Lindsey Graham (R-SC): If we talk about war mistakes, we're going to lose

[Human Torch]

Last week, both the House and Senate rejected a timetable for pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq. It came after a ferociously partisan debate engineered by GOP leaders to put lawmakers on record about the war in a congressional election year.

After three years of war, approval of Bush's handling of Iraq has dipped to 33 percent, a new low, and his overall job approval rating was 35 percent in a new AP-Ipsos poll. The war has brought a U.S. death toll of 2,500 and a price tag of $320 billion.

Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), D-Del., said he believes the American people are frustrated by the Bush administration's failure to articulate a clear strategy for winning in Iraq. Benchmarks and timetables for a withdrawal are needed to gauge progress and limit U.S. casualties, he said. "If I had known the president was going to be this incompetent in his administration, I would not have given him the authority" to go to war, said Biden, the top Democrat on the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record), R-S.C., said Americans should be a bit more patient, citing progress including the recent death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after a U.S. airstrike in Iraq. "We do need to do a better job," said Graham, who appeared with Biden on CBS' "Face the Nation." "We are having progress in Iraq. Zarqawi's death is a sea change. If we're going to go on these shows every Sunday and talk about every mistake ever made in a war, we're going to lose this war."



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060619/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq

[Oceansaway]

1. hes a goofy looking idiot

if i've ever seen one !

[bigscott]

3. how many

"sea changes" can we have in ONE war and still be in the postion we are in now? Lindsey is an asshole

[Fridays Child]

6. Is he related to this guy?

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. I think yeez all is missing the point.

The point is, he's showing you the Republican's Achille's Heel. WAR MISTAKES.

Now, maybe it's just me, but when your opponent turns his own gun on himself and invites you to pull the trigger, well, damn. Don't waste time taunting him by telling him how funny he looks.

[Fridays Child]

16. I study faces...

...so it's a natural tangent for me. As for his political idiocy, I'll let my more witty DU colleagues tear him apart.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. Maybe I'm just jealous.

I suck all at names and faces. I suspect I have a touch of vaccine-induced autism. I use to have a brilliant memory as a child and could remember smells, colors and minute detail, but, no more. I couldn't even identify my neighbor's adult son to an undercover cop a couple of weeks ago.

[Fridays Child]

20. Interesting about your detailed sense memory, as a child.

That may fit in with a diagnosis of mild autism, as well. On a related note, have you ever read The Man Who Tasted Shapes, by Richard Cytowic? Good book.

[gratuitous]

18. "Some people" say in more than one way

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

[adigal]

2. Zarqawi's death is a sea change???

So why have more Iraqis been killed since then?? And someone forgot to tell the kidnappers of American troops about the "sea change."

This is the Republican plan - do NOT talk about our failure, and maybe Americans won't notice. Graham is evil.

[liberal N proud]

4. How do they twist this shit around like that

Common sense would say "If we don't talk about our mistakes we will repeat them"

Dumb Fuck

[itzamirakul]

26. To convince most Americans to resist talking about the flaws

that the government has shown in running this made-up war, means that there would be no protests, no print or radio or tv discussions of same and a sort of silence regarding the war in general that Rovians could bring on us so that later, when history begins to dissect their actions they will be able to say..."Obviously most Americans supported the war because there was no protest, no questions, no discussion."

[Yoda Yada]

5. Oh, really, Lindsey,....

and whose rule is that?.....The Republicans' rule?

OK,then.....lets lump ALL the administrations mistake(s) together.....and talk about them.

Is any Democrat going to say, "OK....let's NOT talk about the mistakes."?

(Beat the Republicans to the punch and say, "It is unpatriotic NOT to discuss the issues.")

[kayice]

10. Perhaps they would prefer to talk about vote fixing, child abuse,

and Mel Sembler. :cry: :grr:

[AValdoux]

8. Maybe the "mistakes"

are the reason we are "losing the war". Maybe the occupation of Iraq is a mistake. What is "the war" anyway? Is it to rid the world of people who wish us harm? Good luck with that one. So it is now unpatriotic to debate issues in Congress now.


AValdoux

[Jacobin]

9. We've already lost

We lost before we went in.

Its nation building folly at is worst.

It couldn't have been 'done correctly'

Iraqis will never tolerate a puppet government. It will never ever happen.

These RWers are dumber than bricks.

[EricWhitaker]

11. The American People

Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), D-Del., said he believes the American people are frustrated.........

Does he know the American People (%60+) are even more frustrated by the continued weak response of the Democratic leadership allowing multiple opportunities to pass them by while continually getting outmaneuvered on every issue.

I'm constantly hearing these Dems lately talk about "THE AMERICAN PEOPLE" which is a page out of the Repub straw-man playbook.

Well the AMERICAN PEOPLE are tired of the lame @ss dem responses. I speak, for the AMERICAN PEOPLE :).

[karynnj]

13. In fairness, we control exactly NO branch of government

and the media is mostly in the Republicans' pocket. Wwhat REAL opportunities have the Democrats had?

What bothers me is the reason he gives on the IWR - not that there was no real justification but that he now (3 years in) realises that Bush is incompetent.

[jwirr]

15. You are not speaking for me.

[unhappycamper]

21. Hey EricWhitaker!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Bandit]

12. In the first place it is an occupation not a war.

:shrug: When does the War Profiteering stop?

[Cosmocat]

19. Jesus ...

I have been saying that for two years now, and people still look at me with glazy eyes ... They have SO been able to muddle this "war on terror" with Iraq ...

[jwirr]

14. No, Lindsey, when there are enough mistakes that you are

talking about them, you have already lost.

[Joey Liberal]

22. Graham can't admit that he's Gay

I wonder why Gay republicans like Graham hate Gay people so much?

[McCamy Taylor]

23. He's an effeminate heterosexual. The south has zillions of them.

If he were gay, he would have a buzz cut and be in the military, chomping a cigar, trying his best to hide it. Among the right wing in the south, only straights dare to act so sissy.

[maxsolomon]

24. how can we 'lose' when WE NEVER DECLARED WAR?

there is no 'war on terror'. we're not at war, we're 'at war' just because we're (they're) calling it that.

we never declared war on afganistan & the taliban
we never declared war on iraq
we never declared war on the stateless network Al Queda
we never declared war on terror, as you cannot declare war on a noun.

[PaDem]

25. Let me guess..........

Biden didn't challenge Graham's "sea change" comment, did he? Another softball goes by.

[TheFarseer]

27. You can't make a problem go away by not talking about it

During WWII, we were losing many tons of shipping to German submarines. They were making a serious dent in our war effort. I'm glad the neo-cons weren't in power back then. The guy who suggested the convoy system that neutralized the submarines would have been buried under "why do you hate America?" "We can't cut and run" "We've got to stay the course" "If we talk about the sub attacks, we're going to lose" Christ Almighty, if something is not working, you've got to look into doing something else. For instance, doesn't it seem like we could do something to cut down on roadside bombings?