>The Democrats who enable Bush > >By HELEN THOMAS >HEARST NEWSPAPERS, October 4, 2007 >http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/334324_thomas05.html > > >WASHINGTON -- President Bush has no better >friends than the spineless Democratic >congressional leadership and the party's leading >presidential candidates when it comes to his >failing Iraq policy. > >Those Democrats seem to have forgotten that the >American people want U.S. troops out of Iraq, >especially since Bush still cannot give a >credible reason for attacking Iraq after nearly >five years of war. > >Last week at a debate in Hanover, N.H., the >leading Democratic presidential candidates sang >from the same songbook: Sens. Hillary Clinton of >New York, and Barack Obama of Illinois and former >North Carolina Sen. John Edwards refused to >promise to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by >2013, at the end of the first term of their >hypothetical presidencies. Can you believe it? > >When the question was put to Clinton, she >reverted to her usual cautious equivocation, >saying: "It is very difficult to know what we're >going to be inheriting." > >Obama dodged, too: "I think it would be >irresponsible" to say what he would do as >president. > >Edwards, on whom hopes were riding to show some >independence, replied to the question: "I cannot >make that commitment." > >They have left the voters little choice with >those answers. > >Some supporters were outraged at the obfuscation >by the Democratic front-runners. > >On the other hand, New Mexico Gov. Bill >Richardson, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and >Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., are more definitive in >their calls for quick troop withdrawals. > >But Biden wants to break up Iraq into three >provinces along religious and ethnic lines. In >other words, Balkanize Iraq. > >To have major Democratic backing to stay the >course in Iraq added up to good news for Bush. > >Now comes a surprising Clinton fan. > >President Bush told Bill Sammon -- Washington >Examiner correspondent and author of a new book >titled "The Evangelical President" -- that >Clinton will beat Obama for the Democratic >presidential nomination because she is a >"formidable candidate" and better known. > >Sammon says Bush revealed that he has been >sending messages to Clinton to urge her to >"maintain some political wiggle room in your >campaign rhetoric about Iraq." > >The author said Bush contends that whoever >inherits the White House will be faced with a >potential vacuum in Iraq and "will begin to >understand the need to continue to support the >young democracy." > >Bush ought to know about campaign rhetoric. >Remember how he ridiculed "nation building" in >the 2000 presidential campaign? Now he claims he >is trying to spread democracy throughout the >Middle East. > >House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is another Democratic >leader who has empowered Bush's war. > >Pelosi removed a provision from the most recent >war-funding bill that would have required Bush to >seek the permission of Congress before launching >any attack on Iran. Her spokesman gave the lame >excuse that she didn't like the wording of the >provision. More likely, she bowed to political >pressure. > >Is it any wonder the Democrats are faring lower >than the president in a Washington Post ABC >approval poll? Bush came in at 33 percent and >Congress at 29 percent. > >Members of Congress seem to have forgotten their >constitutional prerogative to declare war; World >War II was the last time Congress formally >declared war. > >Presidents have found other ways to make end runs >around the law, mainly by obtaining congressional >authorization "to do whatever is necessary" in a >crisis involving use of the military. That's the >way we got into the Vietnam and Iraq wars. > >So what are the leading Democratic White House >hopefuls offering? It seems nothing but more war. >So where do the voters go who are sick of the >Iraqi debacle? > > >Helen Thomas is a columnist for Hearst >Newspapers. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Copyright 2007 Hearst Newspapers. On Nov. 3 >Thomas will be the guest speaker at the ACLU of >Washington's Bill of Rights Celebration Dinner; >for details, contact aclu-wa.org
John Johnson Change-Links Progressive Newspaper [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://change-links.org Subscribe to our list server. Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (818) 782-1412 Cell (818) 681-7448. === [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
