Hume: Conservatives Waiting Until September Are Inviting A ‘Tet Offensive’
Hume: Conservatives Waiting Until September Are Inviting A ‘Tet Offensive’
Division over Iraq continues to rage on the right. This morning on Fox News Sunday, Fox News managing editor Brit Hume ripped into conservatives who claim they will demand a change in war policy if President Bush’s escalation policy hasn’t shown results by September.
“It’s been said that the setting of a timetable for withdrawal is the worst idea,” Hume offered. “If that’s true, the second worst is the announcement by Republicans and others that September is the drop-dead date for serious and major progress.”
Hume said conservatives who are waiting until September are placing “an enormously useful bit of intelligence in the hands of the enemy” and allowing terrorists and insurgents in Iraq to mount “something on the order of the Tet Offensive.” Watch it:
So, according to Hume, the United States should not only not set a timeline for ending the war, but should never talk about when it expects to see results of its military strategy. The perfect recipe for staying in Iraq forever.
Transcript:
HUME: It’s been said that the setting of a timetable for withdrawal is the worst idea. If that’s true, the second worst is the announcement by Republicans and others that September is the drop-dead date for serious and major progress. That places an enormously useful bit of intelligence in the hands of the enemy and allows the enemy to mount possibly around that time something on the order of the Tet Offensive, which was a major defeat for the insurgent forces in Vietnam, but it was a huge public relations and political triumph because it came across in the coverage because it was bloody and spectacular and so forth as a —
WALLACE: Why do you think John Boehner at this table last Sunday, why do you think he said that?
HUME: I think John Boehner is reflecting as leader sentiment that he’s hearing from his caucus.
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Brit Hume is a seasoned, veteran journalist and his words carry gravitas within the Beltway. He is an opinion maker and shaker
May 13th, 2007 at 10:52 amHe’s not even worth commenting on. As a matter of fact, any story that comes from FN isn’t worth commenting on.
May 13th, 2007 at 10:53 amThe Tet Offensive, in and of itself, was a success. Humous is decayed vegitation.
May 13th, 2007 at 10:56 amRecall that Hume is the same GOP apologist who claimed that “U.S. soldiers have less of a chance of dying from all causes in Iraq than citizens have of being murdered in California.” In the end, Iraq is a failed policy because Bush and the neocons could not convince Americans (other than Hume and Hannity) to give a shit about Iraq.
May 13th, 2007 at 10:59 aminsurgents in Iraq
Are NOT the enemy. They are not occupying their own country. They live there. They belong there. We dont. THIS ISNT WWII fools.
May 13th, 2007 at 10:59 amBrit Hume is a seasoned, veteran journalist and his words carry gravitas within the Beltway. He is an opinion maker and shaker
Comment by red white and blue — May 13, 2007 @ 10:52 am
…who lost all his credibility since he got to Fox News. Is that what you meant to say?
May 13th, 2007 at 11:04 amHumous is decayed vegitation.
Comment by Church Lady — May 13, 2007 @ 10:56 am
Why so men to vegetation?
May 13th, 2007 at 11:05 amI am getting tired of watching, day after day, CNN and MSNBC pundits claim “progress in Iraq” over TV scenes of America soldiers kicking in Iraqi doors. Malcolm X once said you can’t stab a man in the back, pull the knife half-way out and say you have made “progress.”
May 13th, 2007 at 11:05 amWhy so MEAN to vegetation? sorry
May 13th, 2007 at 11:05 amI wonder what Brit Hume’s real name was before he got into show business.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:06 amAlexander Britton Hume
May 13th, 2007 at 11:07 amSo Droopy Dawg is still relying on the old “It’s been said” meme. It’s been said that the setting of a timetable…people say…I’ve heard…my bookie told me…my dealer clued me…
May 13th, 2007 at 11:12 amI always assume that whatever follows these Rove-fave hearsay openers are lies.
Why do people think that the insurgents are waiting for pull outs and timelines, they’re are attacking now. All hell has already broke loose, nothing we do or don’t do is going to change the long term future of Iraq. That is why any reasonable person should agree with me and pull out now. Unfortunately some 20% of our people are living in a fantasy world where Bush is some Randolf Scott like figure with a big white cowboy hat on riding in to save everyone.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:14 amIs it Impeachment yet?
May 13th, 2007 at 11:19 amJerkoff- he will be bouncing up ‘n’ down between the levels of Hell with his homies KKKarl rove, Chimpy, Cheney, and maybe Jeff Gannon, who will always be out of reach of their sweaty, forever-frustrated little d*ck-skinners.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:19 amOooops, I forgot Tony Snow-JOB.
When was the last time Brit Hume was right about anything?
May 13th, 2007 at 11:20 amHe’ll be on the wrong side of history.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:20 amJust another paid FOX propagndist parading as a journalist.
Ruppert Murdoch pays these ass*oles a lot of $ to create and maintain a wingnut parallel reality, the least we can do is point out the Orwellian nature of it all. Well done Brit, take a bow on making it through another week of lying your face off to the American people in the name of greed and evil. Bravo.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:21 amRed whit and blueballs- my favorite britt hubris moment, when it was apparent that the DEMOCRATS were winning _BOTH_ houses of Congress, he said ” I guess OUR SIDE isn’t doing very well”.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:22 amFair and balanced, my *ss.
I’ll only be happy when Roger Ailes is living under an overpass after the sheeple wake the f*ck up and realize how they’ve been played.
That was way waaayy back, About the same time Bill Kristol was right about something.
I think he did a doody and actually hit the potty.
Good work Bill.
(He needs encouragement to aim)
May 13th, 2007 at 11:23 amHume loves Big Brother.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:29 amHume’s argument would only have worked if his strategy began before the Invasion. Remember when Bush gave Saddam 48 hours, we lost the war right there. Then they made the mistake of saying that they were going to Baghdad. Well, that’s just inviting the enemy to look for us there. Then there’s the Green Zone. Gosh, why don’t you put a big target on the place. So, Hume’s full plan, if implemented, would forbid ANY talk about Iraq to be uttered.
To complete his line of thinking, Hume must believe that the Insurgents are sitting aroung going, “I don’t feel like killing Americans anymore. Yes, yes, all we have been doing is increasing our attacks day after day, but now, oooh that Bush frightens me. But now… my Arabic C-Span is showing the American Congress saying that they will give up in September. Well now, I was about to piss my pants but now I will go ahead with my suicide attack. I have been emboldened!”
Only someone like Jon Stewart or Bill Maher (along with Bill Moyers) point out stoopid arguments like these. Why oh why do the people who supposedly have integrity, like Wolf Blitzer or Tim Russert allow these empty arguments fly without shooting them down????
May 13th, 2007 at 11:30 amAll this is easy for Hume to say while his ass is secure behind guards at a Faux studio. Put a gun in his hand and put him out on the front lines in Iraq and then let’s see how long it would take him to show the yellow streak that runs down his back. Easy enough for a coward to condemn our fighting men and women to everlasting war when it costs you nothing and you would not pay for it at any price. This individual is beneath contempt.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:31 amSimple minds call for simple analogies, although the vietnam-iraq one is spot on.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:32 amIf there are ever an Iraq war equivalent of the Nuremberg trials, I hope to god they round up the jerks like Hume and all the other conservative-enabling talking-heads for their much deserved day in court.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:35 amGood morning, all.
More Sunday morning Comics, with bad HUMEor leading the way, I see.
Republicans insisting on a timeline, limiting conflict in Kosovo – good.
Anyone insisting on a timeline, limiting conflict in Iraq – bad.
But we already have a timeline. It’s the 30-year oil deal Bush is trying to ram through the Iraqi Parliament.
The Iraqi Parliament has it’s own timeline, and that includes a two-month summer vacation. Question is, how ya gonna get them back, once they leave Iraq?
A look at the numbers over a 30-year period, assuming the current rate of carnage stays constant:
Plus $3,000,000,000,000 ($3 Trillion) added to the National debt, (not counting long-term costs for veteran’s health care, lost productivity, interest, etc., nor the $10 Trillion cost of Bush’s tax cuts).
One of the more fascinating parts of Bush’s legacy will be how he was able to start two wars and cut taxes for the wealthy at the same time, plunging the country into massive debt.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:37 am“Brit Hume ripped into conservatives who claim they will demand a change in war policy ”
A “war policy”? We have a war policy?
May 13th, 2007 at 11:38 amThe Republicans on their September Plan B for Iraq:
“By the time we get to September or October, members are going to want to know how well this is working, and if it isn’t, what’s Plan B.”
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), May 6, 2007.
“I have no Plan B.”
John McCain, on his support for the Iraq surge, April 13, 2007.
“Plan B was to make Plan A work.”
Joint Chiefs Chairman General Peter Pace, on Iraq, March 5, 2007.
“I don’t think you go to Plan B. You work with Plan A.”
May 13th, 2007 at 11:39 amSecretary of State Rice, asked what the U.S. should do if the Iraqi government does not live up to its assurances, March 5, 2007.
Brit Hume is simply trying to protect his extensive portfolio of war profiteering stocks. He undoubtedly is getting rich off of the Military Industrial Complex and he doesn’t want to stop getting richer. Poor Dwight Eisenhower must turn over in his grave every night knowing that what he warned against has become the norm.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:41 amAboveTheClouds,
Right you are. We are not making progress there.
My brother is home for a few weeks before returning to that hell hole, he’s been there 2 1/2 years and says it most definitely is not going well and it’s getting worse.
Like the politicians currently in charge of this country (liars and war profiteers) are going to tell us the truth.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:41 amWho cares what Hume says? He’s been dead wrong for so long.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:45 amWhy aren’t people living in the beltway enlisting in droves? If this war is such a “noble cause” why are recruiters having such a hard time meeting quotas? One would think, given the 60 some million people who allegedly voted for Bush, that the bulk of those able-bodied men and women would be eager to respond to their leader’s call to arms.
If half of them went to Iraq, we could have a 1 to 1 ratio of soldiers to Iraqis (population 26 million, 2006 estimate), with 4 million soldiers left over to counter foreign terrorists.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:46 amRocks911 – may your brother return safe, and sane.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:48 amOT but John Edwards has started an initiative today called Support the Troops. End the War. Go to his web site for more info and events Memorial Day weekend.
http://www.supportthetroopsendthewar.com/
May 13th, 2007 at 11:48 amHume the insurgents keep doing mini ‘Tet Offenses’ on a daily basis, so time to just leave now instead of years later after thousands more soldiers are dead.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:54 amIs it just me or has anyone else noticed that Hume usually has a little bit of spit running from the corner of his mouth?
May 13th, 2007 at 11:56 amWhy do I think of the Black Knight in Monty Python & the Holy Grail?
May 13th, 2007 at 12:00 pm“It’s only a flesh wound.”
You know, as I think about the tragedy in Iraq this morning and all of the soldiers that are bravely serving the country they love by doing their duty (which is what they’re told) and the other side of the coin, the Iraqis whose families are being destroyed and will never be the same, it occurs to me that there is one thing that this administration has done that was worthwhile.
By ripping away any sense of restraint that the GOP and the conservative movement has shown in the past in executing their greedy, malicious agenda, the BushCheney regime has revealed the true nature of just what they and their ilk believe that this world and this life is for. It’s about money and power and making sure that the vast majority of the American public (not to mention the citizens of the world) are never to be allowed to have a piece of the pie that they think belongs solely to them.
Policies that funnel money out of the taxpayers wallets and into the pockets of private entities. Greed and selfishness, hate and ignorance all wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross (and a machine gun). This most treacherous administration of all has stepped so far over the line, with 9/11 as their cover, that all the world now knows what they want, and believe in. They’ve made it perfectly clear and I just hope that everyone understands what they’re about this time.
May 13th, 2007 at 12:03 pmBy that logic I guess we could say we are going to be in Iraq for 20 years and that would free us up to sneak out immediately – thus ‘tricking’ teh evildooers.
Problem solved.
May 13th, 2007 at 12:08 pmBrit Hume wants permanent war. Brit Hume is a propagandist and traitor.
May 13th, 2007 at 12:12 pmBrit Hume wants permanent war. Brit Hume is a propagandist and traitor.
Comment by VerbalKint
Brit Hume is also a war profiteer.
May 13th, 2007 at 12:21 pmWithout the war FAUX Noise would be out of busness…the Duke Lacrosse team got off and they never found the Alabama girl. What else do they have?
Why give FAUX Noise space on this site? They are worthless propagandists.
May 13th, 2007 at 12:21 pmWell, he would know. He’s the expert after all of his years of military service.
Oh, wait. Scratch that.
May 13th, 2007 at 12:22 pmHume always looks mentally retarded in the TP pics > lol.
May 13th, 2007 at 12:25 pmThis the link for #40
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/brit-hume-goes-on-tv-sa_b_3813.html
May 13th, 2007 at 12:26 pmHume is nothing short of a “HUME-UNGUS” fungus on any sane person’s
May 13th, 2007 at 12:37 pmidea of journalism. Murdock injois areadin’ hiz culum in da throne room out back. It’s rite neer his Seers ‘n roebeck book uv stuff. This “HUME” could not hit his ass with both hands if they were handcuffed back there.
Typical pundit construction: “It’s been said that the setting of a timetable for withdrawal is the worst idea,†Hume offered.
“It’s been said” by idiots on FoxNoos and therefore it can referred to as if it was important information instead of propaganda. It hasn’t been said by anyone with any objectivity or credibility, but so what, right Hume?
May 13th, 2007 at 12:41 pmI would be very interested to see Brit’s stock and investment portfolio. The only benefit of continued military action is to increase the profitability of the defense contractors and those who are syphoning off the millions of barrels of oil now reported missing from Iraq audits (and who is one of those companies?? why Halliburton of course). Thus i surmise that Hume’s portfolio holds considerable shares of energy and military corporate investments, fomenting his pleading to keep the war going, which keeps the price of oil up, which in turn increases profits and dividends. Greed is the motivator for his rhetoric!
see: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=12753
May 13th, 2007 at 12:47 pmDon’t be too hard on Hume. It is hard to push the propaganda when so few are willing to continue believing.
May 13th, 2007 at 1:49 pmIs this guy drooling?
May 13th, 2007 at 2:12 pmNever right!
You know, ass-wipes like Brit Hume would have some credibility if those for which Brit is an apologist were right on just one thing. However, this administration, the GOP and the neocons have yet to right on anything regarding Iraq.
I just wish Brit, Fred Barnes, Mort Kondrake, Kristol and Krauthamer would just be honest and admit that their job is to felate Bush and the administration on air.
May 13th, 2007 at 2:23 pmWTF
May 13th, 2007 at 2:39 pmThank Jesus! Hume comes appears on this website as the lone sober voice in the midst of a crowded bar of drunken buffoons
May 13th, 2007 at 2:43 pmWTF would Hume know about Tet? Did he ever serve? No? Didn’t think so. If it takes another Tet to put tens of millions of people into the streets demanding an end to this shit, then… BRING IT ON!
May 13th, 2007 at 2:43 pmI’m sorry–I must have this “Tet Offensive” of which Hume speaks confused with another Tet Offensive. I don’t recall the US setting any “timetables” for the Vietnam Conflict which “encouraged” the VietCong and North Vietnamese to launch their offensive. All I recall happening was that the VietCong/NVA forces PLANNED to launch a massive attack on the Tet (Lunar New Year) Holiday when many ARVN troops would be “on leave”. (To put it in terms that the pro-Israel neocons could understand, the “Yom Kippur War” of 1973 would be a good analogy.) The VietCong and North Vietnam had announced in Oct 1967 they would observe a truce for the holiday period and the ARVN leaders opted to accept those terms and allowed their soldiers to take leave; Westmoreland strongly objected to the ARVN plans and in spite of intel reporting strengthening VC/NVA movements in the months preceding Tet, the only thing that happened was an increase in troops available to defend Saigon.
May 13th, 2007 at 2:52 pmIt SHOULD also be noted that Westmoreland requested an massive increase in troops (”surge”, if you will) following Tet–even after initial reports indicated correctly that the US hadn’t lost too many men. It was this request for troops, leaked to the press, that led the public to question the “official” account (after all, if only 20,000 men were killed or wounded, why do we need to replace them with 200,000?). Another aspect was the very fact that Westmoreland (and other military AND political leaders) had assured the country that the VC/NVA forces could NEVER launch such a massive strike as they did with Tet. I mean, Westmoreland had, just MONTHS BEFORE Tet, assured the American people that the end of the war was “in sight”.
To put Tet into perspective a quote from James Arnold: “At the time, political and military leaders from Johnson and Westmoreland down blamed the Press for losing the war. The effort continued for years thereafter as discredited leaders sought to recover prestige. But their carping obscures the fact already described that even with a fully muzzled Press America had no viable war-winning strategy.”
Watching Hume talk is like watching sap run down a tree trunk. On the scale of interest, the sap wins hands down.
May 13th, 2007 at 5:14 pmWatching Hume talk is like watching sap run down a tree trunk. On the scale of interest, the sap wins hands down.
Comment by Subtle
Perhaps that’s why they never show the back of his head on camera: viewers would see the moss.
May 13th, 2007 at 6:01 pmThat’s why Fox “News” is so great. Not only does their respected news anchor give you the news, but he adds his own opinion as fact, along with alot of partison pablum too.
May 13th, 2007 at 7:58 pmHumes a Triple Threat!
Caption Contest:
“Duhh… which way did he go George?”
May 13th, 2007 at 8:16 pmHume is an endless war kind of jackass…
May 13th, 2007 at 9:21 pmThis bleary-eyed Bush brown-nose drinks with Billo every day.
In the morning they drink Kool-aid, in the afternoon they drink Dewars.
And they get on Fox to tell us about how America, even the Repubs in Congress, need to submit to the Bushco/Saudi lies.
May 13th, 2007 at 9:43 pmHume is actually correct in Republican cirlces.
Republicans have been screaming you dont give them a date then they turnaround and give them a date.
The basic problem with the premise is that its all wrong.
They can wait us out forever because its their country and their land.
May 13th, 2007 at 9:52 pmThey kind of live there so where are they frikin going.
#38 Comment by Jay — May 13, 2007 @ 12:03 pm
I agree 100%
Caption Contest:
“Ol’ Man River,
He don’t say nothin’
He just keep rollin’
All night long”
Finally, could someone who supports the president’s way of thinking on Iraq please explain something to me? He keeps saying that if we set a deadline for leaving, “The enemy will just wait us out” or “They’ll just wait until we leave.” Is he then saying that if we set a deadline for leaving, the enemy will stop killing American troops and innocent Iraqi citizens, and wait until we leave to resume the violence? Doesn’t that sound like he’s saying that if there’s a deadline, fewer people will die in the meantime? That’s what it sounds like to me. And if we all agree that the violence will escalate after we leave no matter how well-trained and ready the Iraqi government thinks it is, then why wait a single day longer? There really is no justification for continuing to send our troops into this pathetic situation. None.
Well, just wanted to drop in and say hi from Tennessee where I am visiting my mother (and her computer, which she says I can use to go on the internets, unlike my bosses.).
May 13th, 2007 at 11:51 pm>Thank Jesus!
no thanks, leave me out of this..
> Hume comment appears on this website
> as the lone sober voice in the midst of
> a crowded bar of drunken buffoons
> Comment by Mr. President
Then I guess the drunken bufoons calling for a timeline are in good company…
“Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is.” – George W Bush Houston Chronicle April 9, 1999
“I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they [our troops] will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.”
May 14th, 2007 at 12:41 am- George W Bush Scripps Howard/Seattle Post-Intelligencer May 5, 1999
yes, during every war that the USA has been we have told our enemies the time and date that we are leaving, right?
FDR and General Ike set time lines, bench marks. FDR and his Congress told General Ike, you need to be in Germany raising the American flag by this date and time, or else, we leave Europe. right?
Same thing in Korea, right? and Vietnam, we have always set a time table for withdrawl, letting our enemies know exactly when we are leaving.
why are liberals so stupid? why?
May 14th, 2007 at 10:53 amMy God these guys are as dense as they are arrogant. They’re like giant penises shooting blanks.
May 14th, 2007 at 4:17 pmWhy are we even telling them we’re in Iraq right now?
May 14th, 2007 at 5:37 pmI add: I can neither confirm nor deny that the U.S. has a military presence in Iraq right now.
May 14th, 2007 at 5:47 pmVTH,
You did not answer my question, only tossed out inane insults. I asked if the president was saying that the terrorists will stop killing American soldiers and innocent Iraqis if we set a date for withdrawal? In other words, if the terrorists plan to “wait us out”, does that not mean that fewer human beings will die in the meantime, including Americans?
May 15th, 2007 at 12:30 am