November 14, 2005

Off With the Gloves!

Hatched by Dafydd

The demigods over at Power Line are just going to be ecstatic about this. John Hinderaker worried that Bush's speech a few days ago, defending himself and his administration from the destructive and absurdist "Bush lied, people died" meme was just a one-off, and that the president might decide that, since he had "answered" the charge, he could then just "move on to other things."

This is a pretty good beginning, but it means nothing unless Bush and his surrogates keep up the counter-attack. My fear is that Bush will think that now that he has responded, he can move on to other things. This would be a serious mistake. I think Bush and his surrogates should give the same speech more or less every day for the next month or two. The administration has a lot of catching up to do, and a single speech, or a handful of speeches, won't have any impact.

But today, AP calms our fears:

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) - President Bush, heading to Asia with hopes of improving his image on the world stage, hurled a parting shot at Iraq war critics on Monday, accusing some Democrats of "sending mixed signals to our troops and the enemy."

"That is irresponsible," Bush said in prepared remarks he planned to deliver to U.S. forces during a refueling stop in Alaska. Excerpts from the remarks were released by the White House as Bush flew to Elemendorf Air Force Base on the initial leg of an eight-day journey to Japan, South Korea, China and Mongolia.

"Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war, but it is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim that we misled them and the American people," Bush said in his prepared remarks.

"Only one person manipulated evidence and misled the world - and that person was Saddam Hussein," Bush added.

The president continues the powerful centerpunching he finally began last week:

In his prepared Alaska remarks, Bush noted that some elected Democrats in Congress "have opposed this war all along.

"I disagree with them, but I respect their willingness to take a consistent stand," he said. "Yet some Democrats who voted to authorize the use of force are now rewriting the past. They are playing politics with this issue and sending mixed signals to our troops and the enemy."

Rem acu tetigisti, as the Romans said; Bush has touched the point with a needle. Congress does not have access to every jot and tittle of intelligence information that the president does; but the Senate and House Intelligence Committees did, in fact, have access to all of the major conclusions -- and all of the disagreements and caveats -- available to the White House.

Yet twenty-nine Democrats in the Senate (and most Democrats in the House, though that was a voice vote, not a roll call) voted on October 11th, 2002, to authorize the use of force in Iraq, including all of the presidential candidates of 2004 in Congress except for Bob Graham of Florida -- then-Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), John Edwards (D-NC), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), and nominee John Kerry (D-MA) -- and several expected candidates for 2008, including Joe Biden (D-DE) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

Despite supporting the war in 2002, Edwards, Kerry, Biden and other Democrats (such as Charles Schumer) are leading the pack charging that Bush "lied us into the war." I suppose what they're really claiming is that they voted to send America to war without even having read the relevant intelligence. I don't believe it, but that's what they must be saying.

The minority Republicans (except for Lincoln Chafee) read the intelligence reports and concluded that Saddam Hussein had to go. Some Democrats read the same intelligence reports (or didn't bother) and decided it wasn't enough to go to war; these folks -- Dick Durbin (D-IL), Pat Leahy (D-VT), Carl Levin (D-MI), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), for example -- at the very least have the virtue of consistency: they were agin' it then, they're agin' it now.

But the Democratic Party has a terrible problem: they desperately want to paint Bush as a mindless warmonger who was in possession of credible intelligence that Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction (despite the fact that we actually found those "large stockpiles" that were promised -- see here and here, most recently), but who "lied" about it just to get us into that war. But they have no answer for the large number of very big-profile Democrats who either looked at the intel and agreed with Bush -- or who couldn't even trouble themselves to look at the intel before voting.

I visualize John Hinderaker standing atop his desk and doing the "Dilbert dance" at the thought that Bush has finally awaked from his year-and-a-half slumber and picked a fight with the lying slime who have done him and the Republican Party -- and the country -- so much damage already.

If John has room up there, I'd like to join him. Now if only Bush would also finally take on the numbskulls who insist that a chemical rocket isn't a chemical weapon if the chemicals are not actually loaded, just sitting alongside in a 55-gallon drum inside the same camouflaged bunker.

Yup. And a gun isn't a gun if you just unload it.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, November 14, 2005, at the time of 4:25 PM

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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Off With the Gloves!:

» Bush Keeps Up the Pressure from Myopic Zeal
In a stop over in Alaska on his way to Asia, Bush addressed the troops, and hit hard at some in the Democratic party. ... [Read More]

Tracked on November 14, 2005 5:17 PM

» Bush Keeps On Attacking from Flopping Aces
Bush is still battling back thank god: (via Michelle Malkin) Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war –­ but it is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim that we misled them and the American people. Leaders in my Administratio... [Read More]

Tracked on November 14, 2005 6:36 PM

» Keep driving these points home, Mr. Prez from Sister Toldjah
The President gave a speech tonight Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska - the speech is a continuation of the same theme that the President has been pushing hard over the last week in response to the lying Democrats in Congress who are tryin... [Read More]

Tracked on November 14, 2005 8:53 PM

Comments

The following hissed in response by: streeter

I plopped down the $300. for a hard copy of the Duelfer report and it was worth every penny. I've read the thing several times and it's a great read.
The only problem is that it is written by scientists and therefore doesn't easily lend itself to the politics of the war unless one reads it all and then carefully re-examines it to formulate the global dymanic as best one can.

An example of where the MSM could misrepresent and most Americans would never catch it is the case of long-range missiles; the report states in short form that Saddam did not have them. After that conclusion the very next heading is "Clustering of Short Range Missiles". That section details how Saddam had Russian supplied plans, parts, facilities and engineers to successfully "cluster" sort-range missiles and these would become effective at long ranges.

Just one of thousands of cool points in the report available @ gpo.gov . out.

The above hissed in response by: streeter [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 14, 2005 9:00 PM

The following hissed in response by: matoko kusanagi

There is something deeply wrong, even twisted and sad about a mathematician that professes such admiration for lawyers.
;-)

The above hissed in response by: matoko kusanagi [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 14, 2005 9:51 PM

The following hissed in response by: Bill Faith

Finally, GWB is kickin' butts and takin' names like a good Texan. I was beginning to worry about the boy but he might be OK after all. I linked from my Bush Continues To Counter-Attack post.

The above hissed in response by: Bill Faith [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 15, 2005 12:32 AM

The following hissed in response by: Patrick S Lasswell

Could we get some "Saddam Lied" bumper stickers?

The above hissed in response by: Patrick S Lasswell [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 15, 2005 11:04 AM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

This might get deleted...

However...Racists, Fascists, and such generally attempt such, and i include the Democrat Party at this point. Basically, the Democrat Party cannot stand to lose another series of Elections after their 2000, 2002, and 2004 losses, in my humble Low and Ignorant Insane swamp hermit opinion. Thus their desperation...so to speak.

The Democrat Party now clearly sides with Saddam and other supporters of Terrorism, even whilst knowing that Clinton did nothing but talk for *EIGHT* years. On the heels of Jimmy "The Mullah" Carter, Bill Clinton followed the lead, and took no action beyond talk...basically.

Iraq is just one battle in a *WAR*, and Politicians play games. Imagine a *WAR* where Politicians or even the Citizens get to choose the battles of a *WAR*, and that nation has lost...i bet. In Prison, i always went for the baddest Dude there, plus his gang. My goal was to make him *SCREAM*. Yes, it was a gamble on my part, especially if he managed to make me *SCREAM*, and his gang/mob gained confidence from the scene; however, since i had no gang/mob, my only choice was to make the baddest Dude in the Prison *SCREAM*!!!. i created a move on my first attempt, drowning the baddest Prison Dude in his own blood, and the rest is history.

Mother Nature liked it, but that was just Prison. Mother Nature is less understanding in the "Free World"...the *REAL* "Free World".

In WW2, the Nazi’s looked tough, until they tried to take England. Then they tried to take Russia. The Democrat Party likes to play silly games, whilst they seek to re-write history. Such tactics have never worked throughout human history, and will not work now. Weakness only Emboldens the Enemy...simple as that.

KårmiÇømmünîs†

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 15, 2005 4:28 PM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

Most people don't notice that i have just one arm left, until i pluck out their eyes with the one remaining thumb on my only arm.

Gloves or Glove?!? The blind never asked me to wear such...

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 15, 2005 5:51 PM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

i can whip at least thirty Arabs with just my thumb. How, some might ask. Simple, because that is my choice. Have you ever looked into another man's eye, whilst your thumb is about to pluck his other eye, and told him to beg for mercy. i have...

KårmiÇømmünîs†

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 15, 2005 5:57 PM

The following hissed in response by: Eg

Karmi...don't you have a freeway, somewhere...anywhere, near your neighborhood to play on? I mean really....

It looks like my second favorite person has given the the Un a warning from my most favorite of all, GW.

'During a luncheon with reporters and editors at The Washington Times, U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton said repeatedly that the Bush administration requires nothing less than "a revolution of reform" at the world body....

The United Nations, he said, "has got to be a place to solve problems that need solving, rather than a place where problems go, never to emerge.

...there is a broadly shared view that the U.N. is one of many potential instruments to advance U.S. issues, and we have to decide whether a particular issue is best done through the U.N. or best done through some other mechanism. ...'

What does he mean, 'never to emerge?' Every problem I've seen go to the Un gets worse.

Ya' can't help but love the two of them....! God bless their sweet little hearts.

The above hissed in response by: Eg [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 15, 2005 7:39 PM

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