Webb Plan To Give Troops Greater Time At Home Close To Passage

The New York Times:

Now that President Bush and General David H. Petraeus have charted their course for the Iraq war, Democrats in the Senate say one of their proposals aimed at shifting the president's strategy is finally close to winning enough Republican support for a real chance at being approved.

The proposal, by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, would require that troops spend as much time at home as on their most recent tour overseas before being redeployed. Top Democrats said the practical effect of adding time between deployments would be to force Gen. David H. Petraeus to withdraw troops on a substantially swifter timeline than the one he laid out before Congress earlier this week, and would protect troops from serving protracted and debilitating deployments.

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[Firaxis]

Back to the topic. I agree with Webb about the time between combat assignments. The troops deserve no less.

Unfortunately, democrats are only seeing it through the prism of politics.

Priceless

[Sooner1976]

As though the Reptards aren't? What color is the sky in your crying room?

[JaneC]

Unlike the repiglicans who screw them at every turn.

I can hear the pitter-patter of Resident Bush's clown shoes rushing to grab his veto crayon now.

[JoJoGunner]

A three-word reply to anyone who says Republicans suport the troops - Walter Reed Hospital.

[hope]

If it gives the funding he requires, I don't think Bush would veto the whole bill.

Gates has already said it could lead to extending the tours of those already there.

And of course, there is always the 'signing statement'- why not apply them to budgets as well?

[Sooner1976]

I thought it was a piece of red chalk on an itty-bitty blackboard.

[ChimpyMcCokespoon]

Back On station already?

Well, it's too wet to golf where I am...that's my excuse...

[BreadandRoses]

You're funny, Fixaflat.

You see every move the Democrats make as politically motivated, yet you see the Republicans as paragons of virtue whose every move is in the national interest.

You are such a tool---and a very credulous one.
I really feel sorry for you. It must be difficult to get up every day and believe the crock of shit you say you believe.

How do you look at yourself in the mirror every morning without vomiting in shame>

[misterbone]

Unfortunately, democrats are only seeing it through the prism of politics.

Priceless


Which just shows how dim you are. The "prism of politics" of which you speak is based on the same concern as Webb's, i.e., that the occupation is irretrievably destroying our military.

[Firaxis]

Guess Webb is still punch drunk from the beating Ollie North gave him.

[kay]

Republicans see nothing through the "prism of politics". That's what they'd have you believe.

"Politics", said with a sneer, means the opposition may have come up with a workable plan to effect change, and that they can't have.

The funniest part is that the rank and file believe it. When Republicans launch a political tactic, it's a principled effort to effect policy change, and "clever"!

When Democrats do it, it's "politics" and somehow disreputable.

[JoJoGunner]

And Mark Warner is running for John Warners' seat in Virginia. And Ted Stevens looks like the Next Big Repub Scandal. I'm optimistic.

[Steamboater]

Why would Warner not run for the presidency when all the media was saying he was a possible frintrunner and then go ahead and declare his run in VA for the senate? Something's not right here. The VA campaign will be almost if not as brutal as the presidential campaign. I smell something very "Advise and Consent".

[Firaxis]

I agree with Thalia. She should not vote. Her vote will not count anyway, because Massachusetts is going to vote for the democrat candidate overwhelmingly.

[Thalia]

Which of course is why we've had Republican governors since 1988 until 2006.

Do some fucking homework for a change.

[Firaxis]

I wasn't talking Governor fool, I was commenting on 2008 Presidential election.

You rubes keep reelecting a man who allowed a young woman to drown so he could protect his political career. I expect nothing out of you Bay Staters.

[JoJoGunner]

A bit of bright news:

WASHINGTON — Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire jumped into the race Friday for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. John Sununu next year, the latest in a series of events that could boost the Democratic Party's chances of expanding its slim majority in the Senate when a new president takes over in 2009.

In fact, the 2008 election cycle in the U.S. Senate "could be the worst for the Republican Party since 1986," when Democrats picked up eight seats and retook control in the final two years of Ronald Reagan's presidency, said Jennifer Duffy, the Cook Political Report editor who tracks Senate and gubernatorial races for the influential newsletter.

[Sooner1976]

And with Mark Warner in Virginia running and perhaps former Senator Bob Kerry (MOH recipient) in Nebraska running for his old seat, look for a bloodbath in the Senate.

[BreadandRoses]

In current polls, Shaheen outstrips Sununu by landslide proportions.

It also looks very good for Dems in Virginia and in Colorado, where Allardt (R) is retiring.

Dole is in trouble in NC, too, and Domenici in New Mxico looks vulnerable.

The Dems have an opportunity to pick up as many as 8 to 10 Senate seats, if they have the right candidates---like Shaheen.

[Sooner1976]

Reason No. 734 for staying the course: Iraq starts with an "I" and there just aren't enough countries that start with this letter.

[JoJoGunner]

Next we hear that Syria tried to buy yellow cake uranium for Niger.

[Sooner1976]

Using Iran as a middleman with help from North Korea.

Bush declares war on the planet.

[LaFeminazi]

Note: he already has.

[JoJoGunner]

ROME — A senior U.S. nuclear official said Friday that North Koreans were in Syria and that Damascus may have had contacts with "secret suppliers" to obtain nuclear equipment.

Andrew Semmel, acting deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation policy, did not identify the suppliers, but said North Koreans were in the country and that he could not exclude that the network run by the disgraced Pakistan nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan may have been involved.

[LaFeminazi]

Put it this way if you live in the middle east.

Unless you really have wmd, you are a target.

[Thalia]

Maybe that's why the Repubs, who are always shrieking about treason and national security and say they're the party to keep us safe, didn't care about a WMD nonproliferation network being destroyed by the outing of a CIA operative by top US admin. officials.

[Thalia]

Bush peace plan: Proliferate WMD. That way, we don't attack.

Interesting theory.

[Sooner1976]

And to think that this all happened under Chimpy McFlightsuit's watch. Do you feel safer than you did 8 years ago, kids?

[WOLFWARRIOR]

Giuliani attacks Clinton in campaign ad

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani criticized
Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton in a full-page
ad in Friday's New York Times, accusing her of assailing Iraq
war commander Gen. David Petraeus' character.

The republicans are playing the cry-baby-cry propoganda game ...

Why because like this great general - they have majore character
flaws and are trying to keep people from saying - LOOK OLD RUDY LEFT
HIS RESONDERS TO DIE - Which he did .....

But as before time will tell just how great this General really is
- The only reason he has his job is he is a kiss ass - Any body else
would have fired his ass - for his past performance ...

But cry-baby-cry republicans think cronies - is a great character
maker - under there Manifest Destiny and Cultures of honor ...

Look at what there doing to vets against the war - yet they want to
claim no one can say anything about there character ...

WELL boys and girls - The repubs opened the door to character assinations
- Now there going to find - They knew nothing about playing that game ...

So all I can say to Rudie the drag queen - You leave the responders to die
- and claim your better then them - with your propoganda of how great you
were - You are going to reap those rewards - This country is fedup with no
accountability - and no amount of propoganda - will stop you being held accountable ...

So Cry-Baby-Cry - Your Cronies are going down ...

.

[Firaxis]

Unlike the Mary Men (Obama and Edwards who have their wives attack Hillary), Rudy takes her on.

Democrat men: tetosterone challenged.

[JaneC]

Republican men: a threat to American children.

[hope]

Firaxis, you go and tell you wife or your mother or your daughters that they shouldn't voice their opinions because it assails your masculinity.


(A word of advice- first borrow Bush's codpiece)

[Sooner1976]

Sure Rudy does, he's a cross-dressing numbskull that can strike a woman since he's one, too.

And then she'll clean his slow-running clock.

How does that work for you, Cletus?

[JoJoGunner]

I think next on the Hit List is actually Syria. They're talking now about Syria and some kind of 'nooklur' program. Where have we heard that before? Neo-cons refer to Syria as 'low hanging fruit' which means it's a slam-dunk to invade. They might bomb Iran, but the invasion will be in Syria/Lebanon. Probably in conjuction with the Israeli IDF.

[misterbone]

It's all talk, and that's all it will be. It's the only way to keep the GOP in Congress in line over Iraq.

[robodweeb]

Well that would make sense because we all know that Saddam loaded those tons and tons of WMD onto camels and hauled them to Syria.

So if we had to invade Iraq so that they wouldn't give the WMD to terrorists then we'd better invade Syria before they give them to the terrorists.

Because everyone knows those things last forever, never decaying.

[Thalia]

Not to mention that Syria attacked us on 9/11.

[LaFeminazi]

I love this one.

Greenspan being called a liberal by GOP loonies.

ROFLMAO.

Just shows how far to the right the GOP have fallen.

[misterbone]

I think it's not so much falling to the right as falling off the chart completely.

[misterbone]

In case anyone hasn't noticed, the GOP is painfully taking steps to distance itself from Bush. They're relatively quiet steps right now, but expect huge leaps once the primaries are settled.

[Sooner1976]

And then the Kristol-Light drinkers will blame the opposition for their stupidity.

[Thalia]

Well, he did criticize Dubya.

I believe that automatically makes you a loon.

Hagel is next. I hear he really went to town on Dubya on "Maher".

[Sooner1976]

Hagel was great on Maher. I got the idea that he is leaving the Senate because he tires of battling his own party's stupidity.

[Neaguy]

This isn't going to work. Filibuster the war: just 41 Democratic Senators stops the Senate from providing any more money for death.

Only that move will end this madness.

[shockmagog]

This is the mindset of the Right Wing on this issue:

"Petraeus’s bottom line might be summed up in this way: It’s too early to conclude that the United States is winning in Iraq. But it does not go beyond the available evidence to say that the terrorists are loosing. Small wonder that some war opponents are outraged."
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=6690DD73-5C6D-4331-8475-503A0BCF7979

The "surge" is but a stepping-stone to future troop escalations. No amount of moving the goal post parameters to suit a particular statistic, or peppering a statement with more syntactical qualifiers than you can shake a stick at (like the statement above) will change that.

General Petreaus was seen for what he is:

A Bush crony who is more concerned about his career than for those who serve under him.

[LaFeminazi]

Oh a little question for our trolls.

Who/What is Al Qaeda.

Interesting subject.

Lets have an answer.

[Captain EdwardGraham]

Didnt we just kill the #1 Al Qaeda guy in Iraq not to long ago?

[LaFeminazi]

Usually the speciality is the number 2, there seems to be an infinite number of those ones.

[Captain EdwardGraham]

Who says the next President is going to be a Democrat? I agree that the house and Senate will be overwhelmingly Democrat but the very best candidates the Democrats can put up are Hillary and Obama and they simply are NOT presidential material.

General Petraeus, PHD however, is a real certified war hero, and millions of GOPers will fall in love with him, and if he picks Rudy , the hero of 9/11 as vp, he is a shoe in.

The scenario should go something like this:

1. GOP big shots will BEG the General to retire and Run for President;

2. The General will turn on Bu$h and blame him as the scapegoat for everything BAD about the IRAQ WAR, (which is true)

3. Carl Rove will back this sure winner...and use dirty tricks to eliminate all GOP competition...

4. His son Stephen will get slightly wounded in IRaq thus causing National prayer and sorrow, and cause the General to 'make a deal' with the radical Shiite Cleric Sadr to pull the troops out of IRAQ bloodlessly....

5. The General will make a deal with the Kurds for all that cheap ass OIL by sharing some of it with Europe and Iraq and China...(Bu$h Cheney are to greedy, they want ALL that OIL...

6. Bingo , Eisenhower peace and prosparity for 8 years...more or less...

[LaFeminazi]

My bet in 08.

Dems miss the bus completely, wait and see the GOP campaign.

GOP take back the senate and the house and Romney is the next Prsident.

[hope]

If the Democrats manage to miss the bus completely, I hope it backs up a few feet and runs them over.

And lately, with this business about making spying on Americans legal, I'd like to drive it over their foot.

[Captain EdwardGraham]

Carl Rove is not dead. He simply resigned to spend full time behind the scenes creating the Next GOP winner.

There probably are no skeletins in General Petraeus' closet...no drugs, no alcohol, no AWOL, etc. If Rove could create a President of of a useless sack of rich $hit, he can certainly create a made to order President out of Petraeus.

Has anyone seen anything yet about Gen. Petraeus' wife?

[JoJoGunner]

Get a grip Femi - no way in hell they take the Senate. Romney is running behind Rootie and Bald Head Fred. Things are not all that bad.

[Sooner1976]

Not likely. The mouth-breathing fundies have yet to find a candidate who wants to party like it's 1399.

Thompson couldn't fill up a good-sized chair and Romney is, from their perspective, a cult member.

Juliani is a cross-dressing she-male who will allow those same fundies to stay away in droves.

[hglindquist]

Get a grip, folks. My party (Democrats) blew it a little less than a year ago.

We were given an opportunity to hold Bush 43's feet to the fire by the Big Oil Bushies' A-team point man -- James Baker the Third -- in the policy recommendations of the Iraq Study Group's report.

All we would have had to do is tell the prez: "All we're going to fund is the bipartisan Baker-Hamilton recommendations." Like Jack Cafferty has pointed out, if Junior vetoes something ... he is left with NOTHING!!!

The Democrat political leadership doesn't have the cajones to lead us ... they are all worried about even-odd days at the gas pump and getting Jimmy Carterred ... which is really, really sad ... because we desperately need a political party representing the interests of labor.

Hillary? She's no democrat. She's what I remember as a Rockefeller Republican (anybody else remember Nelson or Winthrop from Arkansas? *hint* *hint). Hillary is an international globalist, a national corporationist, and a local pot-hole politician.

Get a grip!

http://ncswede.blogspot.com

[Sooner1976]

Let's see, the democrats have 51 (if you count the puling babyface from Connecticut). 67 votes are needed to override a veto.

When will you critics ever learn some basic math? 51 in the senate does not equal veto overrides. BOTH the Senate and the House have to override.

Shaking your fists in anger about math does nothing to get the troops out of Iraq. You would do better to let your elected Republican representatives and Senators know that htey are toast if they don't start toeing the line and get us the hell out.

[hglindquist]

Dah! If Junior vetoes something then he is left with nothing!

The House doesn't HAVE to appropriate ANYTHING. Appropriation bills (funding for the war) ORIGINATE in the House of Representatives where the Speaker decides what comes to the floor. All Pelosie would have had to do is say, "Adopt the bipartisan Iraq Study Group report or their ain't gonna be no money, honey."

The Bush family consigliere, James Baker the Third, handed the best solution for our nation to the Democratic leadership on a silver (gold? platinum? oil-slicked) platter! Now the Big Oil A-Team's front line -- Bake & Gates -- is giving us the NEXT best option: balkanizing the tribal areas.

Pelosie doesn't have the cajones to stop the war. The Democratic leadership is worried about the Jimmy Carter effect if we get even-odd days at the gas pump. We Americans will NOT forgive losing our freedom to drive around in our cars, pickups, and SUVs when and where we want. It's the oil, folks. Get a grip. Like Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and they is us."

We Democrats had better stop wimping around, thinking we've won the next election.