Mehlman Falsely Claims Rep. Shays (R-CT) Doesn’t Support Military Timeline For Iraq
Mehlman Falsely Claims Rep. Shays (R-CT) Doesn’t Support Military Timeline For Iraq
Last night on MSNBC’s Hardball, former Rove deputy Ken Mehlman said that people who want a timeline for Iraq redeployment “are going to give the terrorists a big victory.”
Mehlman was asked if his rhetoric applied to fellow conservative Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), who recently announced his support for his timeline. Mehlman said he “saw him interviewed on this show, Chris Shays, and he, in fact, said something very different…he did not say there ought to be a military timeline.”
Mehlman is in denial. When Shays was on Hardball on Monday, he clearly called for a “timeline on how long our troops will be there.” Watch both clips back to back:
Transcript:
O’DONNELL: As this new rhetoric has emerged, though, it also comes at a time when there are some moderate Republican candidates who are actually — have similar messages to the Democrats or who are at least pulling away from President Bush.
You have Congressman Chris Shays, the Republican from out of Connecticut — 14th visit to Iraq, just came back. He’s was one of the most stalwart supporters of the president on this war. Came back and said it is now time for a timetable.
MEHLMAN: Well, I saw Chris–I saw him interviewed on this show, Chris Shays, and he, in fact, said something very different than what the Democrats say. What he has said is we need to make sure that there are benchmarks established for the Iraqi people to stand up.
O’DONNELL: He said a timeline.
MEHLMAN: Well, but he did not say there ought to be a military timeline. There is a very big difference.
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SHAYS: I’m calling for a timetable on three things. One, that they set provisional elections, that they have reconciliation and a timeline to do it, a timeline for finishing the constitution and give them the timeline on how long our troops will be there, doing the police work that ultimately we want them to do.
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SHAYS: I think the way to get the Iraqis to wake up, to do the heavy lifting, is to let them know that we are not there indefinitely, that there’s not an open checkbook, that we’re not going take sustained losses indefinitely.
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John Mark Karr, I mean Ken Mehlman, is by far the most obnoxious person in this administration.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:28 pmMEHLMAN: Well, but he did not say there ought to be a military timeline. There is a very big difference.
SHAYS:…a timeline for finishing the constitution and give them the timeline on how long our troops will be there…
Mehlman didn’t lie. Shays said “troops”. He didn’t say military. Very big difference indeed.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:31 pmRe: 1–Because he knows homosexuals like himself won’t be drafted.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:32 pmI hope the Democrats know we’ll be tracking their lies if and when they get control back.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:35 pmTell the lie, keep repeating it.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:36 pmIt sure as hell sounds like he’s advocating a timeline, Ken.
It doesn’t matter, anyway. There’s no timeline because there’s no plans to leave. Ever. BushCo intends to set up a permanent occupation of Iraq.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:37 pmOnce again Melman and his ilk like Dan Senor are pondscum Bushco apologists who get paid to spew bullshit, lie, and distort the truth. The good news is more Americans are no longer buying what these clowns are trying to sell.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:38 pmI saw that on Hardball last night with Noron and I couldn’t get over how his eyes kept glancing over to his right all the time. Do you think he was reading a teleprompter or something or is he just that shifty and not able to maintain eye contact because he was lying? Hmmmm….. sometimes I just wonder.
Peace!
August 31st, 2006 at 4:39 pm#7 LMFAO
Yeah, you do that. Then we’ll compare.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:39 pmComment by AnAmerican — August 31, 2006 @ 4:39 pm
I do it now, prissy pot.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:42 pmReally Fraudguy?
Did you add the mobile bio-weapons labs, the smoking gun in the form of a mushroom cloud, the 45 minute deployment, the Iraq reconstruction, all those corner turns and last throes?
You just keep on jotting down all those democrat lies..let me know when you have something substantial.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:45 pmI just heard Dan Bartlett speaking on CNN. What a tool. He said because Osama Bin Laden said Iraq is the central front in the “war”. We have to stay the course. He said “we have to listen to our enemies” WTF! Which is it. Don’t care about BIn Laden or when he says jump we say how hi? Dan the douche man also said that a victory for us in Iraq would be a setback across the middle east??? Do these morons even realize what their saying? Bartlett and Mehlmen have a seat next to each other on the train to hell. F@ck ‘em both.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:46 pmCAPTION:
“Jeff,how do you like my new haircut”?
August 31st, 2006 at 5:02 pmGod sez:
The Bush administration does. Next question?
Hey, I’m not cheering them on…I’m just stating their goals. As for what they want not being the way it will be…who’s going to stop them?
And yet, we’re still there. Things are going to plan.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:09 pmBeing the tough journalist Tweety is, I’m sure he’ll call out Mehlman on his lie.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:12 pmI hope the Democrats know we’ll be tracking their lies if and when they get control back.
Comment by The DLC are Frauds
The article is not about the Democrats, did you read it?
You spend all your time and posts harping about the democrats and never actually have a critique about the repugs. Not only here but crooksandliars.com as well.
Makes one wonder about you….
August 31st, 2006 at 5:13 pmNora O’Donnel was overmatched in that interview. She not only let him get away with that comment but she also let him get away with saying that nobody in the Bush administration claims the policy is “stay the course”. A google will find a gaggle of hit by administration officials.
On another subject, more nonsense.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:15 pmGod sez:
A puppet regime would not have been enough. The neocons required a permanent U.S. military presence. Plus, puppet regimes have a disconcerting tendency to become unreliable…see Manuel Noriega.
That’s one hell of a lilly pad…
Do you really think the administration doesn’t intend to occupy this mammoth structure indefinitely?
When you realize what the neocons’ plans actually are, you realize that, in fact, things are ‘going swimmingly’ (at least as far as they are concerned).
August 31st, 2006 at 5:29 pm17 troops dead now in 3 days
Bloody well done Iraq keep up killing these rapists
August 31st, 2006 at 5:31 pmThe plan was to make sure a pro-US Iraqi govt was put in place.
That did not happen by way of the Al Dawa and SCIRI.
Things are going in the precise opposite direction.
Comment by God — August 31, 2006 @ 5:19 pm
As long as US controls the IRaqis oil reservoirs, things are going according to “their” plan. American soldiers dying? There isnt one funeral where the president assisted. Iraqis dying? OK…next.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:32 pmGod sez:
According to whose timetable? I’ve already told you what the neocons’ timetable is…
No, our brave men and women of the armed forces are the ones doing the dying.
Agreed and agreed. Iran does indeed benefit, which is why the administration will have to attack them very soon…else they risk them gaining much more control of the region.
(Do you see it yet? They’ll have to act against Iran because of the situation that they created. They created the rationale for the upcoming conflict with Iran, just as they created the rationale for invading Iran in the first place.)
So, when the time comes, we’ll find ourselves short of resources, just as you observed. lacking the resources to commit to a ground invasion, the neocons will exercise the nuclear option, which, of course, was their intention all along.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:38 pmMinor correction…the last ‘Iran’ in my previous post should have been ‘Iraq’.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:40 pmis melon-head babbling again?
August 31st, 2006 at 5:40 pmTRip: Great link.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:44 pmSo, when the time comes, we’ll find ourselves short of resources, just as you observed. lacking the resources to commit to a ground invasion, the neocons will exercise the nuclear option, which, of course, was their intention all along.
Comment by TripMaster Monkey — August 31, 2006 @ 5:38 pm
I disagree. US can engage a war against Iran but you forget that no matter how strong US seems it is not the superpower to do as it pleases. Russia and China wont let that happen, in my opinion, as long as they get some profits themselves.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:49 pmSorry: As long as they DONT get profits.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:50 pmNo the Bushies want a nuclear attack. We do not have the ground troops to commit to Iran, they don’t exist. A draft would get us the troops, but America won’t support a draft UNLESS there was a significant threat to the country. George wants to nuke the Iraian nuclear lab, we don’t have anything in a conventional weapon large enough to ensure destruction of the lab and the enriched uranium, so it has to be a nuke. Then when the Iranians get upset we have nuked their country and atack the 130,000 troops in Iraq and annex Iraq, Bush gets the draft approved and perpetual profits.
August 31st, 2006 at 6:06 pmToo bad he has a hearing problem. Or is it a comprehension disability? Or perhaps a stupid button that’s been pushed too many times.
August 31st, 2006 at 6:15 pmNoron let Mehlman get away with a lot of very ambiguous remarks. She did it again tonight with Bartlett (Mr.Counselor-to-the-Chimp) and it was pathetic. O’Donnel does not hide her politics well at all. I have a feeling NBC may be grooming here to be the replacement for Andrea Miitchell. She’s is getting a little bit long in the tooth. Face it , there is no objectivity at NBC or MSNBC. Mitchell is married to Greenspan, Campbell Brown is married to Senor, Carlson’s father is a big deal in the Republican party, and is on the Committee raising money for Scooter Libby’s defense fund. Its is big con game. Perhaps if we all stopped watching (except for Keith Olbermann) the ratings will drop and they will lose their jobs. I could have sworn Bartlett was reading a teleprompter–he was also smirking like a gorilla. What I could not believe was how Nora was kissing Katherine Harris’ ass and letting her say a lot of garbage and she never challenged her. P.S. Harris looked like she fell out of a hearse!!
August 31st, 2006 at 6:21 pmDoes anyone other than devout, kool-aid drinking Bush cultists even listen to Mehlman anymore. The guy can’t even burp without a lie spewing out of his piehole.
August 31st, 2006 at 6:51 pmMehlman to voters in November: “The GOP has absolutely NOTHING for you. NOTHING.” The GOP is led by a failed leader with failed policies. Republican Senate candidate Mark Kennedy in MN won’t even claim to be a Republican on his TV campaign ads, though he is a 95% Bush rubberstamper, he can’t run fast enough or far enough to escape the Bush stink. What a pathetic lot.
August 31st, 2006 at 7:20 pmThere is no spoon.
August 31st, 2006 at 7:31 pmTake a good long look at that mug people.
Thats the face of a paid professional liar.
August 31st, 2006 at 7:37 pmIt’s going to be fun when chris’s ship sinks strait the bottom. But, the bags of money and the lies will make his trip a soft landing.
August 31st, 2006 at 8:08 pmThats the face of a paid professional liar.
Comment by WORFEUS
Ya’ll keep saying what I was going to say!
That is brilliant, Worfeus, absolutely inspired — because I was going to say it!
August 31st, 2006 at 9:29 pm:)
God, what a brainwashed little putz he is. Put a quarter in him and get your five minutes of spin and spew.
August 31st, 2006 at 10:14 pmHe’s not in denial, he’s a liar. There’s a difference.
August 31st, 2006 at 11:11 pmAmerica’s Least Wanted
Mehlman is an IQ waiting to happen
August 31st, 2006 at 11:16 pmHey Zooey. Get out of my brain!
:D
August 31st, 2006 at 11:38 pmAdolf Hitler
September 1st, 2006 at 3:37 amBerlin
April 8, 1933
I despise people who go to the gutter on either the right or the left and hurl rocks at those in the center.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom.
September 1st, 2006 at 5:40 amDwight D. Eisenhower
Ms.O’Donnell knew that he would be on the show, and no doubt had a pretty good idea of what she was going to ask him. Would it have killed her to have the Shays clip ready to go, for just such an occasion? Ah well… But Mehlman does look a bit like it is taking an awful lot of energy to sell this story, because now he is lying about a Republican. It will come back to bite him , someday. And it looks like he knows it too.
September 1st, 2006 at 7:54 amCurrently the administration and its lackeys (Such as Mehlman) are arguing that the war should be fought without planning for victory. And they call those of us who figured the war was a bad idea in the first place defeatists.
September 1st, 2006 at 10:00 amThe REPUBLICAN Party appears the ONLY PARTY that has actually DEMONSTRATED their weakness on national defense and national security and terrorism. This evaluation comes from their failure to defend America on Sept 11, 2001.
No amount of ranting by Hesitant Bush, Vice Hesitant Cheney, Donald RUMSFAILED and KKKarl Rove will change this fact. If they say the Republicans do better on protecting our country they have told a LIE. 2750 dead people from the towers and the pentagon have pulled the curtain away from the Republicans and have revealed them as failures on national defense.
September 1st, 2006 at 10:12 amIt is payback time: Thanks to MEHLMAN there’s going to be a bloodbath.
Comment by God
“If it’s a bloodbath they want, we’ll give it to them.”
September 1st, 2006 at 11:16 am– Ronald Reagan, “The Killers”
re50 Do you really think Clinton made the country any safer? Let me count… let’s see… there was Oklahoma City, the U.S.S. cole, U.S. Embassy bombings, etc… To Bush’s I attack on the World Trade Center and he actually gave the terrorists a response. I mean one other than “That’s okay, we didn’t like those buildings anyways” Or “I guess America brought it on herself”..
September 1st, 2006 at 12:26 pmcoachjason: Where is OBL? Oh yeah, chimpy let him go at Tora Bora so he could get on with his invasion of Iraq. And what did chimpy do on 9/11? Sit in a class for SEVEN MINUTES reading “The Pet Goat.” Wow, what leadership. Just like Katrina.
September 1st, 2006 at 12:41 pmCosmosis, So OBL is the end all be all of the war on terror? Do you believe he won’t be caught? and the My Pet Goat thing… Does it really matter today? At least he can read. I’m suprised you could find Fahrenheit 9/11 considering how hard it is to spell the first word. As for Katrina leadership… How long did it take FEMA to get to Florida after hurricane Andrew under Clinton? Oh 2 weeeks, there’s real Democrat leadership for you. I can’t believe you still revert to the Michael Moore playbook… John Kerry lost, decisively. Reguardless of what you tell yourself about Ken Blackwell and Ohio. Had Kerry won Ohio it still would have been a tie and W would have won in congress.
September 1st, 2006 at 1:11 pmSo how’s Clintons doing with his chinese friends nowadays? Since we’re going back in time today…
re: coachjason, Armchair Quarterback, NeoCon ChickenHawk
I’m sure there are some good men and women in Iraq. I happen to have served with them. That said, I find it hard to believe that coachjason is one of them. I also don’t believe anything coachjason says about his alleged military service or his time spent in Iraq. He parrots the usual ReichWing NeoCon talking points that justify the US occupation and genocide in Iraq. Comment by Indict Murderous Fundamentalist Republicans — September 1, 2006 @ 9:47 pm
September 2nd, 2006 at 4:10 amIn case everyone has forgotten the goal in Iraq was to kill their leaders,
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:55 pmsteal their oil, and convert everyone to christianity. Keep bush in for another term with a republican congress and I think we can accomplish this.
Next stop Iran and syria. all aboard.
great job to nor o’donnel.
Katya
I just wanted to write to say that you have a great site and a wonderful resource for all to share.
March 15th, 2008 at 8:36 pm