoolAid.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:39 pmDropping bombs on people & terrorizing their daily lives is not the way to win friends & support. Hardly anybody likes bullies.
We are proudly supporting & voting for a Democratic challenger to the 9 term Repug Congressman who votes with BushCo 90% of the time.
Today is a good day to remember, KG was licking birthday cake frosting while NO drowned.
If you start pissing pretty soon you’re a pisser.
If you start eating pretty soon you’re an eater
If you start sleeping pretty soon you’re a sleeper….
See, I can be insightful too!
August 29th, 2006 at 12:40 pmI think she’s more of a skank than a pig
August 29th, 2006 at 12:41 pmWay to go Rummy, fight for what your Father fought against.
==
Dear Progs - How completely laughable! You are offended when Don Rumsfeld calls you “quittersâ€. You are. It’s tantamount to a pig being offended when someone calls it a pig…..
Comment by mighty aphrodite
LOL, why would I, or anyone here be offended when rummy calls the GOoPers ‘quitters’
But then again, you are a quitter MA and it is the bush base that he speaks too. 30 million strong! we here the bush base is. Yet there are not 30 million strong ‘quitters’ lined up to fight this sudo ‘War on Terror’…See MA the bush cabal is calling you thirty million reacationary quitters [Non Joiners] so you will actually go serve and fight.
You can’t fight sitting in a pew reading the good book now can you? So MA you ‘quitter’[Non Joiner], are you going to go sign up?
MA leader of the 30 million strong brigade of keyboard non-warriors and non-joning quitters!
August 29th, 2006 at 12:50 pmDear Progs - How completely laughable! You are offended when Don Rumsfeld calls you “quittersâ€. You are. It’s tantamount to a pig being offended when someone calls it a pig…..
My Dearest Mighty Aphrodite,
Why do you hate our troops? What do you have against them? They put their lives on the line to defend your country and don’t get paid much for it. You sit on your fat ass and talk about war as if you actually know something about it. You don’t care that Rumsfeld was repeatedly asked to give them proper armor and did nothing about it. You don’t care that the experts were overruled and the troops were sent in without a plan for occupying Iraq. You don’t care how badly bungled everything about this has been. The only success in Iraq has been the contractors succeeding at drawing billions of OUR dollars out of the Treasury and stuffing it into their pockets. And they succeeded at that because they were chummy with corrupt Republican politicians. You don’t care about the troops being redployed and redployed again and redployed yet again to Iraq. You don’t care that we don’t have the National Guard back home to serve in times of disaster. You don’t care that people who were proud to serve before are staying away or even deserting. You don’t care that there are retirees, thinking they had survived a tour or two over there, were safe at home, and could now enjoy life with their families, that have been called back to get thrown in the meat grinder once again. You don’t care about their families. You don’t care about their kids losing their parents. You don’t care that this has all been a complete and utter fraud foisted on the American people. You don’t care that this has weakened our country’s ability to defend itself while China and Russia grow stronger economically and militarily. You don’t care that countries like Iran and North Korea know that we’ve gotten weaker, know that as long as Bush is in the White House we’ll continue to get weaker, and that they can pretty much do as they please.
The only thing you care about is that the Republican party is your team and you want your team to win, no matter how corrupt, dishonest, or morally bankrupt they may be. Because, after all, if you don’t have to actually go over to those awful places like Iraq, it’s just a spectator sport. And, if you can just treat it like a football game, you can resort to childish taunts, like “quitter” and “can’t stomach a fight” and somehow, in your twisted little brain, feel superior for it.
Well, it’s over 60% of the people in this country who, according to you and Rumsfeld, are “quitters” and it’s over 70% of the troops in Iraq who, according to you and Rumsfeld, “can’t stomach a fight”. Rumsfeld put these troops in a position where they are not able to win. Yes, that’s right. Even though you have this vague image in your mind of what an American victory in Iraq would look like, it doesn’t jive with reality. If you had a reality-based understanding of the situation, you might realize that. But, you don’t and you won’t.
So, I ask again. Why do you hate our troops? What do you have against them?
And what would it take to make you care about something more than just your stinking team winning?
August 29th, 2006 at 12:50 pmAll this macho man talk is not helping the thugs anymore. They have already proven they are wimps by giving up on the real enemies. Remember Tora Bora? Now OBL is still making tapes talking about killing Americans. Rummy and his neocons fanatics are weak and wobbly. If these guys were in charge during WW2 we all be talking German right now.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:54 pmYesterady, our republican frined from across the street, who let her son join the Army was over. We were discussing where her son is at in Basic Training. SHe said he had just done the gas chamber. Both her and my girlfriend asked “Why do they have you go through the gass chamber?” So, I told them that it was to prepare him for a situation where gas is used, he won’t freak out. He will just put his gas mask on and go back to killing. When I said “killing” she got this longing look on her face. I asked her what was the matter and she said that this whole time, she had been hoping that the war would be over by the timeher son was done with training. First I told her about the fact that a Declaration of War had never been signed and that this was just an occupation. I also told her that all of the plans for withdrawls had come from Democrats and that if she wanted her son home from Iraq as soon as possible, she had better start voting for Democrats and stop listening to idiots like Bill O’Rielly.
That was all it took. The love of a mom for her son. That is how we will end this occupation of Iraq.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:57 pmSince America as a whole wants to end or at least alter our involvement in Iraq and Rumsfeld is blaming us for being “quitters” and a danger to his “plan” in Iraq, doesn’t that make Rumsfeld part of the “Blame America First” crowd?
August 29th, 2006 at 12:58 pmSomeone should ask Bush what “stay the course” means.What is the course?If staying the course is in the wrong direction, do you “stay the course”? If staying the course is to keep going in circles, do you “stay the course”? If staying the course bankrupts the country, do you continue to “stay the course”. The so called new Iraqi Government is so laughable it’s pathetic. The Government has no money, has no control of an Army , The people does not recognize it being legitimate, the charade is OVER!!! “STAYING THE COURSE” has cost taxpayers over three hundred billion dollars SO FAR, over TWENTY SIX THOUSAND AMERICAN KIDS DEAD, OVER NINETEEN THOUSAND KIDS WOUNDED WITH NO ARMS OR LEGS , THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN KILLED IN IRAQ, HAVE TURNED THE WHOLE WORLD AGAINST US. WOULDN’T YOU AGREE THAT WERE GOING ON THE WRONG COURSE?
August 29th, 2006 at 1:01 pmNone of these “CHICKEN HAWKS “; BUSH, CHENEY, RUMSFELD, RICE, WOLFAWITS, PEARLE, KRISTOL AND THE REST HAVE EVER BEEN IN ANY BATTLEFIELD . THEY ARE THE BIGGEST COWARDS ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH.
This administration has perfected the art of cut and run.
They cut and run from:
-accountability
-the US Constitution
-honest debate
-problem solving
-critical thinking
-logic
-statesmanship
-diplomacy
-the needs and wants of 99% of US citizens
-compassion
-truth and fact
etc…..
These subhumans are aroused by and addicted to power and control. Sociopaths, all of them.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:02 pm[…] They’re quitters, too. FYI, Abu Ghraib just got closed. […]
August 29th, 2006 at 1:06 pm“Stay the course” is just George W. Bush’s way of saying “I am a sociopath with the emotional maturity of a five year old and I can’t admit to doing something wrong. So, I’d rather see thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people die for no good reason than let people know that I know I did a bad thing.”
August 29th, 2006 at 1:11 pm#85
August 29th, 2006 at 1:12 pmI am sorry that your neighbor’s son is gearing up to participate in someone else’s war. But, you have got to keep in mind the Republican controlled government laughs at the sacrifice made by your neighbor (damn few of them went when called) but they cry like little babies when an embyo is destroyed that has the potential to save many, many people. Welcome to the USSA.
#69 Re: Vietnam “which eventually cost the lives of some 58,000 people. ”
The Vietnam conflict cost the lives of 58,000 AMERICANS. Vietnamese losses are estimated at between 2 and 5 million.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:13 pmDear Progs - How completely laughable! You are offended when Don Rumsfeld calls you “quittersâ€. You are. It’s tantamount to a pig being offended when someone calls it a pig…..
Comment by mighty aphrodite — August 29, 2006 @ 10:28 am
And being a pig Astrodippie you should know. Saying keep killing American soldiers and Iraqi civilians may be a plan to the likes of uneducated danderous idiots like you, but Admirals, Generals, and National Security experts all agree the time to leave Iraq is now. 70% of the troops want out so they disagree with you, and 60% of Americans want out so they disagree with you. Why don’t you go and tell us how you’re doing in 6 months.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:15 pmPlease remember, Rummy, Cheney & Bush create their own reality, therefore, they can be oblivious to the reality that we all have to live in.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:19 pmWe’ve been in Iraq longer than our involvement in
World War I
Korea
Spanish-American War
Mexican-American War
War of 1812
In three months, we’ll be in Iraq longer than our involvement in World War II.
How is announcing and orderly withdrawl from Iraq over a period of a year or more “cutting and running?” How long do we have to be there in full strength to satisfy the hawks? A decade? A generation? Permanently?
August 29th, 2006 at 1:27 pm“Cut & Run”, just what W did when he had the chance to finish off Usama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan before foolishly invading and occupying Iraq
And I guess deposing a secular tyrant-formerly a strong US ally for decades-replacing him with newly politicially powerful Iraqi Mullahs seeking deeper ties with their Iranian Clerical Brethren probably wasn’t the best way to combat “Islamic Fascists”, but perhaps logic and abstract thinking blind us to that plans obvious brilliance & success
And really, when the trolls arguments are this easy to knock out of the park, it’s no wonder their rhetoric grows more shrill and unhinged the closer we get to election day
Many progs advocate a cessation of monitoring patterned international phone calls - translation - QUIT.
WRONG
It’s the deliberate policy of not doing it with FISA’s laughably easy requirements that allows retroactive search warrant approval that shows this Administration’s fondness for outright breaking the law and raping the same Constitution it was sworn to uphold
The Administration cannot point to any terrorist plot disrupted, or show how the US is ANY safer from such an attack because it deliberately broke the law by not seeking judicial approval for a search warrant, retroactive or otherwise
More importantly, the Administration CANNOT show any harm to the US or terrorist plan that went forward because it sought retroactive warrant approval
“Retroactive Warrant Approval” completely kills this Administration’s desire to paint Judge Taylor’s completely correct decision as being somehow dangerous to the US people and protecting terrorists
Explain the NSA’s warrantless spying with “Retroactive Warrant Approval”, and suddenly it becomes obvious this President far prefers spying on the US public instead of actually stopping terrorists or thwarting their plans
There’s one group of reporters who have NEVER gotten to have a press conference with W, Cheney, Rumsfeld & Rice
Iraqi reporters
I’m sure it’s just an oversight that such a press conference hasn’t yet taken place in Iraq
August 29th, 2006 at 1:28 pm“Surely by now we have learned the lesson that when our country gives our troops a mission, they should have the resources and support to finish the job.”
Uh, asswipe, what happened to “you go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want”?
August 29th, 2006 at 1:44 pm“[W]e must keep a “Blame America First†mentality from undermining our efforts today in another long war against a determined enemy.â€
And again you mealy mouthed ass, what the hell enemy is that. Who the hell are our troops fighting that are OUR enemy. Iraqis want to kill each other to control the country, how does that make them OUR enemy.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:50 pmNow on CNN.com:
Rumsfeld: Bush foes lack courage on terror.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday accused critics of the Bush administration’s Iraq and counterterrorism policies of lacking the courage to fight terror.
In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration’s critics as suffering from “moral and intellectual confusion” about what threatens the nation’s security.
And this:
Yes. God forbid that the media report on abuse that should never have happened. If someone digs deep enough, it might, after all, lead to Rummy’s signature on the orders to do so.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:51 pmUh, asswipe, what happened to “you go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want�
Comment by Russ — August 29, 2006 @ 1:44 pm
Any day now, Rummy will declare that “I didn’t say that.” Mark my words.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:52 pmMore from CNN:
Hey Rummy! Remember your handshake with Saddam? Oh, you weren’t there? It didn’t happen? Well…we have pictures!!
Rummy, you need a history lesson too. We didn’t invade Cuba to defeat the Nazis, and we sure as hell didn’t invade Brazil after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:00 pm“You are offended when Don Rumsfeld calls you “quitters—
Are you offended that I think you are actually a 40 year old man with a small penis……..
August 29th, 2006 at 2:01 pmIs America fighting a War on Small Penises?
August 29th, 2006 at 2:06 pmI am not sure why is everyone so surprised when Mighty Aphrodite is calling progressives “quitters”. After all she also says the same about your ancestors because they managed to put an end to slavery. Should she be living in the Civil War era South, she would be busy whipping her slaves and calling them “quitters”, should they manage to escape North.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:10 pmKrisH at #93
I noticed after my comment was posted that I had typed people instead of American military personnel, which is what I had meant to type in. I am also well aware, as I was stationed, when I was in the military, in that place called Vietnam, that over a million Vietnamese perished in that ill-advised conflict perpetuated by the Americans. I am also well aware, which so many liberals either tend to forget or ignore, that between 100,000 and 250,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a direct result of the United States intentionally invading their country for no legitimate reason. You seemed to have ignored my point, which is that in Iraq, as in Vietnam, the U.S. had no right to wage war and occupy a country which, like Vietnam, never posed any kind of threat against the United States.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:10 pmWC… you odnt have to dig too hard to find Rummy’s culpability in the Abhu Grahib torture story. check out Sydney Hersch’s (sp) article in a New Yorker article a year ago!!! It has the Rummy smell all over it!!!!
August 29th, 2006 at 2:13 pmOh but Erroll, Iraq does pose a very real threat to the US. If we were to leave all Bushie’s military contractor buddies would lose billions of dollars. And if that isn’t a threat to the US (meaning of course Bush and friends, the rest are inconsequential) then what is?
August 29th, 2006 at 2:14 pm“But it is apparent that many have still not learned history’s lessons,†he said, adding that part of the problem is that the American news media have tended to emphasize the negative rather than the positive.
And yet no idot journalist ever asks this asshat what the hell positive are you talking about? Give me a concrete example of “positive”.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:16 pmWC… you odnt have to dig too hard to find Rummy’s culpability in the Abhu Grahib torture story. check out Sydney Hersch’s (sp) article in a New Yorker article a year ago!!! It has the Rummy smell all over it!!!!
Comment by meg_mac — August 29, 2006 @ 2:13 pm
Yeah, I think I remember that. Wasn’t that when Rummy said that on a daily basis he stood for 8 hours without sitting down, so what was the big deal if the prisoners were forced to do similar acts?
August 29th, 2006 at 2:20 pmIs America fighting a War on Small Penises?
Comment by bones — August 29, 2006 @ 2:06 pm
well, as a matter of fact…
August 29th, 2006 at 2:24 pm…the American news media have tended to emphasize the negative rather than the positive.
Not only are these clowns recycling their talking points, but the cycles are getting shorter and I think they’re doing them in the same order, too.
Let’s see now. They just finished using “fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here.” What comes after “the media only report the bad news”? Is it “freedom is on the march” or is it “we actually did find WMDs in Iraq”?
August 29th, 2006 at 2:25 pmLets see.
Rummy’s accusing us of being afraid of a “tough fight”.
Meanwhile, as Secretary of Defense, he’s walked away from a “tough fight” when North Korea LAUGHED IN HIS FACE and told them they HAD the nukes he went to Iraq looking for. Kim Jong Il CALLED HIM OUT.
And what did the tough Rummy do?
Nothing.
Not a damned thing.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:31 pmSeems to me we are winning in Iraq and will accomplish what we set out to do,i.e. establish a democracy where there was one of the most vile dictatorships on earth.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:32 pmJoe
Or what about Bin Laden?
We all KNOW where he is.
He’s in the disputed region between India and Pakistan, known as Kashmir.
The CIA knew that back in 2002. And what did the “tough” Rummy do?
Did he balk at India’s threats not to enter the region and go in and get the man we’re SUPPOSED to be after? Did he take the American military into a dangerous jungle region where Al Quaida flourishes and constant fighting continues? Did he even LEAN on the two nations to go in after Bin Laden, BEFORE he marches into Pakistan and takes over the nukes?
Nope.
He just went “henny penny” into Iraq, a country that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the so called War on Terror.
:|
He reminds me of the knucklehead who loses a Dime in one room, and then goes looking for it in the next room, cause the light is better in there.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:37 pmSeems to me we are winning in Iraq and will accomplish what we set out to do,i.e. establish a democracy where there was one of the most vile dictatorships on earth.
Joe
Comment by Joe Deegan — August 29, 2006 @ 2:32 pm
Really?
You sound like a smart guy.
:|
Would you possibly be interested in a purchasing the Golden Gate Bridge? I can get you a great deal on it.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:39 pmSeems to me we are winning in Iraq and will accomplish what we set out to do,i.e. establish a democracy where there was one of the most vile dictatorships on earth.
Joe
Comment by Joe Deegan — August 29, 2006 @ 2:32 pm
Hey Joe, first we went to get WMDs, you know the ones that are in every country except Iraq not to set up a democracy. Bush specifically said in his campaign he had NO INTEREST in nation building. And second Joe, in case you haven’t actually seen Iraq recently, the Generals, troops, reporters all say it’s in a civil war. Joe do you think 130,000 guys and girls are going to be able to stop millions involved in a civil war? Note 100 REPORTED Iraqi deaths a day.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:48 pm#115Seems to me we are winning in Iraq and will accomplish what we set out to do,i.e. establish a democracy where there was one of the most vile dictatorships on earth.
Joe
Seems to me you’re lacking in any rationale whatsoever for expecting such a rosy outcome.
What does “winning in Iraq” mean? In what way are you seeing us winning in Iraq right now? What are the signs? If you’re certain there’s going to be a democracy there, you must have some idea when it’s going to come about and what’s going to bring it. Share with us, please. But, try to do it in a way that isn’t just a repetition of the talking points Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld use every single freakin’ time they talk about it. Could you do that?
August 29th, 2006 at 2:48 pmWORFEUS:
By buying into the misconception that this administration is incompetent, you’re actually helping them in their aims.
The reason that we’re not going after Osama is because he’s dead…has been since late 2001. A search that is too vigorous might bring this inconvenient fact to light, and Osama is far too useful as a boogyman for the administration to risk losing him.
The reason we invaded Iraq was not because of 9/11, or WMDs, or ‘democracy building’ (although these were the reasons, in order, ther were cited to sell the war to the American people). The real reasons are to establish a permanent military foothold in the Middle East and to establish control over Iraq’s oil resources. Anyone who tells you different is selling something.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:53 pmTripmaster, yes that is exactly the reson and we could go one further, that the US military dies protecting oil resources for BP, Shell, Exxon, etc. Doesn’t it arouse anyone’s suspicion when Iraqi oil output is negligible and so oil prices from other sites quadruple in price. The US is guarding the oil fields so no one can pump any substantial amount, so Iraq stays poor (gas in Iraq is over $5 in a country sitting on tons of oil) and people kill each other, so the US has to stay because they are killing each other and the country can’t pump oil because we won’t let them, so the country stays poor, and so on and so on…..
August 29th, 2006 at 3:05 pmtry cant stomach a stupid fight
August 29th, 2006 at 3:05 pm“Mission Accomplished” May 1, 2003, onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
http://www.cbsnews.com/ images/ 2003/ 05/ 02/ image552028.jpg
Boy it sure is taking a long time to pack up that last box of flightsuits and come home…
August 29th, 2006 at 3:12 pmbones sez:
Exactly, bones. The reighwingers always yammer on about how it can’t be about the oil, because we’re not actually getting any of it. The point that they so deliberately miss is that the neocons don’t need to get the oil in order to profit from their control of it…all they have to do is insure that noone else can get it, either.
The neocons will take that oil eventually (probably as part of a deal to ‘rebuild’ the country). Right now, it’s right where they want it…safely under the sand, out of anyone’s reach.
Exactly, bones.
August 29th, 2006 at 3:12 pmThere’s only one answer to our involvement in Iraq - a citizen exchange. The U.S. deports all the chickenhawk supporters to Iraq which sends an equal number of its secular supporters to live in the U.S. BushCo should be happy living “swimmingly” in the offspring of their screwing.
August 29th, 2006 at 3:14 pmYou’ve been gone for a long time, Afraudite, beginning at least with when you falsely represented yourself to be a defense attorney in San Diego.
As for me, I do say QUIT! Quite putting our boys and girls in harms way in an illegal war!
Quit warrantless wiretapping American Citizens! (And here a Federal Court Judge agrees with me.)
August 29th, 2006 at 3:26 pmWORFEUS:
By buying into the misconception that this administration is incompetent, you’re actually helping them in their aims.
Comment by TripMaster Monkey — August 29, 2006 @ 2:53 pm
Oh I’m not so certain about that. Regardless of their goals, if enough people determine they are incompetent, they won’t be doing much of anything for a long long time.
The reason that we’re not going after Osama is because he’s dead…has been since late 2001. A search that is too vigorous might bring this inconvenient fact to light, and Osama is far too useful as a boogyman for the administration to risk losing him.
Comment by TripMaster Monkey — August 29, 2006 @ 2:53 pm
Perhaps.
The jury’s still out on that one for me. Its a theory I’ve certainly considered,
But my gut tells me they did NOT perpetrate 911. My gut tells me they simply “allowed” it. My gut also tells me that after the planes hit, they sent someone up the towers to plant explosives to help fell the buildings to increase the visual impact to the American people.
My gut also tells me that Bin Laden was “permitted” to do all this. I think 911 was done with a “nod and a wink” by the administration, because Cheney and Rummy wanted to do exactly what you are saying in Iraq. Establish a permanent military precense in the middle east and to control the oil.
You might be right though Trip. I am not ruling it out either.
But I have to go with my gut, and my gut tells me Bin Ladens in Kashmir, and I am concerned that one day, he’s going to march out of Kashmir and build an army as he goes, to overthrow Musharif and seize the nukes.
August 29th, 2006 at 3:31 pmHello… McFly?!?… The ’strategy’ for invading Iraq was YOUR ’strategy’! Don’t you remember that, ‘Mr. Potato Head’? You rejected all advice, from people who know ALOT more than you ever will, about military strategy. You had your ‘vision’, and that was that. And now you refuse to accept responsibility for the ginormous collection of cluster-f*cks that you continue to produce. The majority of the questions that you should be able to answer, your response is a variation of “I don’t know.” But when you are lying your ass off, suddenly you are ‘Mr. Know-It-All’. I could just snap you on the forehead with a rubberband, for HOURS!! What goes around, comes around…
August 29th, 2006 at 3:45 pmHere’s the REAL strategy:
I’ve been sitting at this computer trying to think of some profound or witty or sarcastic response to Rumsfeld’s attacks against his critics. I couldn’t think of anything that hasn’t already been said and I feel tired despite my sense of duty to respond. Then it hit me! This is EXACTLY what BushCo wants. They keep repeating the garbage, unendingly and unchanged (”stay the political course”), while we critics feel some sense of responsibility to try to come up with new counter arguments and messages and wear ourselves down. Then they are the only voice.
Watch our trolls - they bring nothing new to the table, just leftover slogans.
Are we trying to hard and at the wrong level? Do we need to create our own counter slogans and stick to repeating them as long as necessary?
August 29th, 2006 at 4:00 pmEarly on, I learned from my dad — a veteran of World War II — how to write my name in the snow.
August 29th, 2006 at 4:15 pmAnd while some argue for tossing in the towel, the enemy is waiting and hoping for us to do just that.
LOL, well duh….
Of course they are waiting and hoping for us to leave. They’ve been waiting and hoping for us to leave for almost 100 years now. Before that, they waited and hoped for the Ottomons to leave.
This is just like Viet Nam in that the people will continue to resist occupation for as long as it takes to get their freedom. The only ways of “defeating” the “enemy” are to completely exterminate the population, completely assimilate the polpulace or simply leave.
The US has had ZERO problems with Viet Nam after leaving. Viet Nam has not tried to invade the US or even exact any measure of retribution for what was done to them by France, Britain and the US.
All people want is to be left alone. The REAL enemy is anyone who violates my rights, including my right to neutrality.
August 29th, 2006 at 4:26 pmDo we need to create our own counter slogans and stick to repeating them as long as necessary?
Comment by PLC (PatrioticLiberalChristian) — August 29, 2006 @ 4:00 pm
yep… i’ve been saying that for months…
wish i were more clever in that department too…
August 29th, 2006 at 4:28 pmBraid Fair - How much do you want to bet the Judge Taylor’s ruling is overturned on appeal??? For such a long opinion, there wasn’t much meat on the bone….
’til later…..
August 29th, 2006 at 4:30 pmObviously Rumsfeld doesn’t believe in Democracy. It’s real hell always pretending to be macho.
August 29th, 2006 at 4:31 pm“social justice†crowd, liberation theology adherents, and the social hammock set comment by MA
It’s so nice to see you had time between your “appointments” to consult a thesaurus, print fun words on dice, throw the dice and come up with some meaningless but catchy phrases.
I seriously doubt you would be “happy describing” progressives in any positive way.
I am sorry, however, that you see “loss of civil liberties” as a binary concept only.
Come back from your kitty litter box when you have more time to debate rather than hit and run.
Doodles
August 29th, 2006 at 4:37 pmkaty
August 29th, 2006 at 4:45 pmThe problem I see with the slogans is do we go negative against the Republicans (”Blame America First Crowd” countered with “Shame America Crowd”) or positive about Democrats (”Always Improving America”)?
Doug,
August 29th, 2006 at 4:48 pmIt’s good to hear the Vietmanese have freedom. I wonder what the Boat People were thinking?
Joe
I don’t understand why being correctly described as quitters would offend any intelligent prog. Many progs advocate withdrawal from Iraq ASAP - translation: QUIT.
“Quitter” is a label that is applied to people that habitually start things and don’t finish them. The Iraq war was started by the neo-con Bishistas (Rummy, Wolfie, Pearly, Dickie and the whole gang), so other people trying to stop it does not make them Quitters so much as Non-Joiners.
Examples of “Quitters” would be Republicans, such as those that started the war in Viet Nam (Eisenhower) and those that “QUIT” the war in Viet Nam (Nixon). Democrats would also be an example, such as those who declared a War On Poverty (Johnson) that we don’t hear as much about anymore. It just kind of fizzled out and died on the vine as the stupid Democrats tried to vainly finish an unwinnable war started by Republicans. But the US only got their asses kicked by a bunch of natives in black pajamas when a Republican president decided to Cut and Run.
Of course this may sound like I consider Democrats to be better than the Republicans, far from it. Just as the Nazis more admirable than the weaker Italian fascists, one has to admire the tenacity and mindless devotion to ideology that the Republicans display. They’ve been ripping off Americans for more than 150 years and still manage to find a new crop of suckers to sign up for another stupid “war” or another unneccessary public works project to enrich their cronies.
The Democrats meanwhile are too small minded and divided to either follow suit or offer a viable alternative. They waffle between trying to emulate the Republicans in appeasing only corporations and trying to appeal to the people. If they could stick with one or the other they might be able to accomplish something and might get somewhere, instead they just flounder around watching the Republicans with an envy born in their weakness and indecision.
And like the Nazis and Italian fascists they resemble, the world will be a safer place when all Republicans and Democrats have been exterminated.
August 29th, 2006 at 4:54 pmIt’s good to hear the Vietmanese have freedom. I wonder what the Boat People were thinking?
Most of the Boat People were collaborators who knew they would not be welcome in a state that had just defeated their masters.
Being free from foreign rule is the first desire of any people. After that, give them a few decades to evolve a government of their liking. It took a few years for Americans to get rid of slavery and then to truly give equal rights to all in all parts of the land, didn’t it? Give the Vietnamese a break, they’ve been raped by colonial powers for hundreds of years, it takes a few generations for the scars to go away.
August 29th, 2006 at 5:02 pmErrorll at #106 I am sorry if my statement gave you the wrong impression. I was only trying to mention all the Vietnamese who died in that war. Sometimes people forget.
You are right and I am on your side 100%. All the Iraqi civilians who have been killed… for what? This does not even include all the ones who will die or be seriously ill because of the tons of depleted uranium munitions “we” have dumped on that country.
Remember Agent Orange? Remember “Gulf War Syndrome” from Gulf War I? Well, I predict, you ain’t seen nothing yet in terms of debilitating disease affecting everyone who encountered DU, both Iraqi civilians and US/coalition troops!
We have to do more to save Iran.
August 29th, 2006 at 5:09 pm#130
If I found ANYTHING “progressive†in the prog movement - I would happily describe you as such. Unfortunately, the prog platform is based on a worn-out, 150 year old failure written by a whiny, loser, dead beat. Modified semantically by the “social justice†crowd, liberation theology adherents, and the social hammock set, the “neo-prog†movement (lacking the nerve to call themselvesâ€socialistsâ€) is based on a politically discredited,economically unsustainable and economically regressive system. Not tooooo much “progressive†about all that…..
It must be awfully crowded in your house, MA. So many strawmen. So many axes to grind. Love the ’stream-of-consiousness’ styling. Not so crazy about the incoherence, though. Dare I ask what orifice you’re digging in to come up with some of this stuff? I mean really–”liberation theology”? You’re going to rag on Jesuits now? And why stop at “socialists”? Call us communists. Call us Maoists. You’