comment #1

actionman says ...

I met the Young Turks a few years ago while I was working at an agency; nice, cool people.

comment #2

mizerock says ...

A majority of the public was for the Iraq War when the current candidates placed votes allowing it to go forward. So the Senators were accurately representing their constituents at the time. The majority of voters have different views now, and this is reflected in the positions taken by at least the Democrat candidates.

When a person receives new data and changes their behavior accordingly, it's called rationality. When a politician does it, it's easy to label them as "flip-floppers". That's obviously unfair, but that's irrelevant.

And what does a voter do if they were against the Iraq War from the beginning? They can hold a grudge against a candidate, or against all candidates, or they can side with the one that they think will best be able to represent their beliefs in the future.

Or they can drop out of the process entirely.

What else can one do?

comment #3

George Prager says ...

Why does America hate America so much?

comment #4

Edward says ...

Remember this: "America, love it or leave it.

comment #5

Edward says ...

Remember this: "America, love it or leave it.

or

Hell no. We won't go!

comment #6

Walter Sobchak says ...

Keep in mind the broadness of these polls. It's like when they show that Bush's approval rating is at 30%. What that means is exactly that. 70% of americans don't approve of the job he's doing as president. Yet people like certain posters on this site read that poll as "70% of americans HATE Bush's guts as much as I do and want to see him and that bastard Cheney locked up in a dungeon and tortured!!!"
And it doesn't matter if people think that it was a bad idea to begin with when they supported it in the first place. Works great if you have a time machine, otherwise...

Funny because liberals don't like Hillary because she voted for the war. I don't like her because instead of voting against the war in the first place, or standing by her vote now, she sees the polls and says, essentially, "I was just kidding".

comment #7

MAGGA says ...

"Why does America hate America so much?"

Right. If you love your country you will stand by any decision the ruling classes (yes, there are still classes) make no matter what they do. They dictate what kind of love you can have, they define the terms of expressing that love and if you do not applaud catastrophic, icompetent policies you hate the ground you are standing on. It seems that Americans have forgotten that in a democracy the gouvernment is nothing more than a group of employees and that the majority of the population are supposed to be their bosses. If an employee always makes mistakes, has no idea how to do the tasks assigned to them and are actively sabotaging the company they work for, they need to be replaced with someone who fulfills their positions rather than only earning a paycheck. The warmongers have failed in everything they are supposed to do for their supposed bosses, and hopefully people will take action this year. Or not, I do not have to live there, so no skin off my nose except on a basic sympathy level for Americans and the international victims of these lunatics. And voting for the war was a sign of incompetence. The Bushies keep saying "no-one could have predicted" this that and the other, but despite the propaganda, hundreds of thousands of us demonstrated against the war not because we hated Americans, but because it was obvious that pictures of buildings and trucks were not evidence, and that Iraq was composed of factions who were likely to go to war aginst each other. A vote for the war is a sign of either lack of judgement or cowardice.

comment #8

K. Bowen says ...

Thinking the Iraq War was a mistake and Wanting to withdraw in the face of an enemy are two different things.

comment #9

christian says ...

What MAGGA said.

And boy, lotsa drama in Washington as the Bush cronies again show their contempt for the constitution, bu thistime they're not getting away with it:

Today, thanks in great part to your advocacy and persistence, the House of Representatives took a major, tangible step towards holding the Bush Administration accountable.

In a vote on the House floor, we acted to enforce the law and our Constitution, and hold former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in Contempt of Congress.

Bolten and Miers have ignored congressional subpoenas for nine months and thumbed their noses at Congress and the American people.

Executive privilege has never permitted officials to avoid appearing altogether when subpoenaed. This behavior is unprecedented and outrageous.

Now, these two renegade officials must face up to their blatant disregard of the law and constitution.

Our message of accountability for Bush/Cheney is finally resonating on Capitol Hill.

Judiciary Chairman John Conyers fought hard to bring this to a vote, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi herself took the floor to support contempt.

While Democrats may not all agree on how to press this Administration, this is clear:

Today, Congress has asserted its rights under the Constitution.

We must not back down.

We must never cede the rights of the Congress to the Executive.

I am pleased to inform you that today's legislation allows Congress to bypass the Attorney General (who has stated to me this week that he would not enforce contempt) and immediately take action in the courts. (Click here to see me confront the Attorney General on contempt last week.)

This effort has been a success because of your hard work. I hear you loud and clear, and I will continue our movement to hold Bush and Cheney accountable.

Yours truly,

Congressman Robert Wexler

https://www.wexlerforcongress.com/multimedia.asp?ItemID=234

comment #10

christian says ...

And for the love of Jesus, when are we going to start enforcing serious gun control? America is in love with its mall and university shootings.

But we get silence from the right, who think this is just a li'l byproduct of our freedoms; and quivering from the left, who are scared to death to challenge the insanity of the NRA.

comment #11

UnChien says ...

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it" - Mark Twain

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin

comment #12

SpinDozer says ...

'Thinking the Iraq War was a mistake and Wanting to withdraw in the face of an enemy are two different things.'

Obviously. And just as obviously, majorities think the war was a mistake and we should withdraw.

comment #13

Dave says ...

Nice echo chamber you have here.

Ask anyone if going to war was a mistake, and many would say yes now.

Ask them what to do about it *now that we're there*, and you'll get a percentage that says we're doing the right thing.

The leftovers who say we're doing the wrong thing? A big chunk of them will say we should get out. That other chunk?

They'll say we're not doing *enough* in Iraq.

But guess what? The poll will still say, "70% of the American people are dissatisfied with the war in Iraq."

Hell, I'm dissatisfied with the war in Iraq. But that's just because we haven't finished it yet. Not because I can't wait to abandon the country to the wolves.

Hate George W. Bush? Fine. Trouble is, he ain't runnin' in 2008, so you'll just have to simmer alone at home with your copy of Catcher in the Rye.

The rest of America lives *now*, and has to figure out where to go from here.

comment #14

moviemaniac2002 says ...

Republicans worship Ronald Reagan like a
sacred deity. I wish they had long enough memories to recall how Reagan dealt with HIS
designated arch-nemesis Khaddaffi - which was to
to simply bomb the hell out of him, then go
home. Even Reagan, never the brightest bulb in
the box, wasn't stupid enough to try to invade and occupy a middle east country, thinking that a thin coat of democracy would erase a thousand years of perpetual bloodshed.

comment #15

christian says ...

Of course, Khaddaffi is our pal now.
Because you can't ever negotiate with terrorists.
Or sumthin'.