NYT: Daschle Defends Iraq Remarks ("MTP" debate)

[DeepModem Mom]

SOUTH DAKOTA
Daschle Defends Iraq Remarks
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

Published: September 20, 2004


WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 - In a fiery debate on national television, the Republican challenger to Tom Daschle, the Senate minority leader, accused Mr. Daschle of emboldening America's enemies by criticizing President Bush on the eve of war in Iraq. Mr. Daschle promptly condemned the remark.

"His words embolden the enemy,'' the Republican, former Representative John Thune, said of Mr. Daschle, referring to the South Dakota senator's statement in 2003 that he was saddened that Mr. Bush had "failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war.''

Mr. Daschle responded angrily to Mr. Thune, his voice growing low and seeming to break with emotion. "John's attacks on me, where I come from, would earn a trip to the woodshed,'' he said, adding that he took Mr. Thune's remark personally and regarded it as an assault on the values he had learned from his parents.

"Those values are as important to me as my arm,'' Mr. Daschle said, noting that he, and not Mr. Thune, had served in the military. "There's only one veteran running here.''

Their Senate race is perhaps the most contentious and closely watched in the country, in part because it is rare for a Senate party leader to face such a tough challenge at home. Sunday's exchange occurred on the NBC program "Meet the Press," where Mr. Daschle and Mr. Thune, who are running even in polls, sparred for an hour on issues like Iraq, the president's judicial nominees and energy policy....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/20/politics/20dakota.html

[JI7]

1. "There's only one veteran running here.'' GO DASCHLE

i don't care what anyone on du says. i love daschle and want him to win. and he is right on with the veteran remark. he should use it just as kerry and any other democratic veteran should when chickenhawks attack them on defense.

[Cocoa]

2. Daschle might have won the election with that emotional response

Thune looked stunned.

[JI7]

3. i didn't see it

but i liked it just reading it.

[shockingelk]

10. I think he destroyed Thune on content ...

The stuff about working for SC instead of being a rubber stamp for Bush was perfect. The gas tax thing made Thune look like a fool ... also drought relief.

But Daschle interrupted him too much and I think the response to "embolden the enemy" could have been more succinct.

It is monday morning, an easy time to QB.

[rhino47]

4. I watched MTP and Daschle just mopped the floor with thune

You cant really get the emotion from the article.

[buycitgo]

5. is their a thread on it in the other forums...GD or GD 2004?

couldn't find any in the first five pages of either

thx

[Algorem]

8. There was this one yesterday-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x840066 transcript: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6030941/

[dbt]

6. Memo to Daschle: bu$h didn't even TRY diplomacy.

He just ran around the country, pissing down both legs, telling everyone who would listen that we had to invade Iraq before they used WMD on us. The nuke-you-ler drones were gonna be over Florida any minute now!

Diplomacy was not even attempted by the Regime. It just wanted to let the Moron get his war on!

:argh:
dbt

[BootinUp]

7. trip to the woodshed?

What for a paddling? lol.

[Disturbed]

9. Dachel should not ...

be re-selected as House Minority leader. He is consistently weak regarding Dem positions.

[kodi]

11. they do that instead of duels in SD

.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. LOL!

[bogey18]

13. I wish someone would just punch one of these Repub droids

right in the mouth the next time they say "embolden the enemy" or "provide aid and comfort". This is straight out of their "how to smear your opponent" primer and it boils down to anyone who disagrees with them is a traitor. There used to be this thing called disagreement in American politics. People used to have positions, take stands, debate issues and compromise on solutions.

For anyone who has missed it, those values vanished over the last 12 years. And gentlemen like Daschle keep getting surprised when one of these thugs breaks off a piece of this shit and flings it at them. We are running way behind the curve here in Democratville - we are not trying to just win elections anymore, we are in a pitched battle to restore democracy in America, because the tactics these guys use are not politics, they are the tactics of fascists. And they have shifted all of the arguments so far to the right that the question is no longer whether or not we will abuse the most vulnerable members of our society - it is just a question of how much we are going to fuck them over. Holy crap, these guys control everything - the judiciary, the legislature, the presidency, the military and most of the media!

[DeepModem Mom]

14. You said it ALL in one brief post, bogey18 -- (nt)