Yeah ... that’s called "leadership" Madam Speaker. It’s not poll driven. It’s not finger-in-the-political-wind stuff. It means making hard decisions you think are in the national interest and then sticking by them. Almost like "staying the course" and not needing more troops and being anti-surge, right? |
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Written By:
Retief
URL:
http://
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She expressed frustration over Republicans’ ability to force majority Democrats to yield ground on taxes, spending, energy, war spending and other matters. BWAH HA HA
QUAGIMRE! QUAGMIRE! UNWINNABLE! QUAGMIRE!
Iraq?
Nope.....the Dems congressional situation!
PS to Retief- Yeah, they were anti-surge from second 1, and now that it’s working.....they’re still anti-surge even more.
The only interest they serve is their own
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Written By:
shark
URL:
http://
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"And that was a revelation to me," she said, "because I thought the American people’s voices were so-and still are-so strong in this regard." Oh they are Nancy....they are.
Which is why you and your cohorts never had the guts to try a straight defund.
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Written By:
shark
URL:
http://
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PS to Retief- Yeah, they were anti-surge from second 1, and now that it’s working.....they’re still anti-surge even more. Actually it was McQ’s anti surginess to which I refered. |
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Written By:
Retief
URL:
http://
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Madam Speaker is morphing into Mona Speaker... |
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Written By:
bains
URL:
http://
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Isn’t leadership in a democratic society supposed to represent the will of the people? Do we not elect our leaders to carry out our wishes? If the people who elected you are no longer in support of those "hard decisions", it is an elected leader’s responsibility to act in accordance with what their constituents want. Not to "stick by" a poor decision in order to appear strong. Strength in leadership also means admitting when you have made an egregious mistake and taking the steps to minimize the damage, rather than staying a disasterous course. |
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Written By:
MamaDove
URL:
http://
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Actually it was McQ’s anti surginess to which I refered. citation? |
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Written By:
Joel C.
URL:
http://
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Isn’t leadership in a democratic society supposed to represent the will of the people? Do we not elect our leaders to carry out our wishes? No and no. If that’s all leadership amounts to, we might as well devolve into a direct democracy on all votes. We elect our representatives to lend their judgment on legislation, not just as surrogates for our own opinions. I don’t want my representative twisting in the ever-changing breeze of public opinion polls.
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Written By:
Steverino
URL:
http://
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Do we not elect our leaders to carry out our wishes? If the people who elected you are no longer in support of those "hard decisions", it is an elected leader’s responsibility to act in accordance with what their constituents want. Not through polls, no. Those don’t represent constituents. Elections are where constituents are heard. |
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Written By:
McQ
URL:
http://www.qando.net/blog
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citation? I freely admit I didn’t like the idea of the surge initially (I thought we should concentrate on standing up the ISF while fighting the counter-terrorism battle). But then, unlike folks like retief and others, I actually looked at the strategy, read the COIN manual and studied the doctrine. I also read everything that Petraeus and others wrote about its execution and then penned a post saying after due consideration, and while I wasn’t for it, it could work.
Here’s one of my posts.
And this one (especially last 2 paragraphs).With that sort of a force, and assuming all the promised Iraqi brigades show up and are actually worth a crap (see USA Today article cited above), there is actually a legitimate chance this may work. It won’t be quick and it won’t be easy, but it just might work.
Don’t mistake this, in particular, for enthusiasm from me for fighting a counterinsurgency. I’m not at all happy about that. But it appears they are lining up the numbers correctly ... and that is a very important first step. But there are a whole bunch of other things which have to line up as well, most of them in the category of "political will" for this to have a real shot. |
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Written By:
McQ
URL:
http://www.qando.net/blog
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Fair enough. |
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Written By:
Joel C.
URL:
http://
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We also, rightly or wrongly, expect our elected representatives to have access to information that we don’t necessarily have access to and to take that into account when they make decisions.
In any case, polls on some issues are pointless. Anyone remember "Is Scott Peterson guilty, call 555-5555 for Yes and 555-5555 for No," as if *criminal guilt* was subject to public opinion?
I think, quite clearly, the fact that a majority Democrat congress is forced to back off to a Republican minority is a demonstration that public opinion is not what Pelosi claims that it is. It’s a demonstration that no matter how the subject *polls* the actual majority opinion of constituents has more nuance, there are more people in the squishy middle who have realistic views about what can and should be done to end the war without causing more harm in the process.
Which, when it comes down to it, is what people who really care about peace will care about. |
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Written By:
Synova
URL:
http://synova.blogspot.com
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