Bush Attempt to Rally GOP Fizzles

[Barrett808]

Source: US News & World Report

Bush Attempt to Rally GOP Fizzles
By Silla Brush
Mon Jul 16, 11:08 AM ET

The Bush administration's weeklong attempt to rally Republican allies on Capitol Hill to stick by the president's Iraq policy has fallen short.

The president dispatched national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to talk to wayward Republicans. And he personally took a strong stance in press conferences this past week.

But still the ranks of Republican dissenters seem only to grow with the passing weeks. On Friday afternoon, after the Senate paused in its Iraq debate, two of the upper chamber's elder statesmen, Republican Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana and John Warner of Virginia, unveiled legislation requiring Bush to draw up a plan by mid-October that would significantly narrow the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq.

"I continue to counsel the president and his administration to move now to construct a more sustainable policy in Iraq that reduces our troop commitments and transitions away from the mission of interposing ourselves between sectarian factions," Lugar said in a prepared speech set for the Senate floor. "I believe there is strong evidence that the Iraqi government and political system will not achieve necessary political accommodations in a short time frame."

A Last-Ditch Plea to a Wavering Party
By David Nather
Mon Jul 16, 7:25 AM ET

Last Tuesday, after hearing Vice President Dick Cheney make his pitch for the Bush administration’s Iraq strategy at a lunch for Senate Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine took a telephone call from another top administration official. It was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking her to wait until September to call for any changes in the strategy.

Collins listened politely, and then did exactly what she had planned to do before the call. She introduced an amendment to the Defense authorization bill that would require the administration to start changing the strategy.

Earlier that day, Rice also phoned Maine’s other senator, Republican Olympia J. Snowe, with the same request: Wait until September. That call didn’t pay off, either. Snowe became a cosponsor of a Democratic measure that would require President Bush to start pulling troops out of Iraq in four months.

But for every Collins and Snowe, there is also a Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who has doubts about the progress of the war but isn’t ready for a head-on confrontation with the president. His idea is to adopt the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, which would make redeployment of troops a goal, but only if numerous other conditions are met first. His proposal probably can’t win a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, though. And for now he is sticking with most of the GOP caucus to defeat other measures that would force Bush’s hand.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20070716/pl_cq_politics/alastditchpleatoawaveringparty

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20070716/ts_usnews/bushattempttorallygopfizzles

[billyoc]

1. Bush couldn't rally his daughters at a keg party. n/t

[Cant trust em]

5. I totally want to party with the Bush twins

My bet is that they give the girls I knew at San Diego State a run for their money.

[billyoc]

9. They'd give the girls at *Chico* State a run for their money.

Ok, Ok, I'm leaving...

[potone]

10. Best summary of Bush's personality ever.

Thanks, you gave me a much needed laugh.

[stressfulreality]

13. yes, and hillary is trash.

i don't understand why ANYONE would want another rich/elite running our country.
Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton? no thanks. i'll be sure to vote for CHANGE.

[maxsolomon]

2. he's past lame duck status; his goose is cooked.

c'mon GOP senators - save the nation. or at least your own souls. :eyes:

[gasperc]

3. or the GOP rattlesnake bit back

[calimary]

4. Ahhh... the uber-competent and highly-effective ms. rice.

Isn't she one of the coauthors of that "How to Win Friends and Influence People"? Or maybe it's that other one: "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People."

:rofl:

Remember, this is the same little lady who won the tug of war with rummy a few years back to capture the job of "Coordinator of Post-War Iraq." Kick-ass job she's done there, too, 'eh? I'm surprised they didn't give her "Coordinator of Post-Katrina New Orleans," too.

:eyes:

One of the many lessons we take away from this wretched six-and-a-half year gap is: if you want to make sure something gets screwed up, put contradicta on it.

[Cant trust em]

6. I admire political courage

but the idea has to be good in the first place. The absence of a good plan leaves us with stubbornness and stupidity.

[War Pigs]

7. too much KoolAid can give you a tummy ache

[Vincardog]

8. I have said it before and will say it again. Put the facts on the table and force them to go on

record as standing up with the people or laying down with the rePIGS.

[Doctor_J]

11. Who are the other GOP lame ducks?

Have Coleman, Sununu, and Gordon Smith weighed in yet? How about Voinovich (not quite as vulnerable)?

[KansDem]

12. To quote the Freeway Blogger...

"Who would have thought that a lifetime failure would make a lousy president?"

[gratuitous]

14. Just you libruls wait!

Boy, George is gonna turn this around and then, boy, you're going to be laughing out the other side of your traitorous mouths then, boy! David Broder, Dean Of The Washington Pundit Class, has Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed that Dubya is poised for a political comeback, and when that happens, it's gonna be ha ha! all over you libruls!

[yardwork]

15. Yep, and Billy Kristol sez that things is goin great in Eye-raq.

So stop saying that.

[deutsey]

16. I guess all that "political capital" you had is spent, huh, Bushie? n/t

[EVDebs]

17. "Wait 'til September" and then "Wait 'til April" and then "Wait 'til August" and then....

[Binka]

18. Wait-Gate Has Gotten Pretty Wearying

Kick the MotherFucker to the curb and strike a match.