In U.S. heartland, anxiety over Iraq, oil

[sabra]

http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2005-08-18T151632Z_01_SCH854948_RTRIDST_0_USREPORT-IRAQ-HEARTLAND-DC.XML

In U.S. heartland, anxiety over Iraq, oil

BROKEN BOW, Nebraska (Reuters) - In the solidly Republican state of Nebraska, voters are expressing deep anxiety about rising gasoline prices and the war in Iraq, a possible early warning sign for President George W. Bush in one of his most reliable strongholds.

When Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel traveled around his home state this week, citizens at every stop brought up Iraq policy and the inexorable rise in fuel prices.

....

Earlier the same day in Lincoln, an elderly woman asked about Iraq. "Why are we there in the first place?" she asked.

Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, acknowledged the U.S. military presence was becoming harder and harder to justify. He believes Iraq faces a serious danger of civil war that would threaten Middle East stability, and said there is little Washington can do to avert this.

[Seabiscuit]

1. If Washington can't "avert" a "civil war" in Iraq, then WTF are we still

doing there??? If it's inevitable, why are Americans dying over there every day in the meantime? We never had any right to be there in the first place. Let the Iraqis have their country back and let them determine their own future.

[sabra]

3. Because * can't admit that he makes mistakes... :-(

[Seabiscuit]

5. Iraq wasn't a "mistake"... it was deliberate and part of the PNAC agenda

long before the Shrub stole the 2000 election.

Not arguing here, just pointing out the obvious.

[sabra]

11. I am totally with you on that!

However his "base" are just now calling it a mistake... It's going to take a while for them to realize it was all a lie and an agenda from day 1.

[okieinpain]

39. it might have been a part of the plan, but it was still a mistake.

[PassingFair]

20. Nope...

The correct answer is: We want the oil. We are not done shoring up control of the resources.

[Javaman]

12. Because, like moron* said...

The troops must stay there so their comrades didn't die in vein.

The logic escapes me.

colossal failure*

[Cha]

18. "Collosal Criminal Failure"

Once again..all the barking dogs have to cover up for the rove/cheney machines' LIES that have taken our country in the Wrong direction(straight to hell).

[PearliePoo2]

13. exactly!

The PNAC was licking their chops over the oil from the beginning. And not just in Iraq either. That and domination of the Middle East was the goal. Now it's not coming together like they envisioned, it is falling apart quickly and the * spinners are scrambling. Be afraid when these rats are backed into a corner

[JoFerret]

36. Why would they want to do much to avert a civil war?

Not pretty on the news and minor matters of loss of life etc. but civil war would keep the iraqi oil locked up and the House of Bushaud can reap the profits.
Incompetent though they are - this adminbistration knows what its doing. just sometimes...sometimes....there''s a few inconvenient realites such as pesky grieving moms and that librul media.

[Terran]

41. Because if the price of oil goes too high

we'll have economic chaos, and soon. Stability in iraq and oil flowing from that country would do much to ease the current situation (or at least take away one of the excuses we keep hearing).

Now, of course, some folks believe chaos is what these freaks *really* want, in which case, your question would be spot on...

[R Hickey]

44. Civil War in Iraq drives up the price of Bush/Saudi oil.

Bush wants to stop Iraqi oil from reaching the market.

As long as Bush can keep Iraq's oil off the market, the House of Bush and the House of Saud will rake in the dough.

Its the same pattern as when Bush/Lay/Enron fucked California with stories of phony energy shortages. That mamoth rip-off became a permanent loss after the thieves installed Arnold.

[craychek]

2. As a nebraska resident...

I think this article is really stretching it as far as the support the president has. People I talk to still support bush despite all this stuff going on. The main reason is not iraq or gas prices, it's abortion and gays. Many people here vote bases on those two issues alone.

[shantipriya]

4. Bush supporters

In that case they deserce the high price of gasoline.
Also, they sholud all suit up and go to Iraq and support the troops and participate in the noble cause!

[Seabiscuit]

7. If every fundie Shrub supporter donned a uniform and got shipped off

to Iraq, and allowed the real troops to come home, it would be a massive rout - and I don't mean of the insurgents. Fundies are all hateful chickenshit armchair chickenhawks at heart, and would get chased around Iraq with their tails between their legs before getting themselves blown to smitherines. Good riddance, I'd say.

[craychek]

8. actually

I believe that a great deal of the military supports bush or, at the very least, are republican.

[Seabiscuit]

9. Historically they have been Republican. But Iraq may be changing that.

[nine30]

16. are these people sooo moronic ??

What exactly is the rationale behind chosing a president who is anti abortion ?? Is he really going to be able to stop it ? Will even Roberts be able to speak out against it publicly ..at least until he is formally nominated ?

Or is it enough for these farm dwellers that the President just "thinks like them " ?

[nolabels]

37. They believe whatever the newspapers tell them

They say if isn't true they wouldn't have printed it :rofl:

When the stampede comes don't sit around feeling sorry, just get out of the way because they are coming, regardless

[krkaufman]

22. Given their focus on what others allow up their arses....

.... I find it ironic that they continue to exist with their heads inserted so very far up their colon.

[reprobate]

32. what an advantage. With their eyes there already they'll never need

....a colonoscopy!

[Solly Mack]

6. Was it ever easy to justify then? because

Lying hasn't gotten any harder to do....

[Beetwasher]

10. That Elderly Woman Who DARED To Ask "Why?" Needs to be Smeared, And Quick!

Freepers, get on it!

[ernstbass]

34. Yep she's a puppet for the left wing

[VegasWolf]

14. What a damn joke! An increase in oil starts to wake the rubes up,

but 2,000 murdered and 14,000 wounded Murkins in Iraq isn't
enough. After it hits them in the wallet, they start going, "duh,
what's happen in EyeRaq?"

[The_Casual_Observer]

15. "a possible early warning sign" - could that assertion be any

weaker? I can almost feel the pain that that guy must feel writing about how bush is in the shitter.

[Vickers]

17. "In the solidly Republican state of Nebraska"

:nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity:
:nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity:
:nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity:

[callous taoboy]

23. My response exactly, Vickers.

All of my colleagues at work have known since 2000 how threatened I have felt about bush and co. They knew how strongly I felt about a Democratic victory in '04. They gloated when it did not go to Kerry. Now they are a very sober lot. They are not comfortable around me (through no action of my own, only my convictions). Several won't really speak to me now, as though this mess is all my fault and the fault of others of my ilk. It is like watching a Fellini movie.

[sintax]

19. Tell them this over and over-Pentagon requisitioned 7.5 Billion

gallons of fuel for Iraq War for year 2005. more will actually be used.

F-16 uses more fuel in ONE HOURS FLIGHT than US motorist uses in two years.

US Navy uses 16% of worlds diesel fuel

Abrams tank gets 4 GALLONS to the MILE- Not a Misprint

[yorkiemommie1]

24. thanks for the stats

exACTly what i need when I hear whining about gas prices.

[barb162]

26. yeah, BUT, their issue is moral values

the pocketbook is relatively unimportant. It's very hard to fight this kind of mindset where a monkey supporter can see all the things wrong that monkey does, but then they vote for him anyway. The only way to fight it, I think, is to go after the lack of GOP moral values and start talking about the sick hypocrisy and lies of the monkey and that party.

[underpants]

21. There's no "credibility gap problem" they got caught LYING

L-Y-I-N-G

Get it? They do.

[leftylady]

35. Credibility Gap sounds better - makes a better sound-bite.

[leftchick]

25. HA! He is saying the exact opposite of 'more troops' Biden!

<snip>

"We are seen as occupiers, we are targets. We have got to get out. I don't think we can sustain our current policy, nor do I think we should," he said at one stop.

...note to Biden, if you want a chance in hell in 2008 ya better start singing that Get out of Iraq Now tune.

[hatrack]

27. No WMDs, Rationale-Of-The-Week Club for invading Iraq . . .

approaching 2,000 American KIA, 14,000 seriously wounded, $200 billion pissed away on a pointless war; civilian Iraqis killed by the tens of thousands, no water, no electricity, no hospitals; "Mission Accomplished", ignoring real weapons of mass destruction in N. Korea, milking 9/11 and their own world-class ineptitude for cheap political gain; smearing Max Cleland and John Kerry as "traitors" and liars, cultivating smarmy shitty "journalists" and dumbing down this country even further (if that's possible), the PATRIOT Act allowing people to just up and disappear without recourse to the law or legal counsel or writ of habeus corpus . . . . all of the preceding was apparently A-OK in the "heartland".

But gas at $2.50 a gallon?!?! Unheard of! What is this administration DOING?!?!? We can't STAND the pain of these prices!

Typical nasty selfish GOP bullshit. Who cares, unless it affects me and costs me a little extra money.

You voted for him, you cornhusking clowns, and he's all yours. Revel, why don't you, in just how tall America is standing these days.

[DeaconBlues]

28. I was at the vigil last night in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska

Around 150-200 showed up. Every 30 seconds we would get a sign of support (mostly a beep of the horn and a peace sign). Only one real sign of dissaproval while I was there. Yes, the worm has turned, even in red Nebraska.

[nine30]

30. Lincoln is an oasis

..of civilization as is any big city in a Red state.

[DeaconBlues]

31. true

But since most of the actual humans in the state live in either Lincoln or Omaha (the rest of the state being populated by cows and cornstalks), I believe I have a right to a little bit of hope.

I'm realistic - I know that Nebraska will never become a blue state. But if things change enough to allow progressives more of a fighting chance in local elections, I'll be happy.

[DeaconBlues]

29. In the article - Hagel playing the maverick once again

this McCain wannabe sure loves to pretend that he's independent. Too bad when the rubber actually hits the road and he votes on issues he's to the right of Attila the Hun.

[Surya Gayatri]

42. You've got him dead to rights, Deacon

Here's what I wrote about him in a thread that's just been locked:

He voted for the god-damned war. But, recently he's held his fickle finger up into the prevailing wind and 'seen the light'. His prez. ambitions require that he take this stance--at the same time pouring out the Vietnam war-vet patriot pap and refusing to set any concrete goals for troop withdrawal. Don't believe this ES&S vote-stealing snake.

[LeftNYC]

33. I love the two quotes at the end of the article...

Hagel said Bush faced a growing credibility gap. "The expectations that the president and his administration presented to the American people 2 1/2 years ago is not what the reality is today. That's presented the biggest credibility gap problem he's got," he said.

"I hope he has some sense that something's going on out in the country, that there's a lack of confidence that has developed in our position."

Basically, Hagel would like to go to Bush and say "WTF?"

[mitchum]

38. Maybe they can run their cars and tractors on Jesus Juice!

[go west young man]

40. What suck up Hagel is saying is that....

his fat wallet buddies who control his political career in Nebraska have bailed on Iraq and he knows he may have trouble keeping his seat unless he sings a new tune now. Its amazing how these shills jump on whatever bandwagon will keep them afloat. The tide is turning and now we can watch these idiots eat crow. The sad part is that so many have died for thier incompetence. Alas though not a one of em will take any blame or accept an punishment for thier failures. And with electronic vote rigging and Hagels role in that I'm sure we can expect to see them all re-elected with the complete support of our pathetic media.

[Surya Gayatri]

43. Yes, and he's building his 'base' for a prez. run in 2008

He's speaking with forked tongue in order to appeal to his rural base. Farmers and ranchers use a hell of a lot of petroleum products and they're hurting. Apparently enough to set aside their obsession with anal sex and partial-birth abortion for the moment.