Boehner's "Small Price"

Just yesterday on CNN, Wolf Blitzer asked John Boehner, the leader of the GOP in the House, this question (video on Horse's Mouth):

"The loss in blood, the Americans who are killed every month, how much longer do you think this commitment, this military commitment is going to require?"

And Mr. Boehner responded:

"The investment that we're making today will be a small price if we're able to stop al Qaeda here, if we're able to stabilize the Middle East, it's not only going to be a small price for the near future, but think about the future for our kids and their kids."

What a stunningly cavalier statement about the lives of the young men and women who serve our country.

Whether you support or oppose the Bush escalation, no American should ever for even a moment think the cost of war is small.

A single life is a large price to pay for any endeavor. Sometimes, in our national interest, we choose to pay that awful price, but we must always make sure that the policy is worthy of it.

Visit our wounded warriors at Walter Reed hospital and ask whether the price they paid was small. Talk to the mothers, fathers, husbands and wives of those who have been killed and ask them to measure the price of war. Young lives stopped short, children who won't have a mother or father there as they grow up, when they graduate, when they get married -- that loss is many things, but it is not small.

Where is Representative Boehner's apology? And where is an Iraq policy equal to our soldiers' tremedous sacrifice?

Comments

[KWM23]

DEMOCRATS = SURRENDER
REPUBLICANS = VICTORY

[KWM23]

THE DEMOCRAT PARTY IS CLASSLESS

[KWM23]

WHAT HAS JOHN KERRY EVER DONE FOR THIS COUNTRY EXCEPT TRY TO BLOCK EVERY WEAPONS SYSTEMTHAT COMES ALONG WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIGHT THE EMENY WITH STIP BALLS THANK SENATOR MILLER FOR THAT QUOTE

[KWM23]

JOHN KERRY IS A LOSER, WHAT PRICE DID HE MAKE ALL HIS VEITNAM BUDDIES PAY WITH HIS STATEMENT TO CONGRESS IN 1971 TELL KERRY TO SHUT UP AND EAT KETCHUP

[SadieYates]

it's a small price for him because he is sacrificing NOTHING. we have acheived absolutely NOTHING by invading Iraq. I know you are sorry for your war vote and I respect that. I could vote for a candidate that authorized the war if they will only admit it was a mistake. but I will NEVER vote for someone who stands by their vote. NEVER.
GORE/KERRY 2008

[bar1ed]

no big surprise here !!!! --- most pols never think before speaking ---- as a matter of fact, most don't think at all --- just follow the party line, yea that's the ticket !!!! the only price they think of, is the price on their stocks!!!!

[jingodoz]

Is anybody counting the numbers of widows/widowers and orphans this war has created?

Under the draft system, men with wives and children were exempt and National Guardsmen and Reserves were rarely put into combat roles. In Iraq, many men and women with spouses and children have been killed -- many more severely wounded.

The long term costs to families and children are enormous.

Is anybody counting? Where is the pro-family movement on this issue?

[marleysghost]

Mormondude had this to say a few pages back:

"Liberals used to be the ones who argued that sending U.S. troops abroad was a small price to pay to stop genocide; now they argue that genocide is a small price to pay to bring U.S. troops home."
posted 12:53 pm on 09/13/2007

Since I was old enough to be drafted and in college at the time I know from personal experience that the people who opposed the war were on the political Left - what Neo-conservatives now call Liberals - Teach-ins, massive anti-war rallies - opposition to the draft - burning draft cards - even the music of the late 1960's was anti-war. My YAF (Young Americans for Freedom) classmates (conservat­ives)defen­ded the Vietnam War.

Mormondude is only repeating popular cant from the O'Reilly/Coulter camp that relies on collective forgetting to spread lies.

Since this country was founded on Liberal principles of popular government, I'd say that Conservative Chickenhawk should be the offensive word of the day.

And if we are to stop real genocide in countries like Sudan, and Bosnia, I'd say that was a proper use of military intervention to alleviate an humanitarian crisis. Caring for people is a Liberal ideal. Protecting things is Conservative.

And yes, I did serve in the military when I was called. Can Mormondude say the same?

[mupolitico04]

Mr. Kerry -- why did you leave out the first - and longer - part of Wolf Blitzer's question where he asks about the monetary cost? When including the FULL question it is clear that Boehner was not calling the sacrifice of our troops a "small price," but was referring to the billions of dollars being spent. An honest account here would have made your outrage much more credible.

[flyball]

I live in one of the rare "blue dots" in Texas. The only thing rarer than a blue dot in Texas is a Republican apology for anything. Senator Biden, it is time to hit the streets with the objective truth about the numbers in Iraq. The military's death count and casuality numbers just are not first and foremost in the headlines. Those numbers have to be hammered home day in and day out - this is not a war of victory gardens and tin can drives. This is a war of cowardly and false pretenses. Our military is not the problem. Our problem is political. Distill the message to this: US military personnel are dying in Iraq. Each day, men and women in uniform go forth in Iraq to do their best. There can be no criticism of our military. We must honor what our military accomplishes - despite the futility of the overall mission. We honor our military sacrifices when we demand that our men and women set out on the true mission - Afghanistan. We honor our military when Congress makes sure that Lt. Colonels at the Pentagon can't block the procurement of Dragonskin. We honor our military when we accept Israel's offer of advanced anti-RPG technology. Senator Biden, it is time to hit the streets for real. Will you be the true patriot?

[josieb]

That letter Bush read last night from ''Tracy and Jeff'' about how their son's dearh was worth it: ''freedom is not free'' was a bunch of bs, courtesy of a White House speechwriter. Boehner is full of the same stuff.

[FRTAN]

Let's have more discussion in the media about whether the goal of a unified Iraq is a reasonable one, or whether, some version of Senator Biden's federalist approach, or possibly even three Iraqs, is more realistic. When were the Kurds, for example, ever given an opportunity in a plebiscite to choose whether they wanted to be a separate nation or part of a unified Iraq? Lincoln wanted to keep the United States together, but do we have a similar obligation in Iraq? Why should it be the responsibility of American service men and women to lay down their lives, and the American people to go deeply into debt to maintain a unified Iraq? So let's openly and fully discuss this.

[jlworrall]

I don't think I'll ever stop being angry! Mostly, I think I'm angry because there are actually people out there who think like Boehner and GWB. How sad.

[Marnie1]

"...but think about the future for our kids and their kids."

It is highly probable that he is thinking or his own children.

AFter all the dead cannot have children. Bush has killed the future of thousands of children who would otherwise have been born to the dead of our military and of Iraqis.

How selfish can you get?

[NuAgeDok]

. . .and where's your apology for voting for this war in the first place Senator Kerry and what are you doing to end it? Perhaps if you spent less time taking ignorant Republicans to task for their thoughtless statements and more time working with your colleagues who actually have ideas for ending this horrible fiasco we might be able to stop the needless loss of life rather than scolding boners like Boehner.