The Road Less Taken

George Bush wants another $50 billion for the Iraq war. Can the Democrats stand up to him this time?

By Markos Moulitsas | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Nov 15, 2007 | Updated: 6:12  p.m. ET Nov 15, 2007

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  • Posted By: pmanny @ 11/27/2007 7:34:30 PM

    OH for heaven's sakes, the democrats are not doing all we can to make our heros starve!! Good grief, it is no wonder that bush had such an easy time pulling the wool over your eyes!!
    I want the people home! We never had an honest reason to be there. We, inspite of what some feel, do not have all the answers for the world, Let's get them home, and then get some jobs for them so they can earn a living! Oh and by the way, the earth will not last near long enough for us to 'win' ,they have been at war for ever!!

  • Posted By: pmanny @ 11/27/2007 7:28:56 PM

    NO more money for that 'little wanna be king!' Simply bring our people home where they belong and send bush over to replace them!!! Don't for get his side-kick dick.

  • Posted By: Tommypie @ 11/22/2007 11:22:11 AM

    There are certain privileges inherent in being the President and the Commander in Chief of the armed forces. One of those privileges is the authority to request the funds needed to defeat the enemy. The democrats are doing everything in their power to defeat Mr. Bush's efforts to win the war in Iraq. They would rather have the troops starve and suffer than sending them the money needed to continue their valiant efforts. After all, winning would defeat their defeatist mindset and maybe make Mr. Bush look good. And that must not happen under any circumstances.

    • Posted By: votenic @ 11/26/2007 12:21:44 PM

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  • Posted By: Braes @ 11/19/2007 1:35:21 PM

    There are Billions in the pipeline that can be reprogrammed. Even so, military withdrawal will require time. I don't blame Pelosi or Reid. I am a retired disabled veteran, so I have a handle on how much it waill take to get out of there and stop the growth of operations. I support Wes Clark, Joe Biden, and Hillary on many of their proposals.
    We can not simply walk away in Iraq, we have with the 'Contractors' and other things like Abu Ghraib, created so much emnity that we are going to have to back out of that room with cover, or face open slaughter. The Sadrists are just biding their time. We have not just 12000 planeloads of people to fly out, but several hundred thousand tons of equipment we will have to move out. We have to use them right up to the boat. This won't be like packing the car for a trip to Yosemite.
    I do not believe Bush needed this money, He simply threw the issue into the fray to cause just this argument, and the resulting negative impression upon us, the Democrats. We got on the bait and He reeled us in. The problem in fighting a crazed Zealot is that after a while, you begin to start acting like one. There is a wiser approach, which is to not entertain any spending measure outside the normal Budget. If after 7 years of plaing War-God, Bush can't submit a budget that covers every intended line-item, then it is He who is failing the troops, which many below note has been the case all along.
    It is so easy to let the perfect be the impediment to good enough for now. Incrementalism and making no mistakes at any step, is far wiser than political bomb tossing out of well and righteous rage.
    I want a D in the White House, and the same Veto Proof majorities Bush had in both houses to undo the sick mess we are in. I share the author's zeal on the topic. I do not agree that the Democrats were elected to stop the war. They were elected to provide checks and balances for the first time in years. That only achieves so much. We have narrow majorities. I want to grow those. I want to give cover to those who share my beliefs and values, and give them the tools to achieve those ends.

    • Posted By: votenic @ 11/21/2007 4:18:10 PM

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  • Posted By: BooHooHooMan @ 11/16/2007 7:49:52 PM

    This is Hillary-us , Markos now talking about the Democratic Party at "arms length." Moulitsas pushed this con HARD that Dems would oppose Bush.
    "Send in your dollars kids" was the mantra, "We're Crashing the Gates". was what Moulitsas and his stock touting Partner in a Democratic Consultancy urged theifoisted upon their readers. LOL.

    The only "Road Less Taken" here, is one of candor, credibility, and backbone. Like Mr. Rove, Moulitzas has a habit of purging less than flattering content off his servers.
    After a high visibility poster on Moulitsas website called an outspoken woman a "cu** , a bit**, a wh*re", Moulitsas encouraged the blogger known as "Delaware Dem" to re=register under another pseudonym to enable him to continue posting on his blog. What warranted such an outrage?? The woman was outspoken in her dissappointment with Democratic inaction. It is the very issue Moulitsas has the gall to hold forth on NOW.

    Deal with it. (15+ / 16-)

    Recommended by:
    mickey, taylormattd, eugene, musing85, Nonpartisan, eeff, northsea, corndog, michael1104, HollywoodOz, coigue, terrypinder, Ice Blue, Team Slacker, mystery2me
    Trollrated by:
    Mark H, CJB, pb, jennifer poole, Politburo, lrhoke, TeresaInPa, Thistime, greenskeeper, station wagon, bluestateonian, demondeac, Robert Davies, Pager, shaharazade, PhantomFly

    Mariscat is a cu-- of the first order.

    by Delaware Dem on Thu Feb 01, 2007 at 01:11:56 PM PDT
    --

    Seriously. Troll Rate me. Ban me. (8+ / 12-)

    Recommended by:
    mickey, taylormattd, Nonpartisan, eeff, corndog, HollywoodOz, Team Slacker, Nightprowlkitty
    Trollrated by:
    lrhoke, hardleft, jxg, TeresaInPa, polecat, Thistime, greenskeeper, Robert Davies, Pager, fairfax, PhantomFly, newhorizon

    But Mariscat is a bitc*, a wh*re, and a cu--. Whatever derogatory term you want to use, use.

    by Delaware Dem on Thu Feb 01, 2007 at 01:31:58 PM PDT

    By The Way, this cretin, a lawyer from Philadelphia still has posting privileges on Moulitsas blog.
    Disgustingly, a number of Mr. Moulitsas most loyal supporters RECOMMENDED this behavior. Hideously, "Pastor Dan" a blogger featered on KosMedia's StreetProphets.com also smeared the woman for expressed disappointment over the lack of Democratic Delivery....
    Though Moulitsas and "Pastor Dan" purged public servers of their commentary encouraging the abuser , there are archved copies of this widely this travesty readily available on the web. "The Road Less Travelled" for Democrats as well as their apologists and soft ball pseudocritics like Moulitsas can be summed up in a word: CREDIBILITY. Now Newsweek has the problem.....

    • Posted By: OhNewshound @ 11/20/2007 12:33:38 AM

      I would like to hear Kos side of the story before I rendered an opinion on this. It pays to be skeptical these days. We are so easily fooled by people telling us half the story.

    • Posted By: mittons45@yahoo.com @ 11/17/2007 6:21:43 AM

      BooHooMan and this groups (Recommended by:
      mickey, taylormattd, eugene, musing85, Nonpartisan, eeff, northsea, corndog, michael1104, HollywoodOz, coigue, terrypinder, Ice Blue, Team Slacker, mystery2me ) have been banned by dailykos. What you see is really bitter sour grapes.

  • Posted By: fred54 @ 11/16/2007 8:29:17 PM

    The only hope we have left to save this country is to elect Ron Paul as president. If we don't and allow another lap dog vetted by the zionists and the plutocrats to be installed then our only choice left will be revolution. If the american people are so deaf, dumb and blind that they can't see that then they deserve to be slaves.

    • Posted By: OhNewshound @ 11/20/2007 12:30:24 AM

      Ron Paul is not the political savior you think he is . That said, I am glad he is in the horse race to stir the pot. I like his Libertarian tendencies but he has issues with women and their rights. I don't want to trade one kind of a dictator for another.

  • Posted By: Shani @ 11/16/2007 5:10:35 PM

    This article echoes my feelings and frustrations almost exactly. We went into Iraq to find WMDs. There weren't any. We won. So, let's go home! But wait, now we have to get rid of Saddam Hussein. We did that, too. So now can we go home? Oh well, now we have to set up a democratic government. Great. We did that, too. Remember the purple fingers? We won, not once, but three times. Why are we still there?

    They just keep moving the goal posts. The politicians. It's not their blood being spilled in the sand, it's not their money pouring into the coffers of contractors.

    I cried today for a young, broken veteran. He didn't look any older than 20 or 21. He was standing on a corner, holding a sign, asking for money or food. His eyes looked off in all directions. His whole body shook and his hands trembled as he gratefully accepted the money I gave him, all I had. He said, "Thank you, ma'am." I drove away crying.

    George Bush sits in the White House, playing toy soldiers with real people. He breaks them, then tosses them aside to stand on street corners.

    I've always been a registered Independent. Sometimes I voted R and sometimes I voted D. But this president, and the Republican toadies that have enabled him every step of the way, have caused a huge change in the way I think.

    Democrats may be flawed, and I'm very frustrated by their apparent spineleessness, but as of today, I'm a yellow dog Democrat. Because of that young man standing on the corner with a broken body, reduced to begging to survive, I'll vote for a yellow dog before I'll ever vote for a Republican again.


    • Posted By: Braes @ 11/19/2007 2:00:05 PM

      As a retired Disabled vet, I thank you. And as for your observations, it is about Oil, Oil, Oil. It has been since WWII.

  • Posted By: jcon007 @ 11/15/2007 10:55:00 PM

    Speaking of Bush and other American traitors.....if the rumor is true that this magazine has hired Heir Rove to write columns, I will be canceling my subscription and encouraging all my friends to do the same. I doubt there is a single person in the world who has done more damage to our democracy than this scumbag and I will never support anyone or anything that supports him with a hire. BIG MISTAKE NEWSWEEK!!!!!

    • Posted By: Braes @ 11/19/2007 1:56:05 PM

      I would rather at this point ensure Rove had a podium in front of me, because if the enemy is going to print his gameplan, I'd like a copy. I doubt Rove is really getting his dinner money from this gig.

    • Posted By: thehomemortgagemaster @ 11/17/2007 11:08:09 AM

      I was going to send in my subscription cancellation also- then I rememberd (hard to do under the current regime) that we are supposed to be in a democracy where ALL sides of issues and opinions are available for people to read and weigh. If we advocate journalism that eliminates some points of view we are just like Bushies. I, too, believe Rove should be indicted, not honored, but if we continue to erode the press we are just playing into the long term plans of the Project For A New American Century folks.

  • Posted By: sosebee2 @ 11/19/2007 12:14:25 AM

    If the democratic congress needs to they should have the courage and integrity to "shut the government down". Newt Gingrich did it in the nineties. Harry Ried however appears to be be spineless. How did this pasty faced Back-room dealer get to be head fo the Senate anyhow? If the princinpal of stopping the war is so urgent then shutting the government down should be on the table. Turn the heat up and see who blinks first.

  • Posted By: msobel @ 11/18/2007 8:23:49 AM

    "Bush has shown from the beginning he is willing to use our troops for political purposes and Walter Reed shows he doesn't care about their welfare so he is holding them hostage. If we cut off funds, any realist knows that Bush will punish the troops and blame us. Doonsbury was right, he'd put the troops on half rations. "

    http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2007/db070507.gif is the doonsbury image, it was on 5/7/07 and you can look at the sequence starting at

    http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20070507

  • Posted By: msobel @ 11/18/2007 8:22:31 AM

    This president has continually used our troops as a prop. He doesn't care about their welfare. He would just cut off their rations to make a political point.

  • Posted By: Thins Come Undone @ 11/18/2007 3:32:25 AM

    The Democrats can end this war now. Can we afford to stay there? Is Bush paying for his war or is he sticking the Democrats with the bill? Are we winning, do we hae any chance of winning? How many years of war does it take to get Bush to admit that he made a mistake, that he has lost.

  • Posted By: Loo Hoo. @ 11/17/2007 11:55:19 PM

    Goodness sakes! People here are saying that if the democrats stopped funding the war, that George Bush would leave them there without provisions rather than bring them home. Think about that for a minute. People think Bush is that insane. Dang!

  • Posted By: Loo Hoo. @ 11/17/2007 11:37:27 PM

    We have to hope that the democrats will do what they were elected to do this time. If not, I'm afraid that fewer and fewer Americans will bother to vote. We democrats worked our tails off and got them in control of Congress, and not so that they would ask the republicans for permission to do their work.

  • Posted By: Eyepublius @ 11/17/2007 9:45:18 PM

    One cannot say they are an American and believe in our system and so freely say this war is Bush's war, or the GOP's war, or whatever - our goverment, within our system voted to go to war - it IS our war - America's war not any single individual's war.... the Left in America needs to grow up. I'm a lifelong Dem, but not a bleeding heart liberal.... and I'm a 20-year Marine Corps VN vet and retiree... get over it. It's our WAR.

  • Posted By: Eyepublius @ 11/17/2007 9:35:50 PM

    Part of your article: "... George Bush and his Republican Party to change course on their disastrous war in Iraq."

    You cannot claim to be an American and call it "their war, his war, the GOP's war..." our government, for whatever reason voted for the war - it IS our war - the warts are included.

  • Posted By: malaw @ 11/17/2007 3:31:33 PM

    Is he (Bush) insane? Why hasn't he and his crew been committed? or are we allowing our country to getaway w. just about everything. Obviously, his asking (for billions) is rhetorical, we (U.S) are not in any sort of 'national debt' with all the money this kat compulsively takes. Can we get domestic relief for war in U.S.? Before erecting another false democracy tend to being truly Democratic in your own country.

  • Posted By: malaw @ 11/17/2007 3:29:36 PM

    Is he (Bush) insane? Why hasn't he and his crew been committed? or are we allowing our country to getaway w. just about everything. Obviously, his asking (for billions) is rhetorical, we (U.S) are not in any sort of 'national debt' with all the money this kat compulsively takes. Can we get domestic relief for war in U.S.? Before erecting another false democracy tend to being truly Democratic in your own country.
    Democ

  • Posted By: joycejewel @ 11/17/2007 5:32:51 AM

    Concerning the Vegas debate I heard on the local news in my area that another young lady reported that she was coached to ask a favorable question for Hilary Clinton about the diamonds and pearls and was not allowed to ask her original question. It was reported on Fox News. If this is true, here again is planting and staging questions in favor of Hilary Clinton. If Fox News know about it I'm sure you do too. The American people have the right to know. Who was the young women, and is it true that CNN had a hand in this?

    • Posted By: mikewlig @ 11/17/2007 10:49:05 AM

      "...It was reported on Fox News...Republican Bible....'nuff said

  • Posted By: dardena @ 11/16/2007 11:54:36 AM

    The problem is the democrats have spent so much time tellng us the "Iraq war is lost," that now that the "surge" is working they cannot afford to allow success in Iraq.
    How better to lose the war than to not fund the solders?

    • Posted By: mittons45@yahoo.com @ 11/17/2007 6:39:28 AM

      How better? To raise your taxes to pay for it.

    • Posted By: AnneR @ 11/16/2007 3:56:19 PM

      By no definition except the administration's fuzzy math are we winning. We are not making life better for the people of Iraq, we are not making the goverment there more stable, their own security forces (despite 6 years of training) still can't be trusted.

      What we are doing is sending our troops in to kill and be killed. Bringing them home with wounded bodies and minds.

      If the President is so in favor of keeping troops in Iraq, let him convince his own daughters to go and let someone else's children come home.

    • Posted By: cskendrick @ 11/16/2007 3:11:31 PM

      How better to lose the war?

      Have Republicans running the show seems to be a great way to do just that.

      I count 1 win (Gulf), 1 tie (Korea), 1 going on 3 losses (Vietnam, +Iraq, + Afghanistan) under GOP finishers in the past century.

      Nice. And who knows? We could lose, let's see...Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. I mean, it'd be hard work, but I think nobody puts out for putting America down and out like Bush-era Republicans. :)

    • Posted By: cskendrick @ 11/16/2007 3:07:52 PM

      How better to lose? Oh, that's easy. Have Republicans pick, start and mismanage the wars. That's worked, let's see, for a whoping 1 win (Gulf), 1 tie (Korea), and 1 (Vietnam) going on 3 (+Iraq,+Afghanistan) losses.

      But, hey. Maybe we can add Iran and Bush-era Republcans can have a hat trick of failure all to themselves. :)

    • Posted By: max.grant @ 11/16/2007 2:58:49 PM

      Now appearing in a war apologia near you: the Dolchstosslegende, a pathetic attempt to blame the failure of executive decisions on their critics. Otherwise known as "we wuz stabbed in the back." Give us a break. If the surge is working then we've succeeded and we can go home. If it isn't working then we've failed and we should go home. Either way, the American public by a LARGE MAJORITY thinks we should go home. Welcome to Democracy, dardena.

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