The remarks by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that have received the most attention from Sunday’s “Meet the Press” appearance concerned whether Roland Burris would be seated as a senator from Illinois (maybe) and whether Reid told Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich not to pick an African-American to replace Barack Obama (”He is making all this up,” Reid said). But Reid’s dancing was fanciest when asked about his April 2007 comment that the “war is lost and that the surge is not accomplishing anything” in Iraq. Reid tried to claim Sunday that what he really meant was what Gen. David Petraeus was saying at the time: that the war could not be won militarily. Reid added: “I said it differently than he did. But it needed a change in direction. Petraeus brought that about. He brought it about – the surge helped, of course it helped. But in addition to that, the urging of me and other people in Congress and the country dictated a change, and that took place.”
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70 Comments
“Reid tried to claim Sunday that what he really meant was what Gen. David Petraeus was saying at the time.”
Lousy liar.
His first comment was right. When we pull out our troops, Iraq will eventually go back to what it was before we invaded. I really don’t think true democracy can be achieved in Middle Eastern countries because of the strong cultural tribalism and religion that has existed there for centuries.
Worthless dickhead. And corrupt.
What a surprise?
A democratic liberal politician denying what he said on national TV in front of millions of people?
Reid is a pandering schmoozer who thinks the cons can be reasoned with. SO he tries to reason with them.
He needs removed as Senate majority leader. This is not a time for reaching out it is a time for smacking down.
Reid WAS correct. Initially anyway.
The Iraq war was never meant to be won. It was meant to be continuous. Whatever “success” there is there is only furthering that agenda.
Reid is beyond incompetent.
A disgrace, even to liberal Democrats.
Reid is a terrible leader and politician, I hope he loses the next election big time.
#
george
Posted January 6, 2009 at 7:58 am | Permalink
Reid is a terrible leader and politician, I hope he loses the next election big time.
______________________________________
Just like his Democratic predecessor Tom Dashle lost “big time”.
“Dirty Harry” also tried to claim credit for the money that Limbaugh raised and matched for the letter Senate Dems sent him. Rush challenged the Dems to match it like he did but libs don’t give away their own money, only the tax payers.
We know exactly what Harry Ried said and what Harry Ried MEANT by what he said .. his cards on the table were DEFEAT FOR AMERICA so he could hang that noose around the neck of president George W Bush . . . . sorry, but the noose is around Reid’s neck and all of those who echoed his sentiment/s . . . the people of Iraq won – they are now free and liberated .. Terrorists and the liberals loose .. just as the ‘usefull-idiots’ before WWII .. that is what the history books will remember . . . long live the free people of Iraq — Thank you GWB
“The Iraq war was never meant to be won. It was meant to be continuous. Whatever “success” there is there is only furthering that agenda” ===========================
Like I said: Useful-Idiots
#
BlueJay
Posted January 6, 2009 at 7:11 am | Permalink
He needs removed as Senate majority leader. This is not a time for reaching out it is a time for smacking down.
________________________________
There you go again BJ. Do you know anything else but gang-banger rhetoric?
No .. Harry Ried should remain (the Democratic poster-boy that he is) — the history books will have fun with him AND Palosi
Reid seems intent on proving he is more of an idiot than most people think he is. At this endeavor he seems to be successful.
Reid is typical of the Democrats in the Congress and Senate, saying they want to make a change then not have the will to do so. Then blaming the other side for they failure to do so, Many including General Petraeurs have said there is no military solution to Iraq that is just common sense.
The surge is given far too much credit for the reduction of violence in Iraq. And back when it was started I did say that it was no more genius to conclude that if there was not enough soldiers to increase the numbers to get the job done. Put a cop on every street corner and the crime rate will go down!
This may come as a shock to some, but I actually do have more contempt for the Democratic in the house then the Republicans. Both are playing a childish game of partisanship while Rome burns, but the Republicans are being honest about it. They are not deceiving in their actions and you have no illusions.
But the Democratic are talking out of both sides of their mouths. Nothing but a sham show but no real actions. Giving Bush every wish and want with no concern for the country then decrying “Oh we can not stop him because we do not have a 60 majority!”. There are two things that are true, it takes a majority to pass a bill and also a lack of a majority to fail a bill.
Your bully pulpit is political suicide JR.
Yeah, you think a politician being a professional liar would be a little better at it, than that.
Reid, like values boy, needs to go spend more time with his family.
The real reason he, and pelosi, and steny hoyer, and rahm would not and will not hold bushco accountable for their crimes? They were complicit.
Democrats need NEW leadership. Hell, they need ANY kind of leadership. Because what they have now are co-conspirators. And they are afraid of the republicans, no matter how big a majority the democrats hold. WTF?
The only folks covering up the poop in DC faster than the republicans are the democrats. For all their democratic show of support for obama, it wont be the repukes who bring him down.
His pandering to the wingnuts and the ineptitude of the democrats in congress will do the job quite nicely.
The whole system of seniority needs to go. It’s outdated and harmful to democracy. It rewards incompetence and corruption for old timers like pat roberts and harry reid.
Let them elect their leaders on merit, not just on how many decades they can be bribed into holding their seats.
KFG
Pelosi’s taking measures to prevent the kinds of changes you outline.
Pelosi Erases Gingrich’s Long-Standing Fairness Rules
by Connie Hair
01/05/2009 Print This
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation. Pelosi’s proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize the Capitol, that any thought President-elect Obama has of bipartisan cooperation will be rendered impossible before he even takes office.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=30143
Sounds like the kind of Change B.J. will love.
Sorry. Forgot to clean the extraneous bs.
People are getting blown up every week, the surge worked!
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation. Pelosi’s proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize the Capitol, that any thought President-elect Obama has of bipartisan cooperation will be rendered impossible before he even takes office.”
I posted that yesterday heckie. Do try to keep up.
And yeah, karma is a biotch, isnt she.
What goes around comes around….
I saw a poster in a “gifted” classroom one time that applies here.
“Dont be mad that you didnt get what you want. Be glad you dont get what you deserve”.
Anyone interested should go to the link and read the entire story. Payback is a biotch too. Maybe nancy is afraid the repukes will do what she wouldnt do? Expose the corruption in congress. Especially hers.
Reid has just bungled this Burris thing. His childish footstomping is just giving the repukes the opening they need to try and not seat SENATOR Al Franken.
Maybe dirty harry doesnt really want Franken seated?
I think Reid is probably afraid of Franken exposing him for the lying liar he is.
Now if the senate will just pass “the nuclear option”, maybe something can get done! The article listed what was in The Contract with America, I noticed some of it was nothing but proposals never implemented, like term limits.
Franken will have some good material and insights after he serves.
As usual, the Rude Pundit NAILS it. A good one about Burris right after the Al Franken post.
Bad language warning.
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/
Reid’s third strike was the standing O for six time convicted felon Ted Stevens.
What he should have said was this–
To those who are given much, much is expected. You Ted Stevens betrayed the public when you should have been serving the public.
Your name lives in eternal shame, and you bring shame to everyone in the Senate who sincerely seeks to serve the public good.
We repudiate you and the venality you represent.
******
His second strike was receiving LIEberman with open arms after that filthy traitor stabbed Democrats in the back at the Republican convention.
******
His first strike was caving every time RepubliCONs uttered the word “filibuster.” If the CONs are going to filibuster, then make the SOB’s filibuster.
Reid’s time has come . . . and gone.
It’s time for a real Democratic leader.
Who do we contact about getting rid of Reid as Majority leader? I’ll lend my efforts to it.
BlueJay
Posted January 6, 2009 at 10:44 am | Permalink
Who do we contact about getting rid of Reid as Majority leader? I’ll lend my efforts to it.
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How can Reid possibly survive now?
Very good post writerdog!
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writerdog
Posted January 6, 2009 at 8:47 am | Permalink
Reid is typical of the Democrats in the Congress and Senate, saying they want to make a change then not have the will to do so. Then blaming the other side for they failure to do so,
As for the “surge,” it wasn’t responsible for much of anything.
Better humvee armor and body armor — as well as better awareness of guerilla tactics — are the main reason that American deaths have dropped so much.
In other words, now that Rumsfailed is gone, the Army is doing what it should have been doing all along.
What changed is that the Sunnis recognized that they’d be better off supporting the American goals in the short term to improve their position in the long term.
After all, the de facto president of Iraq is now . . . Achmadenijad of Iran . . . which is exactly what we anti-war protestors were saying from day one. Get rid of Saddam, make way for Iran.
That idea was not original to us–it was actually what the Bush Team said themselves at the end of the first Gulf War.
And Dad is dead right on this one.
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dadman
Posted January 6, 2009 at 8:29 am | Permalink
We know exactly what Harry Ried said and what Harry Ried MEANT by what he said .. his cards on the table were DEFEAT FOR AMERICA so he could hang that noose around the neck of president George W Bush . . . . sorry, but the noose is around Reid’s neck and all of those who echoed his sentiment/s . .
One of the best posts ever from Farmie:
—————————–
ksfarmgrrl
Posted January 6, 2009 at 9:13 am | Permalink
Reid, like values boy, needs to go spend more time with his family.
The real reason he, and pelosi, and steny hoyer, and rahm would not and will not hold bushco accountable for their crimes? They were complicit.
Democrats need NEW leadership. Hell, they need ANY kind of leadership. Because what they have now are co-conspirators. And they are afraid of the republicans, no matter how big a majority the democrats hold. WTF?
The only folks covering up the poop in DC faster than the republicans are the democrats. For all their democratic show of support for obama, it wont be the repukes who bring him down.
Term Limits are needed for sure!
4 terms or 8 years in the House
2 terms or 12 years in the Senate
20 years is long enough. If you can’t get your big agenda items passed in 20 years, then you can’t get the job done.
—————————————————-
ksfarmgrrl
Posted January 6, 2009 at 9:15 am | Permalink
The whole system of seniority needs to go. It’s outdated and harmful to democracy. It rewards incompetence and corruption for old timers like pat roberts and harry reid.
Let them elect their leaders on merit, not just on how many decades they can be bribed into holding their seats.
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation.”
GOOD!
Great, Dadman and JJ–
So you’re saying we “won” in Iraq.
Bring ‘em home, dudes.
We “won.”
I’ll let you claim that we won, if you’ll let us bring the boys home . . .
BlueJay
Posted January 6, 2009 at 10:51 am | Permalink
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation.”
—————————————————–
Very good! The Dems will have nobody to blame for their f-ups now!
CapnAmerica
Posted January 6, 2009 at 10:55 am | Permalink
Great, Dadman and JJ–
So you’re saying we “won” in Iraq.
Bring ‘em home, dudes.
We “won.”
I’ll let you claim that we won, if you’ll let us bring the boys home . . .
————————————————-
I’m not stopping you. The Republicans have not been stopping you. The Dem majority Congress has had 2 years to bring the boys home.
Go call your Democrat buddies and get it done. They’ve been voting to fund this thing from day one, and haven’t spaired a dime since.
Writerdog nailed this issue:
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writerdog
Posted January 6, 2009 at 8:47 am | Permalink
This may come as a shock to some, but I actually do have more contempt for the Democratic in the house then the Republicans. Both are playing a childish game of partisanship while Rome burns, but the Republicans are being honest about it. They are not deceiving in their actions and you have no illusions.
But the Democratic are talking out of both sides of their mouths. Nothing but a sham show but no real actions. Giving Bush every wish and want with no concern for the country then decrying “Oh we can not stop him because we do not have a 60 majority!”. There are two things that are true, it takes a majority to pass a bill and also a lack of a majority to fail a bill.
The successful part of the surge that Bob Woodward knows about, but won’t confirm, is that we are targeting and murdering potential insurgents, before they “insurge”. A wonderful example of TeamBush justice.
The Bushies think that they have made themselves safe from crimes by re-defining torture. The only problem with that line of reasoning is that they are violating their re-definitions and have from day one. An example that will be heard in court:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/world/asia/06iqbal.html?_r=1&hp
For those people who will contend that the above is not important, I would remind you that when our government perpetrates crimes against anyone, we all are potential victims of the same treatment.
Like Warren Zevon used to say: “Bring lawyers, guns and money, ’cause the **it has hit the fan.”
Lawyers?
When it hits the fan, the lawyers will be hiding.
The Republicans ought to support Burris’ seating. Then that will make Harry Reid and his liberal pals look like they are subverting the ruling of the Supreme Court in Powell v. McCormack. I hate Blago and anyone who supports him, but the GOP should stand back and let the Marxist Democrats self-destruct.
“[Dems] have been voting to fund this thing from day one, and haven’t spaired [sic] a dime since.”
True enough, but thou knowest well enough that if Dems did defund the war, CONs like you would be screaming from the rooftops that they were taking food out of our soldiers’ mouths and bullets from their guns.
Anyway, PRESIDENT OBAMA (boy, I like the sound of that!) has vowed to bring them home within 16 months, IIRC.
Over 40 comments to this thread and not one has been a positive comment about Reid. We all agree! Is this a first?
The Rude Pundit’s New Years Resolution:
“I resolve to hold President Obama to his promises so we can get over the last eight years.”
Mega dittos!
Linda–
CONs hate Reid because he’s not a RepubliCON.
Libs hate Reid because he’s not much of a Democrat.
So, we achieve common ground.
Reid called our military killers in Iraq.
Democrats say IRAQ WAR BAD BUSH FAULT
When something goes wrong with war
SEE IRAQ WAR BAD AND BAD BUSH FAULT
When something goes well with war
DEMOCRATS MAKE BAD IRAQ WAR GOOD
Reid the racist. Google his history.
Ever wonder why we ( the left and the right) work our butts off to gain control of government, only to have the very people we put in turn and give us the finger and do the bidding of someone else (the oligarchy)?
We have met the useful idiots,
and they are us.
Steven,
I was going to bring up Woodward, but you did a much better job of it than I would have!
For those people who will contend that the above is not important, I would remind you that when our government perpetrates crimes against anyone, we all are potential victims of the same treatment.
Steven the first time I read the Gonzales memo to the Bush administration I miss something I caught recently re-reading it. Gonzales warned by declaring those captured in the war on terror as not covered by the Geneva convention. It gave others whom were signatures to it a justification for not treating our troops by the Geneva convention. Otherwise saying that by doing this it exposed our troops too!
writerdog
Posted January 6, 2009 at 1:59 pm | Permalink
…by declaring those captured in the war on terror as not covered by the Geneva convention. It gave others whom were signatures to it a justification for not treating our troops by the Geneva convention. Otherwise saying that by doing this it exposed our troops too!”
That is one of the reasons I have been against the stance that some captured troops are not covered by the Geneva convention.
Just because we do not recognize them as lawful combatants does not mean they should be treated differently. If we set a precendent of that, it will justify other countries to do the same to our troops or to those of our allies.
“I’m not stopping you. The Republicans have not been stopping you. The Dem majority Congress has had 2 years to bring the boys home.”
BINGO!! Just like the “Bush lied, people died” or the “Bush shred the Constitution” crap. It’s all yak and no action. You people had the chance to something and didn’t. Blame the you people’s in the mirror.
The Gonzales memo is full of turn of phrase and alternative understanding. He said that the Taliban is not the government of Afghanistan because they did not have control of all of Afghanistan. Therefore the Taliban fighters are not soldiers of Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda fighters are not a organized group therefore could not be consider soldiers either. Along with they are fighting for Al-Qaeda and not the defense of Afghanistan. This is all well and good but here is a problem, can a country declare a war against anyone other then a country or Government? Short of that can it be a war? If there has been no war then where did G.W. Bush get his powers from? Remember that an authorization for the use of force is an act of war not a declaration of war. The Congress has not of yet declared war on anyone.
“Just because we do not recognize them as lawful combatants does not mean they should be treated differently.”
Sure it does. We treat enemy solders differently than we treat a band of murderers. Kumbaya.
And Fleetwood what also got me was the double speak, many of the Democrats in the Congress pointed out that a de-funding of Iraq would not mean suddenly there would be no bullets, fuel or money for the fight.
Then turn around and claim they would not want the American people to say they left the troops in harms way without bullets, fuel or money for the fight. So they vote to give the money for the fight even though they say to not to would not mean the money was not there to begin with. Playing politics with the soldiers!
“fleettwood
Posted January 6, 2009 at 2:36 pm | Permalink
“Just because we do not recognize them as lawful combatants does not mean they should be treated differently.”
Sure it does. We treat enemy solders differently than we treat a band of murderers. Kumbaya.”
If we are truly a just nation, we must afford all those accused of breaking our laws equally. If we are truly a just nation, we must treat all captured enemy as we would have our caputured soldiers to be treated.
End of story. No exceptions allowed. If we are truly a just nation.
Beware the Lib who says, “Fair, just or equal”.
You’ll end up with an ear full of cider.
We don’t treat a band of murderers here in the U.S., the way we treat gitmo suspects.
It was because of the dem pressure, the U.S. and Iraq, had to sh*t or get off of the pot. They knew we intend to bring it to an end in the near future.
“We don’t treat a band of murderers here in the U.S., the way we treat gitmo suspects.”
You are correct, sir. The band of murderers should be so lucky.
Phantom
Posted January 6, 2009 at 2:50 pm | Permalink
We don’t treat a band of murderers here in the U.S., the way we treat gitmo suspects.
———————————————–
That’s correct.
Half are not even caught.
Those who are caught, get early parole.
“fleettwood
Posted January 6, 2009 at 2:50 pm | Permalink
Beware the Lib who says, “Fair, just or equal”.
You’ll end up with an ear full of cider.”
Beware he who attacketh the sender rather than the message for he is a fool.
They are lucky, we can’t torture a confession out of them.
I had to laugh today when I read something about how reid is keeping LIEberman in the caucus, letting him keep his committee chair, and yet…
he refuses to seat Burris or Franken.
What a maroon!
Stuart Smalley may get seated eventually. But He will NEVER be A U.S. Senator
CapnAmerica
Posted January 6, 2009 at 11:41 am | Permalink
“[Dems] have been voting to fund this thing from day one, and haven’t spaired [sic] a dime since.”
True enough, but thou knowest well enough that if Dems did defund the war, CONs like you would be screaming from the rooftops that they were taking food out of our soldiers’ mouths and bullets from their guns.
Anyway, PRESIDENT OBAMA (boy, I like the sound of that!) has vowed to bring them home within 16 months, IIRC.
#
CapnAmerica
Posted January 6, 2009 at 11:50 am | Permalink
The Rude Pundit’s New Years Resolution:
“I resolve to hold President Obama to his promises so we can get over the last eight years.”
Mega dittos!
________________________________
How much you wanna bet we don’t have all the US troops out in 16 months CraponAmerica
Are you saying he’ll be less of a Senator than bush was a president?
bush has lowered the bar for all elective office.
Bro Jeb say’s he won’t run for Fl. senate, Good Call!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, brother of U.S. President George W. Bush, on Tuesday ruled out running for a Senate seat he had been considering contesting.
Bush, who was a popular Republican governor, said in a statement he would not run in 2010 for the Florida Senate seat that is being vacated by Republican Sen. Mel Martinez.