Democrat: We pressured Bush into ordering the surge, which is “somewhat working”
posted at 6:45 pm on June 2, 2008 by Allahpundit
And therefore they somewhat deserve the credit for its success, don’t they? It’s Paul Kanjorski, congressman from Pennsylvania, lately observed confessing that Democrats lied to voters before the 2006 midterms about their power to end the war. I’m always suspicious of edits as brief as the one you’ll see in the clip, but the contrast with his pre-surge defeatism is clear enough. If this seems familiar, it’s because we saw the same type of reversal six months ago from another Pennsylvania congressman whose name will be more familiar to you. Just like we’re seeing the first stirrings of something right now, very tentatively and by proxy, from Obama. St. Barack can’t afford to start talking about trying to win so the best we can hope for is the sort of “declare victory and go home” strategy being hinted at by Sullivan. Things are getting better, so by all means let’s get the hell out before they get better still and people start jumping to unhelpful conclusions about the left’s judgment of Iraq’s prospects being also less than infallible. Click the image to watch.
Update: A good point in the comments from Spirit of 1776: “I’ve said before, and still believe, the dems will be happy to win in Iraq if they can spin it their victory. And for the most part, I think Bush is happy to let them spin it, as long as we win.” Indeed. Nothing but nothing is going to get the left excited about possibly winning the war if it redounds in any way to conservatives’ advantage. If Bush wants to encourage them to stay the course, he should grit his teeth and start congratulating them in his speeches for having provided the funds that paid for the surge and for the new chance Iraqis are getting. No time for pride.
Blowback
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I’ve said before, and still believe, the dems will be happy to win in Iraq if they can spin it their victory. And for the most part, I think Bush is happy to let them spin it, as long as we win.
Spirit of 1776 on June 2, 2008 at 6:49 PM
Hell, I thought Nancy Pelosi said that Iran was responsible for the sucess of the surge … !
HadaAbeche on June 2, 2008 at 6:50 PM
Laugh laugh you wanna cry … And exactly how do all the statements on the record saying the surge would do nothing? And how about the doofus Reid saying all is lost.
Looks like a lot of explaining to do, the Democrat Socialist were 100% wrong when they took the enemies side in Iraq.
tarpon on June 2, 2008 at 6:50 PM
It’s a good thing we have all those doves, no dictator is safe with all that “love”.
Name me more then one dictator that has been removed with “peace”.
right2bright on June 2, 2008 at 6:55 PM
These people are shameless…what a joke!
jerrytbg on June 2, 2008 at 6:57 PM
I predict we will see one campaign ad after another with plenty of candidates talking to us telling us how we lost, the surge was not working, US is a failure, you get the picture. The ads will be cheap, as no need for actors to play the congressman, no scripts needed. Just play them over and over again and show how inept the Democrats are.
Then ask, do you trust them to have the foresight to run this Country?
WoosterOh on June 2, 2008 at 6:57 PM
Arsholes have no shame. They are definitely the less honest.
Entelechy on June 2, 2008 at 6:59 PM
Lying sack of shit. Democrats sat back and watched their leader announce to the world that the war was a failure, that the war was lost!
Democrats sat back and watched at Miss Queen Bee (Pelosi) announced to the world that the surge was a failure, that General P was a lier!
Democrats sat back and watched as moveon advertised General P as General Betrayus!
Democrats tried every trick in the book to bankrupt our military operations, while our country was at war!
Liberals are Souless Creatures searching the gutters endlessly for more power, while directing their revenge on anything that gets in the way. They all had better hope their in no God waiting at the end of the life cycle.
Keemo on June 2, 2008 at 6:59 PM
I think the world knew the dims would try to steal the success in Iraq after crucifying Bush every day and their leader, Reid, entering into the Congressional Record that the “war was lost.” The dims have no pride. Just a bunch of race baiting cowards.
volsense on June 2, 2008 at 7:00 PM
Always felt good about finding that about Murtha but found later this video of Murtha after I broke the story
http://www.wjactv.com/mostpopular/14737867/detail.html
William Amos on June 2, 2008 at 7:01 PM
Shameless scum.
Claypigeon on June 2, 2008 at 7:01 PM
I knew, KNEW, the would come up with some excuse to save face but I never in my wildest dreams thought they would have the gall to take credit for winning the war.
I have really, really come to the point where I despise each and everyone of these lying, self-centered pukes. And if a Republican pulled this crap against a Democrat president during a time of war I’d hold them in the same contempt.
Rod on June 2, 2008 at 7:03 PM
Rather than “gritting their teeth” and allowing the dems to take credit for something they’ve spent most of their time and effort in undermining, maybe Bush and the repubs would be better off “growing a pair” and publically taking the dems to task on their words, actions, and votes regarding the war efforts.
But I wouldn’t count on it. It’s been a lack of guts and desire to take on the dems that is the main reason why they’re getting their asses handed to them.
tomk59 on June 2, 2008 at 7:04 PM
As a corollary to this (defining the “thinking” behind the Dems’ position), there’s this interesting bit from the Christian Science Monitor today;
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0602/p09s01-coop.html
penned by Monica Duffy Toft, from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government- which somehow does not surprise me. She claims her
demandstheories are the result of a “detailed study” of the situation. (A true progressive always believes that if you “study” a problem long enough, it will become moot and you won’t have to actually do anything about it- except blame it on somebody you don’t like anyway.)The lines about Moqtada al-Sadr being “a guarantor of order”, “studying to become an Imam in Iran” (as opposed to just holing up there until the “progressives” can force us into a Frequent Wind- style withdrawal from Iraq), and being “respected” due to who his father was, are sufficiently strange as to make me wonder which parallel universe she has been “studying” Iraq in.
The “progressives” don’t care how we lose, as long as we lose.
cheers
eon
eon on June 2, 2008 at 7:04 PM
Color me shocked. And this is only the beginning…
amerpundit on June 2, 2008 at 7:05 PM
Win what?
What interested me most about the official reaction to this month’s Koran Sniper story — apologies galore, a kissed Koran for probable former insurgents, a punished soldier — was what it made vivid about our society: American deference to Islam, from the sacralization of Islam’s book to the ideology of anti-infidelism, supremacism and totalitarian conquest within it. After all, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hammond called the sniper’s action “criminal behavior,” but the only law broken was Islamic law.
Contrast that, I wrote last week, with the repudiation Americans once displayed toward a similarly anti-Semitic, supremacist and warlike ideology as codified in “Mein Kampf” — the treatise Winston Churchill dubbed “the new Koran of faith and war, turgid, verbose, but pregnant with its message.” Had a mid-century GI used “Mein Kampf” for target practice, I noted, Gen. George S. Patton would hardly have kissed one to appease a band of former Nazis.
- Diana West
Win what? Indeed.
MB4 on June 2, 2008 at 7:07 PM
Who?
Haven’t really heard that name since the “100 days” ended with 100 things left undone.
taznar on June 2, 2008 at 7:07 PM
WoosterOh; saw your post after mine posted. That would be a good scenario. But with this bunch, you’re more likely to get “I’m sure our good friends on the other side of the aisle also want what’s best for our country…”, blah blah blah. Yech.
tomk59 on June 2, 2008 at 7:07 PM
this is more proof that the left is delusional.
no dem exceptin joe lieberman advocated MORE troops. leftist pressure accomplished NOTHING EXCEPT ENCOURAGING THE ENEMY.
treasonous. but they don’t see it that way.
as i say: they are delusional.
no surprise here: doves have to be cuz left-wing/dovish policies have never ever worked and yet they continue to advocate them.
reliapundit on June 2, 2008 at 7:08 PM
Hell no. Hang ‘em, hang ‘em high.
Theworldisnotenough on June 2, 2008 at 7:10 PM
Deal with the Devil?
Sacrificed to the Surge
Tribal fighters have cut down Iraq’s violence. But they’re subjecting women to often-medieval mores.
America’s efforts to disengage from Iraq have led to some messy compromises. After years of trying without success to wrest Sunni areas from Qaeda control, U.S. ground commanders appear to have done it at last—but only by granting sweeping powers to sheiks and local leaders who can keep the peace. Now Iraq’s Sunni areas have been chopped into fragments, each one run by a different tribal ruler with different views on law and society. In some parts of Baghdad the situation changes visibly from block to block. No one can say how many of these leaders abuse their powers, or if their little sectors can ever be put back under the purview of a centrally controlled government. “We are becoming like Afghanistan was in the ’80s,” says Zainab Salbi, the Iraq-born founder and CEO of the activist group Women for Women International.
.
But at present, U.S. forces are too pleased by the sharp drop in jihadist attacks to lose sleep over things like gender issues. “They’re going to find their own level about what is acceptable,” says Col. Martin Stanton, one of the Sahwa program’s U.S. coordinators. “In terms of what they’re doing within their own culture [Very "liberal" definition of "culture" to include stone-age Islam, but then I am being redundant I suppose.], I don’t think we’d intervene in that.” The Coalition has let Shiite groups impose their values across much of the south for years for the sake of stability; women there mostly go veiled now, and some have quit their jobs under pressure from Shiite militia members.
,
Noah Feldman, a Harvard law professor, went to Iraq in 2003 as a senior constitutional adviser with the fledgling Coalition Provisional Authority. He recalls how tribal sheiks approached U.S. envoy Paul Bremer that spring, offering to help calm their angry followers. “We told them, ‘No, we’re not going to take Iraq back to the Middle Ages’,” says Feldman. U.S. commanders spent the next four years trying to fight the insurgents without help from the sheiks. “We tried other ways, and it didn’t work,” says Coleman. “Tribal leaders are cleaning things up. [So you have made a deal with the Devil. Bet the rent money on black and spin the wheel. Great.]
.
The question is, where does it cross the line? And we don’t know.” No one does. But some Iraqi women worry that the Sahwa has already won too much power—and that now there’s no turning back.
MB4 on June 2, 2008 at 7:13 PM
Don’t forget about the ‘suspension of disbelief’.
geminicontender on June 2, 2008 at 7:14 PM
tomk59 on June 2, 2008 at 7:07 PM
Well, we the people can run ads up through October? I would venture to say there will be plenty of 527′s that will take up the task, if each congressional districts Republicans wont do it.
There are way to many big time 527′s that are up and running now that we know will do it. Gold Star Mothers may be one. I can see them taking to task those that were against the surge.
WoosterOh on June 2, 2008 at 7:17 PM
This requires the willing suspension of disbelief.
a capella on June 2, 2008 at 7:17 PM
Letter from Michael Yon.
Of course, that’s a good-news/bad-news thing from the Republican party’s standpoint. It’s entire reason for existence seems to the Iraq war.
flenser on June 2, 2008 at 7:18 PM
Beat me!
a capella on June 2, 2008 at 7:18 PM
Harry Reid gets NO CREDIT EVER! I want to see that loser out on the street and crying.
WisCon on June 2, 2008 at 7:19 PM
With Youtube and the internet, how can they possibly get away with getting credit for victory in Iraq and against Al-Qaeda?
jp on June 2, 2008 at 7:20 PM
Bush has not lost his “mountain oysters and McCain has the mature version. :)
Nelsa on June 2, 2008 at 7:20 PM
We can always hope, WoosterOh.
tomk59 on June 2, 2008 at 7:22 PM
No, let them take credit. They keep on saying Bush is a “divider” and he has a chance to show he doesn’t care takes credit as long as we win this thing. That’s not divisive in my eyes.
terryannonline on June 2, 2008 at 7:26 PM
Wiat, I thought the leftist spin, if victory appeared imminent, was to claim that the threat of withdrawl made the Iraqis shape up and get their act together, no?
VolMagic on June 2, 2008 at 7:28 PM
Latest tidbit from Bill Roggio, embedded in Iraq.
As he notes, these “ceasefires” between the Sadrists and the military don’t seem to be working. At least for the Sadrists.
And pay special attention to the increased focus on cutting off the supply lines from Iran.
A pro-US Iraqi army backed by US aircraft is a huge deterrent to any Iranian actions in the Gulf or in Iraq.
Those who say that it doesn’t matter what type of regime we left in Iraq are, it seems to me, short-sighted in their thinking. All Muslims – even of the same sect – are not the same.
SteveMG on June 2, 2008 at 7:29 PM
No, terryannonline, this is the kind of thing you’re supposed to slap down. The refusal of the repubs to do so has allowed these people and their message to become ascendant when it should have been put safely on the fringe.
tomk59 on June 2, 2008 at 7:29 PM
The democrats said they would lower gas prices and would have the troops home in their lies to gain control in the 2006. Gas was 2.19 a gallon and their attempts to stop funding of the war could not deter the success of the surge. Now a piece of human trash like Kanjorski lies again about their role in turning the war around. Un-freaking-believable.
volsense on June 2, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Did you ever hear the story about the guy who decided that his house was really not a very good one so he decided to tear it down and build a new one?
Well he was going to build the new house with a basement, but it turned out that the ground was really hard and rocky so he finally gave up with that idea and said , “I don’t really need a basement for my new house”. He was going to build his new house with a second story, but it turned out that even after he had filed all sorts of paperwork to have a second story the zoning laws made it so difficult that he said, “I don’t really need a second floor for my new house”. He was going to put a stone front on his new house, but he lived on the top of a steep hill and the truck could not make it to the top carrying all those stones, so he said, “I don’t really need a stone front on my new house”.
Well, he ended up spending all sorts of money and time and grief and what did he get? Well, I guess he got to say that he
wongot a new house.MB4 on June 2, 2008 at 7:30 PM
The internet has been extremely adept at showing the American people just exactly what stunning stupidity is prevalent throughout the entire congress….This is just a recent example of just how dumb our representatives are…We see every frickin day, corruption, sleaze, duplicity, and/or outright lying…and they are absolutely shameless about it, as if to challenge us to do something about it…..The longer they are in office to work this corruption, the safer they are with more and more votes on their side…One day past my lifetime our millions and millions of arms will come into play(2nd Amndmnt)…..uh….maybe that carbon cap and trade screwing about to be perpetrated on us will be the catalyst….
b4lucy on June 2, 2008 at 7:31 PM
This is what infuriates me about this White House. They deserve nothing but our scorn for doing everything possible to ensure our defeat. Damn them all to Hell.
SouthernGent on June 2, 2008 at 7:35 PM
I remember at the start of the war how they howled, those Donkeyrats! “How daaaarree youuu! How dare you call us weak on defense.” Well how do they ever in this generation regain any credibility when it comes to America’s Defense. They have sewn the Yellow Letter onto themselves for good and all. A big yellow “C” for Coward!
ronsfi on June 2, 2008 at 7:38 PM
In Congress, Democrats have decided to chip away at the war with various symbolic postures but not to oppose it outright: That way, if things go well, they can muscle in on the credit, but if things go badly, they’ll be able to say they told you so without getting stuck with the blame. – Mark Steyn
jcrue on June 2, 2008 at 7:39 PM
All houses are not the same.
SteveMG on June 2, 2008 at 7:40 PM
and your point is??? lol!!! just kiddng! hehe
jerrytbg on June 2, 2008 at 7:40 PM
Did anyone else see Congressman Kanjorski’s performance as “Corrupt Politician #2″ in FNC’s special Porked: Earmarks for Profit? ‘Ol Paulie’s gettin’ himself in trouble all over the place!
malan89 on June 2, 2008 at 7:49 PM
Its been said on this thread and others that the repubs don’t have the stones to take on the dems. I really wonder why that is. Here they have the goods on the dems and sure enough I don’t think any repub will hammer them with it. Why is that? I am really perplexed with this state of affairs.
cjs1943 on June 2, 2008 at 7:50 PM
I was just about to post the following when I read yours!
It was really a further response to mb4
We be on the same page cjs1943!!!
jerrytbg on June 2, 2008 at 7:58 PM
You’re so right. Letting Dims take credit for the surge, when they were doing everything they could to stop it, would be foolish. They were dead wrong, and they cannot be allowed to evade responsibility now for their cut-and-run defeatism of the past few years.
Most voters pay very little attention to what is going on in the world; they read headlines, and that’s about it. Letting the Dims grab credit for the surge in the interests of bi-partisanship may sound high-minded, but it’s not. Allowing them to control the narrative has political consequences. If their incompetence is not exposed to the voters, then the Dims get re-elected, and this country cannot afford to have these fools in charge of our defense or our economy. Voters need to be reminded, forcefully and frequently, about just how wrong the Dims have been on every issue, especially Iraq.
AZCoyote on June 2, 2008 at 8:12 PM
tomk59 on June 2, 2008 at 7:04 PM
Could not agree with you more.
Rod on June 2, 2008 at 8:13 PM
It took, what, two days to go from the surprising admission that it is not, in fact, a hopeless quagmire to taking credit for it?
Will the Democrats who aren’t douchebags please stand up?
Merovign on June 2, 2008 at 8:27 PM
Agreed.
Zorro on June 2, 2008 at 8:28 PM
Voters need to be reminded, forcefully and frequently,
The certainly do.
Have not read it yet but have just ordered it upon Allahpundit’s sideways suggestion: “War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism” by D. Feith.
From the summaries and reviews, there is a great shortcoming of the administration that Firth brings up: its complete abdication of the responsibility for refuting and standing up against the lies and leaks headlined in the liberal media.
The Weekly Standard for years has been a lone wolf crying out for the administration to stand up for what it knows to be true about the war.
They never have. I’ve given up hope that they ever will.
It’s not enough to know that history will prove them right. I’d like to see it stuck in the face of the dims before I die.
Rod on June 2, 2008 at 8:39 PM
The Dems can not only turn on a dime, they’ll even take credit for having minted it.
Look for:
“WE MADE THE SURGE HAPPEN!”
signs at the Denver Convention.
They shed the concept of shame around 1969.
(It sank at Chappaquidick, I heard.)
profitsbeard on June 2, 2008 at 8:39 PM
They’re turning this great country into a third world rathole with their lies and shenanigans.
Entelechy on June 2, 2008 at 8:42 PM
Maybe they’ll let John Kerry take a victory lap.
Travis1 on June 2, 2008 at 9:04 PM
Kanjorski’s comment has a certain grain of truth in it — Bush fired Rumsfeld the day after the 2006 election, and two months later announced the change in policy towards increasing forces in Iraq that Rumsfeld had opposed. McCain criticized Rumsfeld about that well before the ’06 election, but it was the takeover of Congress by the Democrats that forced Bush to go over to McCain’s side and announce the troop surge, because the Democrats were going to cut Iraq funding if no new policy had been implemented, which bought Bush and Patraeus time to make it work.
That said, Kanjorski’s position is one Hillary might have been able to use in the general election, because as the race has panned out, she’s not the candidate of the far left, Obama is. But he can’t possibly use that argument without prompting cries of anguish from his base and accusations of being a sellout for giving the surge even the slightest bit of credit for succeeding. Change now, and all of Barack’s recent problems in judgment that his fans and the media have been willing to look past (similar to how they looked past Bill and Hillary’s troubles for 15 years) may suddenly start popping up from disgruntled sources, who think they’re being sold down the river again.
jon1979 on June 2, 2008 at 9:12 PM
Why a four year old child could understand the point. Someone go fetch us a child of four.
- Groucho
MB4 on June 2, 2008 at 9:44 PM
Build a Muslim a fire and he will be warm for the night. Set a Muslim on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life.
MB4 on June 2, 2008 at 9:49 PM
MB4 on June 2, 2008 at 9:44 PM
I resemble that remark!!! How you be tonite mb4?
I just can’t believe the audacity of these dems….amazing.
jerrytbg on June 2, 2008 at 10:03 PM
I also wonder how fast others will run away from this guy.
jerrytbg on June 2, 2008 at 10:10 PM
This is not surprising. There are no real issues for Democrats, just political posturing.
mylegsareswollen on June 2, 2008 at 10:16 PM
mylegsareswollen on June 2, 2008 at 10:16 PM
point taken but what would it mean if Hill is the candidate? don’t count her out yet.
jerrytbg on June 2, 2008 at 10:56 PM
White House?
Anyway, you can be sure McCain will not allow anyone on the Left to steal his one thunder of fame– the Surge credit. He’ll explode in their face if they try that one!
leftnomore on June 3, 2008 at 2:44 AM
Bush can win the fight for more money every time.
Let the Dems claim victory (for their own sleazy political reasons) just so American can lose it all when Obama brings everyone home. Still a short sighted policy.
davod on June 3, 2008 at 6:06 AM
“He’ll explode in their face if they try that one!”
They, and the MSM, want him to explode in their face.
davod on June 3, 2008 at 6:15 AM
The only person leading this country toward bankruptcy is George Bush, who people seem to believe took the US into a “free” war. When all the dust has settled, Bush will have increased the federal debt at the rate of $10,000 per man, woman, and child citizen of the entire country.
And the same goes for undermining the war effort- the Democrats never had any control over the war or real influence over Bush. Why do you need to worry about anyone interfering in the war, when before the surge, Bush made every strategic error possible to ensure the US couldn’t quickly succeed in Iraq?
It seems like it’s premature to start declaring ‘mission accomplished’ all over again.
bayam on June 3, 2008 at 8:16 AM
Before this is all over the Democrats will be saying it was their idea to go into Iraq in the first place and Bush had to be pulled kicking and screaming.
moxie_neanderthal on June 3, 2008 at 8:44 AM
bayam:
How much of that money is spent in the US economy?
“…And the same goes for undermining the war effort- the Democrats never had any control over the war or real influence over Bush. Why do you need to worry about anyone interfering in the war, when before the surge, Bush made every strategic error possible to ensure the US couldn’t quickly succeed in Iraq?….”
Fantasy, pure fantasy. The Democrats voted to go to war. The Dem sleezership then did everything in their power to undermine the effort. I would not be surprised to read that evidence has surfaced showing the resistance in Iraq continued because of the Demonrats constant claims of defeat and calling for retreat (sorry redeployment) to Okinawa.
davod on June 3, 2008 at 8:46 AM
PS:
Bush is at fault for any problems in his administration. He is the Commander-In-Chief.
However, if you want to see if he was negligent, which is a different matter, you need to look at the decision making process. Did Bush take the advice of his military advisors. As I recall, his highest military advisors were against the surge. Indeed, Casey, while in Iraq, was scornfull of the approach. Others implied that Petraeus would not be getting all his troops in country before the surge was supposed to be over. Indee,d the surge started late and without all resources in country.
So, is Bush negligent because he overulled his highest military advisors, even though the surge is working? or is he negligent because he listened to his highest military advisors for to long before ordering the surge.
davod on June 3, 2008 at 9:00 AM
Wow another Democrat mis-speaking, providing revisionist history and faulty recollection!!!! Say it ain’t so…bwahhh-haaa-haaa-haaa.
PatriotPete on June 3, 2008 at 1:38 PM
One mountain to climb at a time, airhead. We’re working our way down our list of things to do. And the checkoffs are occurring faster and faster as we go. Just because you don’t see progress, don’t mean it ain’t happenin’. Man, your attitude sucks a Big Red One.
Subsunk
Subsunk on June 3, 2008 at 4:14 PM