Iraq: the Democrats don’t have a plan or a clue

What does it meant to “lead”?  According to dictionary.com, to “lead” means “to go before or with to show the way; conduct or escort: to lead a group on a cross-country hike.” 

Based on this criterion, the websites of prominent Democrats display a stark lack of leadership on Iraq.  A review of the websites of these Democrat “leaders” shows that they have no plan for dealing with the current occupation of Iraq. 

I’ll cut to the chase.  It seems as though we are headed for a repeat performance of the November 2004 election, where the plan of Democrats was to attack Bush as incompetent.  That strategy will work even less in 2006 than 2004, because Bush is a lame duck, already thinking about packing his cowboy boots to retire to Crawford.  Who cares about your concerns about a guy who is already on the way out?

The Democrats have certainly had lots of time to develop a plan on Iraq. After all, the war has been going as long as WWII, as indicated by this article from the Chicago Tribune:  

The United States has been fighting in Iraq since March 19, 2003, when President Bush launched Operation Iraqi Freedom with air strikes against Baghdad. Monday marks the 1,245th day of the Iraqi conflict. By that reckoning, Americans troops will have fought in Iraq for as long as they fought Germany in World War II.

But back to the failure of prominent Democrats to develop any plan.  A “plan”…

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Newsweek explores recent books denying existence of God.

It’s in the September 11, 2006 issue of Newsweek.   The article explores the issues presented by the following three books:

  • The End of Faith, by Sam Harris
  • Breaking the Spell, by Daniel Dennett and
  • The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins.

It is a good sign that Newsweek is acknowledging some of the basic points raised by these books.  For example, Newsweek has this to say about the position of Harris on skepicism:

“Tell a devout Christian … that frozen yogurt can make a man invisible,” Harris writes, “and he is likely to require as much evidence as anyone else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it. Tell him that the book he keeps by his bed was written by an invisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept its every incredible claim about the universe, and he seems to require no evidence whatsoever.”

The Newsweek article presents the view of Dawkins regarding the basis for morality, as presented by many Christians:

“If there is no God, why be good?” he asks rhetorically, and responds: “Do you really mean the only reason you try to be good is to gain God’s approval and reward? That’s not morality, that’s just sucking up.”

Harris sharply questions the moral “lessons” of the Bible: 

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Turning boon into boondoggle.

The Republican Party may have its share of PR problems, but common knowledge and polling data agree that the party still holds the upper hand on the issues of terrorism and national security. Polls also suggest that national security has a place close to the average American’s heart, especially after recent close-calls on national airlines.

But, as with so many other matters of partisan policy, the Republicans don’t really have any advantage over their political adversaries at all. Again, the Democrats seem to desperately struggle not with positions, but with effective marketing.

Take for example the 9/11 Commission’s report card, issued back in December of 2005. The report card reviewed the Bush Administration’s response to the bipartisan Commission’s list of well-researched recommendations, and it gave fairly dismal scores. I think the report card bears repeating, even some eight months later:

GR2005120600039

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The Media misses another big one: the ABA condemns Bush’s bill-signing duplicity.

The mainstream media missed another big story recently: The President has been screwing around with our Constitution and the nation's largest association of lawyers has called him on it.  On August 8, 2006, American Bar Association, a national association of 410,000 lawyers, condemned President Bush's widespread practice of writing exceptions to…

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