“It’s time to set the record straight about Iraq. That’s why we’ve released this new web video, “Democrats: Dishonest on Iraq.” Watch it now on GOP.com.
Watch, and you’ll see Senator Hillary Clinton talking tough when it came time to confront Saddam, saying “I can support the President, I can support an action against Saddam Hussein because I think it’s in the long-term interests of our national security …” Or Howard Dean calling Iraq an “international outlaw.” Or House minority leader Nancy Pelosi stating unequivocally, “Saddam Hussein certainly has chemical and biological weapons. There’s no question about that.”
Watch Democrat after Democrat on tape, reaching the same conclusion the President reached about Iraq.
Now that the politics have changed, those Democrats are trying to rewrite history. We welcome a robust debate about the conduct of the war. But for these Democrats to make politics their bottom line, abandoning their long-held positions when times get tough, sends the wrong message to the Iraqi people and to the terrorists. Whatever the politics in Washington, our troops need to know that our will is strong, our nation is united, and we will defeat this enemy.
Be a part of setting the record straight by watching the video on GOP.com, and sending it to your friends and family. You are where this Democrat dishonesty ends.
Sincerely,
Ken Mehlman
Chairman, Republican National Committee
This came in an e-mail. You Democrats are not going to like this, but it reminds me mightily of the baloney that LBJ fed us all long ago. There is the same detachment from reality, the same willingness to bend the truth, the same willingness to cast aspersions on the motives of fellow citizens who do not agree with your policy.
This also reminds me of the brainless repetitive hectoring of “the citizens” in the lamentable film, “Starship Troopers.” In this film, a “federation” government of the future relentlessly indoctrinates, spins, minimizes, entices and lies to obtain a willing compliance from the citizenry.
Politicians?
A plague on all their houses.
Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann (interview), CNN and Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room (interview), PBS’s Newshour, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” (interview), and more .
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“Drinking the Kool-Aid,” Middle East Policy Council Journal, Vol. XI, Summer 2004, No. 2
In the interests of disclosure, a regular at BooTrib who gets these e-mails from the Republicans sent this to me yesterday, and I forwarded it to Pat. He decided to write this up. I think his criticism is fair.
We can think up all the talking points in the world, but the fact remains that Kerry and Clinton and Edwards and so many others ignored the reality that we all had no trouble seeing before the war, and decided that voting for the resolution was the safest thing to do politically. Dammit.
On a PR front, “the guys we told you were too unpatriotic to go to war, also wanted to go to war” is kinda weak.
But I think this is another illustration of the utter cluelessness of Democratic strategists. The professionals told their clients that the way to impress the public was to follow the parade on their knees. Americans can be fooled and have many poor qualities, but they are nowhere near as stupid, craven, and easily lead as the Democratic DC Culture believes.
…is that it’s time to correct the history.
The Dems have to have the courage to double down on the bet and like Edwards say “We were wrong. We trusted this president. We believed him because that’s the patriotic thing to do in a time of war. But he lied to us, like he lied to you and the rest of the world. We’re done being lied to; now we need to set things straight.”
My problem is drinking the Democrats’ Kool-Aid on this: “We trusted this president. We believed him because that’s the patriotic thing to do …”
No realist could have trusted this president. No honest person could use the excuse of patriotism to defend their bad vote.
No sane person could have promised the use of force against a country that was not an imminent threat.
Of course, this is water under the bridge. But should we believe these politicians who’ve now seen the light? Not this kid. (I’ll vote for them if I have to, but they’re too gutless for my taste.)
would be for those Dem senators to resign en-masse. However, things dont work like that.
in the Democrats’ favor is that the American people drank the same Kool-Aid — but now they’re faced with a mouthful of cavities and they’re fed up. The Democrats admission that “Hey, we were wrong” could be seen as an admission of humanity by the majority of voters…and polls are actually showing that Americans think Congress would be better under Democratic control (our buddy Keith O. had the poll the other night, I forget the source).
Posted on World O’Crap who got it from “Michelle’s blog” who got it from the transcript.
President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat. Here are some highlights from it (emphasis added):
Tonight I want to take a few minutes to discuss a grave threat to peace, and America’s determination to lead the world in confronting that threat.
The threat comes from Iraq. It arises directly from the Iraqi regime’s own actions — its history of aggression, and its drive toward an arsenal of terror. . . .
We agree that the Iraqi dictator must not be permitted to threaten America and the world with horrible poisons and diseases and gases and atomic weapons. . . .
Some ask how urgent this danger is to America and the world. The danger is already significant, and it only grows worse with time. If we know Saddam Hussein has dangerous weapons today — and we do — does it make any sense for the world to wait to confront him as he grows even stronger and develops even more dangerous weapons? . . .
We’ve also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We’re concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVS for missions targeting the United States. . . .
If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy, or steal an amount of highly enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year. . . . He would be in a position to threaten America. And Saddam Hussein would be in a position to pass nuclear technology to terrorists. . . .
Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof — the smoking gun — that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.
shame on you…fool me twice…err…we won’t get fooled again.”
Let’s say Jenna lied about why she came home late at night, and Bush believed her. So, when he finds out the truth, is she going to avoid being busted by saying, “Well, you believed me before…”?
So now, it’s time for the Democrats to stand up and say, “Bush lied — and now we know he lied. He lied to us, and to the American people. It’s time that he is held accountable.”
Don’t count on courage from many politicians. This is getting more like Viet Nam circa ’67 all the time. The protests are bigger but still as ineffective at changing national policy. The lies about why we got into the war, which were all pretty much documented by then, were beginning to make it into the public conscious. With backdrops of flags and smiling soldiers, political hatchet men branded any opponents of the war as unpatriotic traitors aiding the enemy. Stories of atrocities by ‘bad apples’ and ‘rouge elements’ came more often. Rumors of the use of inhumane weapons was proven to be true. Our surrogate installed government trampled the human rights of its citizens in the name of freedom and democracy. The death toll of American soldiers, very large targets in a hostile, or at best neutral, populace, was steadily climbing as the “insurgents” began applying new tactics learned in the field. The ratio of deaths among locals vs. coalition troops was over 10 to 1. What’s coming up….a surrounded isolated garrison overrun in the night (Khe Sanh), a major insurgent offensive with many US casualties (Tet), a secret war in a neighboring country (Iran…Syria?), slow but steady Iraqanization and fist-fights at the last helicopter’s door? Hopefully Bush’s numbers will continue to plummet and some of these jerks will realize the ‘peace thing’ resonates. The people lead and the politicians follow. Dean was way out front on this and, amazing to me, it hurt him at the time. Edwards should be applauded for getting the idea even if it is a bit late. Nobody knows how we’re gonna get out of the quagmire but the first step is recognizing we’re off the primrose path.
“No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back.”
is the truth of it.
I havn’t viewed it yet, and no doubt it’s a distortion as well… however… it’s true, the Dems largely followed the “politics”.
They should have opposed, then they would be better able to claim the other side of the field… where the people are now.
This is exactly why the idea of “positioning to win” on major issues is not only wrong, but dangerous to the party.
This whole repug attack that Democrats are “rewriting history” is based on circular reasoning. Yep, a whole bunch of ’em let themselves be convinced that the best thing was to go with the President regarding war in Iraq. But that choice was based on information provided BY the President, most importantly the claims of WMD, and that information was put together like a sales brochure that glosses over the weaknesses of the intelligence, the flaws in logic and puts the emphasis on the points that the salesman desires to showcase.
The fact is the legislative branch of our government was not privy to all the information that the executive branch had seen. I agree that they should have known better than to put any trust in BushCo back then, but they did. Now is the time for them to admit, like Edwards has, that they made a mistake, but they should not let BushCo get away with this “same intelligence” meme. It’s a lie.
Hey, if Cheney (of all people) can come out and call the Democrats liars, I think the Dems better stand up and give it right back!
We need to face that fact. This whole “Bush fooled me” thing is a crock. 9-11, flag waving, yellow ribbon magnet America scared the hell out of them. They suspended reason in favor of political expedience. Now if only one of them would admit that…we’d be getting somewhere.
Yes, they didn’t see all the same intelligence
Yes, Bush and his minion lied through their teeth
Yes, The repugs played the American people like a violin
Yes, the media was in on the game
so what…
We knew they were full of crap…and if we could figure it out, our elected officials should have damn well been able to also. sorry, no excuses.
Very well put, Duke.
And there’s something liberating in facing what the Democratic leadership did.
I also worry about these “I’ve seen the light” speeches by Kerry et al. And, I’ve been worried since 2000, when Gore became much more vocal and gave some great speeches on Iraq, the environment, etc., when — during his 2000 campaign — he played it so safe it was ridiculous. Tigers don’t change their stripes, and I doubt that if Gore were to run for the presidency again, that he’d not fall back into his old ways.
My view is that we need to look for leadership from those who’ve not been afraid to oppose the war all along. While our chances of nominating such a person are not good, given Hillary’s dominance, we should try.
(If Hillary is nominated, I’ll vote for her for many good reasons — her brains, her extraordinary knowledge of world affairs, her dedication to choice, etc. — but my heart will find it tough to be passionate about her because she’s too political.)
Gore went through this cycle before. In his book, he says after a family tragedy he realized he’d been, well, chickenshit is not the word he used, but it is the right word. And indeed, he became a tiger on the environment until the going got tough and he folded again.
We need a Robert Kennedy. He did change his mind on Vietnam, but he was someone who viscerally hated wimpery.
And when Hilary changes her mind, I won’t trust her either.
When is John Kerry going to apologize to Howard Dean?
http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4789004/23037508.html
How about never?
I still have a lot of residual bitterness towards both Kerry and Gephardt for their underhanded methods to discredit Dean in Iowa … those nasty TV ads (oh, gracious me, we had nothing to do with those ads, exclaimed the two liars, Gephardt and Kerry).
It was a hatchet job by Kerry and Gephardt … and they also struck the hearts of the majority of us who wanted Howard Dean to run because he had the guts to oppose the war while they danced around the issues as clumsily as a 60-yuear-old ballerina.
And Hillary will do the same thing to anyone who dares get in her way or who can stir more populace passion than she can.
On the other hand, that remark of Kerry’s is sure to follow him to the end of his days. It’s as if one of the waiters on the Titanic angrily denounced anyone questioning the Captain’s navigation as unfit for command.
I think the GOP video is a masterful propaganda tool and exceedingly scary as manifest by the response it has evoked—look, i’m not an idealist and with no apologies to the CIA, today November 16th is the 16th Anniversary of the brutal assassination of Jesuit Priests, intellectual leadership at the University of Central America, in San Salvador, El Salvador 1989. Murdered by the same battalion (U.S. trained) responsible for the massacre at El Mozote in 1981. I view the GOP video the same way i viewed the propagandistic billboards i saw in San Salvador many years ago that blamed human rights atrocities on the ‘opposition’ to the U.S. funded Salvadoran military/death squads. The U.N. found these latter forces 90% + responsible for the atrocities committed in the Civil War in El Salvador. I’ll say , i view the GOP video in the same serious context. It’s powerful, and they distort responses of ‘democrats’ who to my understanding-many could not contextualize the threat given the ‘intelligence’ information they had access to at the time. I don’t excuse opportunist politicians, and at the same time i recall my correspondence with ‘senator no name’ right before authorization for the broad powers given to bush -the Senator was ‘new’ and i was struck by how ‘convinced’ she/he appeared to be at the time about the serious WMD threat posed by SH in Iraq. Perhaps i should not be so forgiving, however, i don’t assume that the majority of members in congress play with a full deck of understanding history -i wish our expectations about how informed congress folk are could be realized-there are definitely those who fill the bill- but they are in the minority. My primary response to the GOP video is that it needs to be countered with the same degree of sophistication and as soon as possible.
effectively, and right away. But when I saw the video I was less alarmed then when I heard about it. At first I thought, OMG, Rove is at it again. But the video is a little long and Bush appearing at the end undercuts its authority (for me at least). The Republicans seem on the defensive about this. So something is getting to them. Maybe it is the gradual weight of all their lies accumulating.
If someone could just get through on the adolescent nature of the BushCo response, as noted above: Don’t blame me: everyone was saying/doing it.
Still I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bounceback in Bush’s poll ratings. These guys are very effective at manipulating public opinion.
Hi Kids. Just a short note…in the run up for the war, I watched Kerry in an interview with C. Matthews on this college tour in the run up for the war. It was at this time, I actually decided he was not my candidate of choice! He was so for this war and I can’t imagine anyone believing him now for any reasons he would possibility give to us!
The same could be said for Hillary as well! She is not all that informed. She is going after the same grounds that Bush is going after. She is not one ounce different than w himself.
I think the republicans are trying to take the heat off of their own culpability here. They only blame others when the road gets rough to walk down.
This hypocrisy is just so shameful it is more than awful!
Thanks Susan and Mr. Lang for this diary. I feel this was important for us to know about and what is going on with this republican party of today. I only hope that the republicans out there can see from this, [that] we as citizens of our country must make a change to become better than what our own parties have offered to us for choice. We must make a very prudent change for the betterment in both parties and not stay with the standard same old feces!
Remember that I am an Independent and I try hard to see both sides of the story and I really see it like that. I have been this way all my life, even tho I tend to lean democratic. The republican party has been changing to this point for many years, though their leadership. NO wonder the democrats have been having trouble for many years in definition.
What we now have in t he republican party is simply fascism and to the inth degree!
It is publications like this that really give us the truth in the matter! They are simply so wrong! It is this that makes my blood boil and they will never get my vote ever doing things like this and this is why I think ppl have turned away from them. This is the simplest way I can put it without swearing like a sailor! ;o) There is more I could put out there for your consumption, that it would turn you inside out! This was the last straw tho!
Nice propaganda by gop…trying to make people believe everyone voted for war resolution. However Pelosi did not vote for war for instance, she believed SH had weapons but she also believed he was either no threat to us or a contained threat and no imminent danger…I think it was at least 125 members of the House who voted against war resolution as did 23 Senators-all the senators were democrats and I believe some of the Representatives were actually gasp repbulicans voting against war resolution.
There were quite a few democrats in Congress speaking out against war-they were just ignored by the media and so history is being rewritten as bush would say to make it sound as Congress enmass voted for war.
The democrats who did however better get their act together and make stand on this ‘bigtime'(as cheney would say)or they are going to end up sounding like they are riding the coat tails of public opinion on this matter and not any deeply held convictions of their own on Iraq.
There’s a rationale for the timing of the attack by the RNC — nevermind the plummeting poll numbers.
The DNC launched its 50-State Plan this week, available at the DNC website. The RNC knows what we are going to do and they know we are coming for them, voter by voter, door to door, mano a mano.
And if they had any spies in the crowd on the 15th listening in on Dean’s speech, they know we’re going to call on voters in the flesh not once but twice and maybe even more, that we’re going to do it in our own neighborhoods, and that we’re going to reach out to everyone the RNC left behind.
As for the Dems who voted for the authorization: I’m a Deaniac and in no small part because Dean was adamant that military action was unwarranted without further and better intelligence. But most of the Dems who did vote for the authorization did so believing we were in a massive game of chicken with Saddam, based on the intelligence they had available to them. They voted for authorization — NOT the same as a declaration of war — meant as a signal to Saddam that the US was not going to blink and was serious about allowing the inspections to continue.
It’s what Bush and Cheney did with this authorization that was fraudulent and wrong; had they done what was intended, inspections would have continued at a heightened level with troops at the ready but not in Iraq. They abused the power they were given and lied about it.
It’s what Bush and Cheney did in their gross incompetence that hurt both Iraq and the US. Knowing well in advance that troops were going into Iraq, these bastards and their minions should have ensured our troops had everything they needed — like WATER, for Christ’s sake, and body armor. They blatantly abused the trust our troops had in their leadership.
It’s Bush’s and Cheney’s persistent lying about torture and war crimes and their consistent abuse of human rights and the breaching of treaties like the Geneva Convention that is morally offensive. This is not just a moral failing, but an abject abrogation of the duties of their offices, impeachable offenses. They’ve arrogantly departed from the jobs to which they were sworn, derailing the rule of law.
It’s the disgusting abandonment of the poor and the middle class, as evidenced by the results of Katrina and Rita, hurricanes in a non-election year. There should have been more National Guard at home, on the ready, to defend and protect our citizens on our own soil. And they know it and didn’t give a damn.
And they know that Democratic activists like me are now prepared to show up on the doorsteps of every voter in America to make this case: We can do better. One heckuva lot better.