The only polls that matter are the ones on Election Day and those have not been taken yet. Scott Elliott at Election Projection says the margins in many, many races are razor thin and could go either way so the outcome really is in our hands. In addition to voting, volunteer to Get Out The Vote for your favorite candidates. The RNC has a great online tool that allows people to do GOTV calls from home. Be sure to check it out and do as much as your schedule will allow. What you do could make the difference.
Update: I got a special link for Wizbang readers to use to link to the RNC GOTV call from home program. Click here to show the blogosphere what Wizbang readers can do! Don’t let those other blogs show us up, and at the same time do your part to help hold the House and Senate.
(I replaced the earlier GOTV link so that now both links above will direct readers on behalf of Wizbang.)
Pilot, my solution was to pull out once we turned over control to provisional Iraqi government, and before you jump up my ass, that was the Bush plan as well, but they forgot to secure the peace first!
Now we are stuck.
As far as what to do now, unlike you, my vote is driven by the competence of the persons running and not greed. If they prove they can be trusted, than I trust they will come-up with a solution.
The Republicans have had over four years to prove their competency (Tora Bora to chaos) and they have failed.
Other than stay the course, what is YOUR solution?
Hugh:
Technically you are correct that the president has the power over foriegn affairs, however congress has the purse strings. Unfortunately, your idea of “bipartisan solutions” is not practical, since everyone has his own little black book of “how to win a war”, and most peoples idea of “bipartisan solutions” is “do it my way”. My real point is that the reason the Dems are not putting forth a plan for Iraq, other than “trust us, we can do it better” is that there is no other plan, except pulling out, and they know that is unexceptable to the majority of Americans. “Stay the Course” is a bitch, but other than surrendering, it is the only option. As I have posted many times before, I would never have invaded Iraq, but we did and I am behind Bush 100%, since he was elected president, not me.
Nothing turns my stomach more than reading posts that say ” he’s not my president”. It seems that some people only believe in Democracy when their side wins. You follow a leader, not because they are always correct, but because they were elected, and the option is cayous(sp).
The Left actually does have a plan in Iraq, though they have not put it on paper. Once the Dems are firmly entrenched in power, the following is hoped by the Dems.
They would like to deploy all available U.S. forces and spread them everywhere to do more humanitarian type missions. Then, they want to us to subject us to an international progressive tax where the U.S. is taxed at 99%, while France is at 9%. They will rule that there actually is no such thing as “separation” of church and state, and make secular humanism the official philosophy of the U.S. Then while singing Streisand tunes and sacrificing to Molech, we will all just go f**k ourselves.
Barney, NOTHING you say means anything so i am not insulted.
USMC – keep up the good work. Right On.
VagaBond,
I liked Muirgeo’s consolated list because it saved quite a bit of typing, but I’m familiar with each of these issues, and I can back them up as facts, or give you sources.
If you want to select a few, I’d be happy to provide specifics. I’d rather discuss physics with my cat, really. It’s not that the cat can’t understand it. It’s that she won’t take the time and make the effort. Probably about the same deal here, but if you want to pick a few, go ahead.
No, people DO NOT respond more to facts. Pick up the phone and call a marketing company in your area, and ask them. They will tell you people respond more to emotional arguments, particulary their needs like belonging, and they play to those needs, as in “An Ipod will make you cool, and thus people will like you”.
No, people do not respond to facts.
That’s not the way people are wired.
John
BarneyG2000:
Your post reminds me of the young kid in “Quigley Down Under”, who says “give me a gun like that an I could shoot that good to”. There is absolutely no evidence that having the Democratic leadership of the House and Senate would have produced any different results in Iraq, other than perhaps we would hav already tucked our tail and run. As to John Kerry, I think he would have pissed his pants three minutes after 9/11.
nehemiah, with all your references to annal intercourse, I recommend you confess your sins. I suggest you talk with pastor Ted Haggard in CO (if you know what I mean?).
USMC:
I respect your view about following a leader though I disagree with it. I would imagine that it is greatly influenced by your military service. Don’t take this in the wrong way please but when a leader is leading me over a cliff I think it’s my duty as well as my right to challenge that.
I also agree we are stuck. I don’t pretend to know the answer as I am not qualified to know it. What I believe is that the current conduct is a disaster. What I hope for (probably whistling the wind about it) is that Baker et al will find the solution. I do believe that there can be a bipartisan solution. Color me silly but that’s my view.
USMC Pilot,
Thank you for your service to our country, and the risk you take and effort you put in.
I appologize, but he’s not my president eiether. I don’t like him, I don’t trust him, I didn’t vote for him. I am however stuck with him.
And I can deal with it…
So, anyway… In this country, we don’t have LEADERS.
In this country we have political SERVENTS.
As the head of his party, and our nation, he is the greatest of the political servents, and is responsible to each and every one of us.
Not the other way around.
We are not a nation of kings and princes. We are free men, and we are not followers, which is why we don’t need leaders.
John
“There is absolutely no evidence that having the Democratic leadership of the House and Senate would have produced any different results in Iraq”
Except for the fact that Clinton was the President for the 8-years prior to Bush, and he was never so stupid to get “Stuck”.
Except Bill got “stuck” in Monica’s orifice.
“Except for the fact that Clinton was the President for the 8-years prior to Bush, and he was never so stupid to get “Stuck”.
Posted by: BarneyG2000″
When my son was about six or seven he came to me and said that a big kid down the block was always picking on him (pushing him down and hiting him). I told him that the next time he was picked on to hit the big kid in the nose as hard as he could. He said “he’ll beat me up”, and I responded that yes he probably would, but he will never pick on you again.
Bill Clinton was picked on for eight years, and now President Bush is fighting back!
Except Bill got “stuck” in Monica’s orifice.
Posted by: nehemiah
I’ll take BJs from a 21-year old any day rather than signing condolence letters to another mother whom lost her son due my incompetency.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A Republican congressman accused of abusing his ex-mistress agreed to pay her about $500,000 in a settlement last year that contained a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after Election Day, a person familiar with the terms of the deal told The Associated Press.
Score another seat for the Dems!!!
yeah barney,
That’s Foley’s official position. You might volunteer for his next campaign.
Make that two:
Two senior aides to National Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds participated in “damage control” conference calls concerning correspondence between Congressman Mark Foley and a former congressional page — two days before the scandal became public, and earlier than previously reported.
I’ll stop now.
I’ll take BJs from a 21-year old any day rather than signing condolence letters to another mother whom lost her son due my incompetency.
————————————————
Thanks for another reminder of how Clinton has botched the fight against the terrorists during the 1990s that caused the loss of many servicemen in the Cole attack. We can thank Bush that we don’t have another 9/11 attack in AMerica and our military for a magnificient in Iraq while we have to fight the terrorist-aiding propaganda of the liberal left and their allies in the MSM.
The incompetency of the Dems and liberal left is clear for all to see: Cambodian genocide, Bosnian and Kosovo debacle, 9/11 and their continuing cut-and-run policy. North Korea is the latest example of liberal incompetence
USMC Pilot,
I like your story.
I was also in that situation as a little kid. I did what you advised, and it did indeed work. Oh, after I clocked him, I also ran like hell.
I think this works for individuals. I think it also works on bullies because they are insecure.
I don’t think this works for Bush.
First off, we are not fighting THEM. “Them” is off somewhere in Pakistan or wherever. Bush is no longer interested in “Them”.
We’re now off somewhere else, doing god knows what to people that never picked a fight with us in the first place.
We are the bully.
Unfortunatly, the level of violence is going up, not down. Chaos is increacing. Costs are going up. The Iraqi society is fragmenting. 600,000 people have died.
I wish we could have punched Osama on the nose. For that matter, I wish we could have skinned him alive in front of his family.
That’s not a very Buddhist thing to say.
And I’m trying to atone.
I wish all the answers were as simple as when we were back in gradeschool.
Respectfully,
John
Also, thanks for another reminder of how the left dishonestly covers up for Bill Clinton ‘s misdeeds by making such a flimsy Barney-type excuse. They conveniently forget about Chinese money connection, Loral technology transfer to the Chinese communist, pardon of marc rich – a major figure in the oil-for-food corruption. That ‘s what we expect from the liberals any case.
John,
We are fighting the terrorists in Iraq. The terrorists publicly claim that Iraq democracy is a fatal blow to them and they do every thing they can to derail it. The terrorists know that this is the key battle for them. Only the liberal left doesn’t know. This is either an example of willful ignorance or simply dishonesty.
Hope this help you to understand the stake in Iraq. And for your sake I hope you stay away from the intellectual and moral sewage of the liberal left.
And A. Null? You can report “Mission Accomplished” to Markos or DU or wherever you’re trolling for. Though I suspect they won’t have the deck of an aircraft carrier ready for your speech about bravely attacking the “wingnuts” in their lair.
Posted by: fatman
———————————————-
That was an “attack” on “wingnuts in their lair?”
He sounded like a total idiot who doesn’t care about anything but getting noticed by others, whether they hear him, see him or read his obviously bullcrap posts. Your addressing him (and my adding to his little game) probably has him giggling with delight. Some people don’t believe anything–that’s what his post says to me at least.
Nothing concrete was addressed, no opinion voiced, no debate, not even mentioning any other poster by name. Total waste.
Yeah barney,
That’s Foley’s official position. You might volunteer for his next campaign.
Posted by: nehemiah
I think you got his “official” position backwards?
-BarneyG2000
Really?!?
Could you explain why my cousin and thousands of other US troops are still in Bosnia and Serbia? PLus our NATO allies? Where’s the exit plan?
Or is going in w/o the UN’s approval, and not having exit strategies only bad when the President has -R after his name?
John:
OBL has said that he considers Iraq to be a central front of the Jihadist movement. I take him at his word (this time). Mainly, because we have been attack free (knock on wood) fince 9/11. The longer he continues to disrupt the recovery in Iraq the more the world tires of him. I also think that the world is tiring of Hezbolla and Hamas in much the same way, and people around the world are loosing sympathy for the Palestinians cause. The world in general is tiring of the whole Jihadist thing, and will soon come together to denounce it (if we stay the course).
LoveAmerica Immigrant,
Until we invaded Iraq, were their many terrorists there?
Do you really think democracy in Iraq will be a “fatal blow” to terrorism?
Do you understand that if you feed people, their family will thank you? If you kill people, their family will hate you?
The combined report from the 16 federal agencies states that our Iraq policy is creating MORE terrroists, not LESS terrorists.
I hope that helps you understand what the best and brightest in our intelegence community tells us about how our policy is working.
John
Pilot,
Thanks for the reminder of another example of liberal incompetence and failure: the Oslo accord in dealing with the Palestinian terrorists. I guess Barney cannot sleep soundly knowing that many Is women/children have been blown up by the liberal incompetence.
And Bill Clinton got to do both.
John,
So do you go feed other families so they will love you? We need to be feeding the families in the middle east so they won’t attack us?
It’s getting so complicated that I’m gonna do what Bill did and not think about it and just get a blow job. Hillary got laid two years ago so she’s good for another two before she’s due anyway.
John,
Saddam Hussein was sponsoring terrorists from Iraq already. There are plenty of evidence to link Saddam and AlQ now. Saddam publicly support Palestinian terrorism against Is women/children. He offered money to Suicide bombers.
Democracy in Iraq is a definitely a blow to terrorism. Japan used to terrorise the world. Democracy changed that for them. Do you see democratic countries involved in terrorism now? Bin Laden said so himself.
BTW, Iraq is a perfect example of the incompetency (or the stupidity using the left ‘s own lingo) or lack of understanding. It is “fly-paper” strategy. You would rather fight the terrorists in Iraq than here.
ANd the Iraqui people really hate the terrorists blowing up their women/children. That ‘s why it is so despicable of the liberal left to make excuse for these evil thugs. So in the GWOT, PR is an important battle too. So I hope you will join us in fighting the left ‘s propaganda on behalf of the terrorists. At the same time, we should make known the magnificient job of our military in feeding Iraqui/Afghan people, building schools/hospitals and many times sacrifice their own lives to save Iraqui children from terrroists bomb.
The last NIE also said that if the terrorists are to lose in Iraq, it will reduce terrorism. THe Dems and the MSM was caught to dishonestly campaign on this leaked NIE.
In WW2, we lost several thousand soldiers just in one exercise. North Korea is the lastes example fo the failure of liberal policies.
John, hope this help your understanding further. The more I look at it, the more I think you should run from the intellectual/moral sewage of the left.
USMC Pilot,
You stated;
“OBL has said that he considers Iraq to be a central front of the Jihadist movement. I take him at his word (this time).”
I take him at his word as well. It’s a great opportunity to bleed us. Did we expect they would line up to get gunned down with our superior weapons? Cheney was disappointed with this a couple weeks back, but who else expected that?
Don’t they teach Sun Tzu at acadamey anymore? What did he teach about the different types of “ground”? When to advance, when to hold, even why you might want to engage an enemy with your back to the sea.
Didn’t they teach why we beat the British here? Lining up in red coats, fighting insurgents on their home turf is not good strategy. A bunch of poorly equiped bumkin farmers beat the most advanced military power of it’s time.
Yeah, I’m sure he would think it’s an important battle. It’s going pretty well for him. He spent something like a couple hundred thousand dollars, and our poor reaction blew a few hundred billion. He really couldn’t have hurt us. Destroyed our democracy. Taken our freedoms. Stole our money. Only we can do that.
You also said;
“The longer he continues to disrupt the recovery in Iraq the more the world tires of him.”
I don’t think that’s true. Quite the opposite. Besides, it’s not allways about OBL. I think the more we kill people in Iraq, botch the reconstruction, support the 40 some year oppression of the palestenians, the more the world tires of US.
You also mentioned;
“The world in general is tiring of the whole Jihadist thing, and will soon come together to denounce it (if we stay the course).”
I don’t agree. Muslem unrest is increacing. More violence in Iraq. Terrorism internationaly is going up, not down.
Oh, one thing. We as a society need to get rid of the Jihadist label, or Jihadist word. We need to remove it from our language.
Jihad, refers to a stuggle, eiether internaly with yourself, or externaly to get closer to God.
You may be on a fierce stuggle to better yourself, and to come to know God, and you may say you are on a Jihad.
To say Jihad is “Evil” would be to say that it is evil to be a muslem and to attempt to become closer to God.
It’s ofensive to Muslems.
Sick fucks that kill innocients are not in Jihad, or Jihadists.
The correct word is hirabah. It origionaly meant brigandage, but it’s more general meaning is “Sinful Warfare”.
When we proclaim a war on Jihad, we offend a billion muslems.
We should say we proclaim a war on hirabis, which would be more effective.
For those that are interested in learing, a link to understand.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6392989
John
“OBL has said that he considers Iraq to be a central front of the Jihadist movement. I take him at his word”
Pilot, are you aware that OBL also said, funny how the Prez never mentions this bit, “The most important thing is that you continue in your jihad in Iraq. Indeed, prolonging the war is in our interest, with God’s permission.
So OBL wants us to get “stuck” in Iraq.
Don’t post like a terrorist unless you want people to believe you are one. Why do you hate this country so much Barney? Do you want us to win??
And Bill Clinton got to do both.
Posted by: SCSIwuzzy
Not one American life was lost in Kosovo.
More Americans have lost their lives in Iraq than were killed in 9/11. Saddam was responsible for the death of 400,000 Iraqis (mostly killed attempting to overthrow the government) over a 20-year period. Bush is responsible for the death of 600,000 or more after only 3 and 1/2 years.
John, above is so correct, you can’t beat an insurgency, noboby ever has, but this asshole for President thinks that he will be the first.
More Americans have lost their lives in Iraq than were killed in 9/11. Saddam was responsible for the death of 400,000 Iraqis (mostly killed attempting to overthrow the government) over a 20-year period. Bush is responsible for the death of 600,000 or more after only 3 and 1/2 years.
———————————————–
THe 600,000 figure was a blatant lie which has been exposed. Americans killed in car accident per year have far exceeded the number of soldiers killed in battle in Iraq. IN one exercise in WW2 more soldiers were killed than the entire Iraq war so far.
Liberals have been responsible for more than 100 million people killed, maimed, tortured by the communists. Liberals are responsible for more than 1 billion people still oppressed by communists. Liberals are responsible for Iraqui women/children, Israeli women/children blown up by the terrorists. Liberals are responsible for providing propaganda for terrorists blowing up innocent women/children around the world. Bush has freed 50 million people from the yoke of the worst dictators in the modern world.
Barney is trying to say that Iraq was better under Saddam. Basically real torture, rape room, meat grinder, genocide were better for the Iraqui people. Thanks for another example of the moral sewage of the liberal left.
I don’t think that’s true. Quite the opposite. Besides, it’s not allways about OBL. I think the more we kill people in Iraq, botch the reconstruction, support the 40 some year oppression of the palestenians, the more the world tires of US.
———————————————–
We are killing the terrorists in Iraq. The terrorists are blowing up Iraqui women/children. I don’t know whether you are writing this out of ignorance or on purpose. If it is on purpose, then it is really despicable.
Using the typical liberal less-than-honest rhetoric you are using, the world here are those like Chavez, OBL, Kim Jong Il, the European left, and those who are willing to sell out the poor/oppressed for Saddam oil (oil for food corruption). The world is so tired of AMerica that they are still trying to come here. If it is up to world, Iraq and Afghan are still santuary of terrorists, more Is women/children would be blown off, more American cities would be wiped out. I don’t need the world, I need American protection more. just ask the Japanese and South JKorea now.