Sunday, November 04, 2007

Exit Strategy

Alright, here's a quiz. Members of which party, Democrat or Republican, made the following statements:

1. "You can support the troops but not the president."

2. "Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years."

3. "Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"

4. "[The] President . . . is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."

5. "American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."

6. "If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."

7. "I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning . . I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."

8. "I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our over-extended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today"

9. "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."

If you said REPUBLICANS said these things, you are right. Below are the speakers of the above quotations:
  1. Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
  2. Joe Scarborough (R-FL)
  3. Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99
  4. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)
  5. Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
  6. Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W Bush
  7. Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)
  8. Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
  9. Governor George W. Bush (R)-TX, 4/19/99
I haven't cited these quotations here, but I spot checked half of them, and they all checked out.

By looking at the dates above, readers could discover for themselves that the President being referred to is Clinton the First (as we'll soon be calling him), and the conflict referred to is Bosnia.

***

Politics is a vicious, often ridiculous game, and I am getting so tired of it my apathy is almost complete.

I found the quotations
here, but many of them were originally cited here.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Same drama, different actors. It certainly deflates my excitement about a democratic president in '08. They're all the same...

Eric said...

Yup. The Who was right..."Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

Mr. Independent said...

So, wait a minute. What you're implying is that politicians and pundits alike say only what they feel the present moment necessitates without regard to true conviction or the best interests of the country? You are obviously a commie pinko bastard! USA--Love it or leave it, bub!

Anonymous said...

I see you're reading a book by a Washington Times colomnist-Death of the Grown Up by Diane West. What do you make of that?

Eric said...

Can I love it, then leave it, like I usually do with my mistresses?

Anonymous said...

Sure, you can love it and leave it.

But, I guess you'd be side-stepping whether or not you agree with Ms. West's central thesis in her book in which she "lays nothing less than the decline of Western civilization on the American counterculture..."