Nov 15 2006
The “New Direction” takes some interesting turns
NOTE: Sorry I have been lax this week, I am working hard on setting up on a new blog project, NW Bloggers.
I had a feeling that as the year progressed we would see that the Democrat’s election day massacre would go in some strange directions.
Some were predictable. The want to ditch John Bolton, they want to drawdown the troops in 6 months and Barbara Boxer wants hearings on global warming.
Yawn.
The leadership roles have been somewhat strange though. First the RNC dropped Ken Melhman and replaced him with Mel Martiniez. Michael Steele had early on been considered a contender, which was rather pleasing sounding, but the choice of Mel has gotten at best an "UGH" reaction from most conservatives.
Then Rumsfeld resigned. This was a surprise but not a huge one, and what I was more surprised at was the timing. Rumors suggested that Bush and Rumsfeld held off on this to keep it from influencing the election. Some however counter that said influence might have had a positive impact on some of the closer elections races. What was also strange was the wails of despair in some comments and the gloating in others.
Do you really think one man was so integral to the war and the policies that his departure will drive the while thing to hell? I don’t.
Rummy served at the President’s pleasure to support the President’s policies. The idiots in the Pentagon developed the strategies. Now…firing the JCOS might have impressed me. I think we do need some radically new strategy and tactics in Iraq. This is not a conventional war in any sense, and while things there are not the quagmire that the dems love to point to, they could benefit from a new perspective.
This is called adjusting tactics, not cut and run. If the democrats actually had a plan, they would know this.
The democrats made some surprises. Murtha for House Majority leader. OK, not a huge shock, but the reaction to his "Done deal" election (ala Pelosi) is. He has gathered a lot of opposition, in part from the counter claim to the position from Rep Hoyer who has the backing of the newly empowered moderates. I told you they would be a force to be reckoned with. Rumor also speaks that they and the GOP could wreck Pelosi’s speaker run, but I do not see it as a realistic possibility.
The Senate Leadership was also predictable, as Durbin and Reid took top honors. What has not been so nice is the rumored disgruntlement of John Kerry, who I am sure sees himself as the king of the world, but is not King of the Senate.
Another surprise is also one that comes late for the republicans, but is still something they will consider an early Christmas, and that is Jack Abramhoff’s claim to be able to provide detailed testimony on 6-8 dirty democrats, rumored to include Harry Reid (hey didn’t we just mention him?) He also claims he can finger Karl Rove, making this a Christmas on both sides of the aisle. That possibility coupled with Murtha’s Abscam corruption video, Rep Jefferson’s icebox bank account, Alcee Hastings Corruption Impeachment and a few other goodies is giving the Republicans more then enough ammo to keep the corruption cries echoing a bit longer where the Democrat leadership is concerned.
Here in Washington, the news that Netroots darling Darcy Burner was unable to lie and demagogue her way past Dave Reichert was another disappointment, along the lines of Lamont’s failure to oust Lieberman.
Republicans had best take note though, Darcy came very close to succeeding with no qualifications, no agenda and no new ideas simply by riding on the disaffection of the Iraq war and George Bush.
And Lieberman…he is now the luckiest and likely the most powerful man in DC. Strange turn of events indeed. Rumor has him inching closer to a defection to the republicans.
The New Direction is one that promises to be a road filled with bumps, turns twists and even a few dead ends, but never a dull moment.
Rather then feeling depressed as some conservatives did after the election, I feel invigorated.
I haven’t looked forward to being a blogger more since I started.
6 Responses to “The “New Direction” takes some interesting turns”
In the interest of being fair and balanced I should mention the Dems weren’t the first to utter the word quagmire. Following the first Gulf war Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney, said, "I think it is vitally important for a President to know when to use military force. I think it is also very important for him to know when not to commit U.S. military force. And it’s my view that the President (Bush Senior) got it right both times, that it would have been a mistake for us to get bogged down in the quagmire inside Iraq. See - http://web.archive.org/web/20041130090045/http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/pubs/soref/cheney.htm
The fact that Darcy Burner came so close to beating Dave Reichert should be alarming. The 8th district is starting to lean further and further to the left. Even though it was depressing to watch nearly everything I voted for go down in flames that one election was still a slightly bright spot, because it indicates that there are still some conservative voters out here.
Dave Reichert wasn’t that great a candidate in my mind. He’s a bit too wishy-washy for me. At times during the campaign it seemed as if he was pandering to the left in several of his positions. After the election he still came off as more of a centrist than I’m happy with. He was still the best alternative to Darcy Burner we had. She’s so far left that Nascar uses her as a focal point when training new drivers to turn left.
I wouldn’t count on Joe Lieberman defecting to the Republicans. He’s more likely to hold the threat of it over the Democratic leadership as a counter to their tendency to cut and run in the war on terror. That’s probably the best we can hope for. Other than on issues of national security he’s still a liberal at his core. He’ll continue to caucus with the Democrats until they prove that they can’t move anything forward.
The Democrats are going to try to counter him pretty quickly if they can. I’m sure that right now they’re working on some poor "moderate" Republican in an effort to get another "Jumping Jim". If they succeed, they’ll marginalize Joe Lieberman.
We certainly live in interesting times. It is going to be fun to blog with things the way they are, but I’d still much prefer some real conservative leadership in Washington… Both Washingtons.
Hmmm… You’re rambling…
Rambles…
I think you’re wrong about Rummy. What I read says he was very much in control - probably too much. Sometimes in history it has mattered greatly; remember your study of the Stalingrad campain - I assume you have made such a study. There was a point after Rostov fell and Stalingrad was under assault where the generals on the scene begged to be allowed to pull back to the Don, but Hitler and the rest of the leadership refused. Then the Russians attacked the north flank and the Romanian and Italian troops on the front collapsed. Even then the 6th army could have retreated and probably gotten out - they were only cut off by a few miles. Instead Paulus followed orders and "retreated" into the city.
A 600,000 man army was destroyed because of that bad decision.
The problem is the administration did in fact have a plan and it didn’t work. They needed a plan "B" - probably they couldn’t find a pharmacy… Since then, it’s been a steadily deteriorating situation.
At this point, I’m inclined to suggest going back to something akin to the situation in the ’90’s is the best. Only this time we aren’t trying to keep anyone in, we’re trying to keep them out. Really lean on the neighbors - if we aren’t tied down babysitting, we might have the muscle to pull it off.
But we will need some GOOD bases, and anywhere they are placed they will draw retaliation.
Global warming… I have an idea how GWB can save his legacy: He needs to become the nuclear President. We need nuclear power NOW. But he better practice saying "nuclear."
Abramoff : That has legs and I’m sure they are bi-partisan - I always have been. Abramoff is a Repub and always bought Repub with his own money, always saved the best goodies for the GOP. But he was happy to lobby anyone for anyone, and I’m sure some of his people bought Dems…
But at the risk of sounding like an apologist, I have a serious question: What if we find that the "corruption" is endemic, not because everyone is blatantly on the take but because it is simply impossible to operate any other way? What if, at least in appearance, it is impossible to be clean?
How does that work, anyway? People want stuff from their government. Companies want contracts, PAC’s want action. Anyone who exercises their first amendment right to petition the government is therefore a lobbyist, whether they represent themselves alone or a group. So how is a campaign contribution different than a gift? Isn’t the most fundamental difference intent? I don’t write checks to people whose policies I don’t agree with…
Of course, I don’t write million dollar checks, or pay off second parties as a thank you… I suppose you can argue a legal contribution doesn’t buy much these days.
Really to know you have to be able to read minds in all but the most blatant cases.
Keeping in mind that if the government didn’t control the allocation of 20% of our 12 trillion dollar economy, there would be less to lobby for, it seems to me that the only thing that can be much changed is the contract awarding system. But if the awarders aren’t allowed to have close knowledge of the contractors, how can they award? That’s what salesmen do: They form customer relationships.
I suppose we can get a Vanna clone out there to spin the wheel of bid… And the winner is… Karl!
We need those jets next week… Can you make it?!?
You have great perspective. I’ve been guest blogging at Baldilocks for over a week. I’ll definitely add you to my favorites to read every day.
>And Lieberman…he is now the luckiest and likely the most powerful man in DC. Strange turn of >events indeed. Rumor has him inching closer to a defection to the republicans.
Although, I think Pat Buchanon was right last night when he said that will only work a few times before it risks becoming a danger for him.
You shouldn’t do this.