I am a Republican who voted for George W. both times and i think the war was the right thing to do !! But thanks to the mismanagement of this war and downright refusal of him to exercise common sense this election night has become a nightmare. I find myself almost glad that the conservative Democrats are winning but then it hits me. Nancy Pelosi is going to be speaker and Conniors is going to head the Judiciary. I despise Pelosi more than Bill Clinton and that is saying something. And with what is about to happen in the next two years it is going to get even worse for the Republicans. With Pelosi in charge there is going to be one investigation after another and you will see the Dems attack every single aspect of the war and on the other side is a pull out in disgrace and our troops will have died in vane. George Bush has let America down due to his stubborn insistence to stick with a plan that has no hope of succeeding. This war was ours to be won and in a short time frame. But when we pulled all our troops back and only left 130,000 troops to accomplish what should have been 450,000 troops job we have slowly died on the vine . We should have controlled every square inch of Iraq and shut down the Syrian border and killed every Insurgent trying to cross. What he doesnt seem to get is that the American people dont have the stomach for long drawn out wars like this . They get brainwashed by the liberal media and all they hear is the bad news and how many are killed every single day. In order to be successfull this mission had to be handled quickly and decisively in a short time period . He had to know that a protracted war would be torn apart in the media and that public opinion would start to go against him. So it now has come back to basicly rip the Republican party from top to bottom. Even Republicans that have 60% approval ratings are being voted out of office. Yes President Bush keep the Donald Rumsfelds running our Govnt. and take down more Representatives with you in two years. And maybe let the Democrats control all 3 branches of Government. Good leaders know to change directions when things are not working. Try new strategies and show courage in the face of adversity. I hope we as Republicans have learned our lessons again . Now we are at the mercy of not just Democrats but the kind of mean spirited Democrats that are ruthless and are only happy when they are destroying the Country under the mandate of reform. Pelosi is not interested in Bi Partisan anything. She is the definition of the word liberal . I can tell you the Gays, The Lazy , The bleeding Heart Actors , The Crybaby Gimme Gimme Gimmee Democrats , are very happy tonight. Which means our country has sent a message to you President Bush . But in doing so we have let the wolves have the keys to the chicken house . And as owner of the chicken house it was and is your responsibilty. George Bush has become this Generations Jimmy Carter. He is paralyzed with loyalty to ideas and people that just dont work. He is a nice guy who is not a great leader. Where is the party of Reagan that inspired confidence in people and knew the direction that needed to be taken and put the plans into action. Oh well the Sun will come out tomorrow. Maybe
I agree with much of what you said, although I would not equate Bush with Carter, one of the most ineffectual presidents to sit in the Oval Office. The Republicans lost because they lost their identity and their values. They forgot what they were about. The Republican Party under Delay became a party fixed on power rather than on such issues cutting spending, immigration and Social Security reform. The by-word in the party became earmarks as Bush failed to veto a single spending bill in his entire presidency. But the lack of foresight in Iraq was the big issue. Insufficient, ill-equiped troop levels, an inability to foresee a rising insurgency, the inability to deal with war lords such as Al Sadr and a failure to have a Plan B were all causes of the situation where we now find ourselves in Iraq and for last nights election results. So now we all have to pay the price.
Hey. At least the islamic radicals are happy. Elections are like recruiting. Let's see how it turns out after a few years. I'm cautiously optimistic that a preponderance of moderate Democrats will keep things reasonably sane in Congress. Also, I'd like to know how you can "plan" war. It's a pretty fluid and chaotic situation. This thing would be over if we just used our might and eradicated the insurgents. But, we're Americans and we have to swing a small stick while the big club stays in the case.
Wars are planned by military professionals all of the time. We had a well-thought-out standing war plan for invading Iraq and it involved 500,000 troops minimum. Donald Rumsfeld fired General Shenseki and dismissed this plan. Then he winged it. The failure wasn't because we were Americans. It was because George Bush sacked Colin Powell and put Rumsfeld in charge of the war. The Powell Doctrine that worked so well in 1991 was not considered--We go into a war with everything we've got or we don't go in at all, and we never go in without an effective exit strategy.
The Republicans were saddled with an unpopular president who led the nation into an unnecessary and unwinnable war, mocked traditional American notions of justice and citizen's rights, greatly raised government spending while cutting income, and generally showed himself willing to disregard objective facts if they were not to his liking. Republican candidates were left to explain why they support a failed nation-building effort that costs us two lives a day and $23 million dollars an hour while getting worse as each year passes. I couldn't agree more. America's best times were under moderate Republican Presidents (Eisenhower and Reagan) working with Democratic Congresses. Perhaps moderate Republican John McCain and a Democratic 2008 Congress will find it possible to regain the synergy that allowed the US government to represent The People, rather than some dominant political party.
I think you are discounting that a lot of the dems elected are blue dog dems. For Pelosi to keep control of her party and not have a rebellion within, she has to move somewhat to the center in leading. I don't think it is going to be as bad as you think. But the voters did indeed send a message. And if the Senate goes dem, the message was delivered with a bullhorn. This is the same kind of pick up your toys and go home mentality that some liberals (like Baldwin) showed after Bush won. It is not pretty coming from either side.
We certainly don't need to occupy Iraq to do that. We could have done that from here three years ago.
