Bush Surging
That’s the only conclusion you can draw from recent events. This Hill article makes the case persuasively:
Roundly criticized back in 2001 for his position on stem cell research, the president’s resolve and strength to draw a moral boundary line to protect innocent unborn life has been vindicated. Despite the yammering that the president had hampered scientific progress in stem cell research, despite the vicious demagogy and false claims that if the president hadn’t placed restrictions on how federal funds were spent, people would rise and walk from their wheelchairs, scientists announced last week they could produce an embryo-free way to produce genetically matched stem cells. Or put another way, the president’s decision to draw a bright moral line against destroying human life while providing federal dollars for the first time to stimulate stem cell research has proven successful. The silence in the media about this remarkable development has been deafening.
Equally deafening have been the media (and congressional Democrats’) reaction to success on the ground in Iraq. After linking vital resources to fight the war on terrorism to a timetable for troop withdrawals, Congress has failed on numerous occasions in recent months to hamstring the president’s ability to conduct the war as commander in chief. And despite claims that the surge of troops and the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus and President Bush have failed, even ardent foe Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has concluded that the surge in Iraq is working.
Not content to celebrate the success of our brave men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line every day to provide stability in a volatile region of the world, congressional Democrats now claim that while the surge might be working, the Iraqis have “failed” to produce meaningful political results on the ground. Once again, facts get in the way of those on the Hill who are pressing, wishing, for an American defeat on the ground in Iraq.
Democrats have or are in the process of giving into each of President Bush’s demands. They’re stripping out the earmarks from the omnibus appropriations bill currently making its way through Congress. They’ll soon be forced into passing a clean Iraq supplemental. As a result of these ‘capitulations’, they’re fighting with each other bigtime. The Democratic firing squad is out in full force, circular formation and all.
What was supposed to be a year of major Democratic gains has turned into a year of turbulence, defeat and hostility towards their leadership. They haven’t passed the budget even though we’re one quarter into FY08. They’re making incendiary statements that are alienating independents. Here’s an example of that rhetoric:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lashed out at Republicans on Thursday, saying they want the Iraq war to drag on and are ignoring the public’s priorities. “They like this war. They want this war to continue,” Pelosi, D- Calif., told reporters. She expressed frustration over Republicans’ ability to force majority Democrats to yield ground on taxes, spending, energy, war spending and other matters.
“We thought that they shared the view of so many people in our country that we needed a new direction in Iraq,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference in the Capitol. “But the Republicans have made it very clear that this is not just George Bush’s war. This is the war of the Republicans in Congress.”
This won’t play well with voters. They know that nobody likes war. They also know that some wars must be fought to win. The public clearly doesn’t like this war but they also know that it needs to be won. Pelosi’s saying that Republicans like war was foolish.
They’re sniping at each other. Here’s an example of the Democrats’ sniping:
Asked about his decision on government funding, House Appropriations Committee
Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.) groused to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call: I’ll tell you how soon I will make a decision when I know how soon the Senate sells us out.”
While the Democratic ship is taking on water and sinking, President Bush and the Congressional Republicans have broken out the bilge pumps, which has led to the bailing out of the GOP ’ship’.
Technorati Tags: President Bush, GOP, Nancy Pelosi, David Obey, Political Feuds, Election 2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
December 14th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Pumping the bilge won’t do a damn thing to save a sinking ship, that only gets rid of the slime and waste oil thats collected.
If the Republicans want to stabilize their ship, and maintain water tight integrity, they still need to keep from doing the self inflicted hull damage that got them where they are today for at least another 10 months.