State of the Union, or the response... Options

[Hartmann]

The State of the Union was, in my opinion, a wakeup call for the democrats. Either support the troop movement or get the troops out of there, the middle ground is not an option. Also, I thought the President's point about a civilian force of workers was interesting. I do not know if I support it or not, but it's a novel idea...

Jim Webb's "official" Democratic response was even more intriguing, especially this paragraph:

The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military. We need a new direction. Not one step back from the war against international terrorism. Not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos. But an immediate shift toward strong regionally-based diplomacy, a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities, and a formula that will in short order allow our combat forces to leave Iraq.

In the same paragraph he contradicts himself...

Not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos.

...a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities, and a formula that will in short order allow our combat forces to leave Iraq.

Then there is this sentence (from the same paragraph), important part emphasized:

The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military.

I'd like to know where he gets his statistics...

[cupcake]

Jim...do you think you, or any of us, are qualified to orchestrate a war? Do you have the resources and training to make informed strategic decisions with global implications?

no.

we may have "concern", I personally have great concern that you will never be able to imagine...but we certainly don't have a say.

nor should we. it is not our lot. ours is to elect officials we have faith and confidence in. have a problem with politicians? yeah me too, but it's better than joe videogame watching CNN then saying, alright, we need to move the 3rd ID into Sadr city and...

do you disagree?

[Jim]

Jim...do you think you, or any of us, are qualified to orchestrate a war? Do you have the resources and training to make informed strategic decisions with global implications?

no.

we may have "concern", I personally have great concern that you will never be able to imagine...but we certainly don't have a say.

nor should we. it is not our lot. ours is to elect officials we have faith and confidence in. have a problem with politicians? yeah me too, but it's better than joe videogame watching CNN then saying, alright, we need to move the 3rd ID into Sadr city and...

do you disagree?

I've heard some pretty stupid things in my life... but this takes the cake.


You're right. I don't have the resources or training to "make informed strategic decisions with global implications". That doesn't mean that I can't express my concerns or thoughts or anything like that. Just because I don't have the "background" of a war vet, a military strategist, or an adviser of any type doesn't mean I have to take my opinion out of it.

But what do I know, I'm just Joe Videogame watching CNN saying, "Wow, I think this war is bullshit and was started for bullshit reasons and hasn't ended for even more bullshit reasons." Let's send more troops in. It doesn't concern America I mean, it's not like people don't want to go over there... or is it...

I may not be the most informed nor am I the smartest, but I do smell BS pretty well. And this war (or whatever you want to call it), to me, is one of the biggest pieces of BS my nose has ever caught wind of.