Tim Russert worried about Bush, but "Dems don't have an alternative plan"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Bush must candidly address public on Iraq
War has GOP incumbents facing ouster in marginal districts

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5961048/

Tim Russert: There’s anxiety everywhere – in the White House and on Capitol Hill and across the country - with 60% of Americans now believing things are going badly in Iraq and a majority now believing it’s not worth the price being paid.

President Bush is going to have to address the country in a very sober way to try to reassure the nation why the U.S. is there and what’s at stake.

On the other hand, members of congress running in 2006, just 16 months from now, are getting very, very nervous.

Democrats had a meeting Wednesday where they were given the latest polls and they were cheering, because they think some of the swing marginal districts show the Democrats beating Republicans simply by saying, “Get rid of those guys” – not because they have any alternative plan, it’s just “throw the incumbents out.”

[cthrumatrix]

1. RW spin -- have Dean come on -- he'll talk sense for the whole show

[swag]

2. Some Democrats had an "alternative plan."

It looked something like this:

[globalvillage]

41. .

[gordianot]

3. How would this work?

Declare victory "Mission Accomplished" and get the hell out.

[Mythsaje]

4. What they should be worrying about

is whether "get rid of those guys" will be good enough to win the election.

That's the way the wind is blowing these days, at least.

[Eloriel]

34. No, whether "get rid of those guys" is enough to win via Diebold

and other computerized voting machines which do not include a VVPB -- Voter Verified Paper Ballot.

[Wickerman]

no plan is better than a bad plan

is what most folks would say.

Of course, that isn't the case. Dems have a plan, have always had a plan; it just isn't as sexy and as well-recieved by our silly ass media as the pro-business, anti-family, anti-freedom Rethuglican agenda.

[wtmusic]

16. xactly

although I don't know how one could describe the gutting of SS as "sexy"

[Wickerman]

19. lol

true enough, but you know Grover Norquist pops a woody at the mention.
:scared:

[liberal N proud]

5. Why should the Democrats have an alternative plan

They didn't start this fucked up mess.
Every time they don't have an answer for their whoring ways they say but the Democrats don't have a plan.

I don't see these morons proposing anything but pandering to the regime so they just need to shut the F-UP

:wtf:

[Booster]

36. Thank you. My sentiments exactly. It never ceases to amaze me

that when the Republicans screw up, the Dems don't have a plan to clean it up - what a crock of shit. They have all the power and somehow it's our fault because we can't fix it.

[gratuitous]

6. Gee Timmy

Maybe if you had a couple of Democrats on your Sunday morning snorefest, you could find out if the Democrats actually have a plan. Have you read the party platform, for example?

Instead, every edition of Press the Meat features a minimum of two administration mouthpieces aided and abetted by the host, to overwhelm an ineffectual and outnumbered minor Democrat.

How about an hour with Dennis Kucinich, Tim?

[Beetwasher]

7. What A Big Fat Idiot. Alternative Plan for WHAT???

For Iraq? You big fucking whore, why don't you ask what the REPUBLICAN plan is? Only the DEMS need to have a plan???

[gordianot]

8. Good point! Is there a Republican plan?

If there is a Republican plan that is news.

[Imagevision]

35. Plan? Bush wanted to secure the oil flow in Iraq (Regime change)

Install US. bases (as we usually do) install a puppet government and eliminate/kill anyone who gets in the way of his plan. (Bush,"you're either with us or against us")

Remember Pearl Harbor? Remember 9-11 Remember DSM!!

[barbaraann]

9. Here's our plan for you, Timmy.

Resign from your propaganda job, issue a press release detailing how you became a media whore, admit personal responsibility and remorse, move close to a military base and spend the rest of your life helping returning Iraq veterans and the families of the fallen. Pray every day that you can make some modicum of restitution for the evil you have enabled and don't ever, ever, ever attempt to practice "journalism" for one second for the rest of your life.

Oh, and take your vacations in Fallujah.

[CrispyQ]

23. I love it when a plan comes together. -- "Hannibal" Smith

Great plan!

:applause: :woohoo:

[barbaraann]

26. hehehe

n/t

[babylonsister]

10. Dems have no plan? Why don't you tune in to

Conyers' forum and see what the Dems think, you moron? Perhaps we shouldn't even be in Iraq, you moron? :mad:

[berni_mccoy]

11. Who was the alternative to Hitler?!?!?!

Dumbass.

[Sparkly]

12. They ALWAYS say that!!!

That line is so old it's ready for retirement, Timmy. All it says is, "I'm such a lazy idiot I don't bother to read or listen to Democrats' proposals or figure out what they support and what they don't support."

The statement says a lot about the people making it.

[Ganja Ninja]

13. Here's the plan Tim.

Send the whole Bush cabal to Gitmo along with their media enablers.

[sellitman]

14. I second that!

:applause:

[Atman]

15. "Throw the incumbents out" isn't such a bad idea, btw!

I can count on my fingers the number of incumbents I think deserve to stay.

[AX10]

17. No! Democrats do have an alternative plan.

It's you Russert and GDNBC who won't pay attention to us because you are corporate owned.

:grr:

[meegbear]

18. ... just “throw the incumbents out"

was the repug rallying cry in '94 and they seemed to do quite well with it.

[Ravy]

20. Reminds me of the Simpson's episode when Homer bought the horse.

"Marge, first you didn't want me to get the horse. NOW you want me to get rid of it! MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!!!"

I am sure that is not the exact quote. However, it is exactly what the Repubs are now accusing the Democrats of:

Democrats (by in large) thought the US had no business in the war and viewed it as unwinnable.

Repubs went in over the Democrat objections.

Repubs failed miserably as the Democrats predicted.

Republicans accuse the same Democrats (who were right in the first place) for now not having a winning strategy for the unwinnable war.

How can you exit a war honorably when it is dishonorable for you to be there in the first place?

[samsingh]

21. here's an alternative plan

get rid of bush so he doesn't start anymore illegal wars based on lying about the intelligence and lying to the American people.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

39. Well, Tim does have some advice for his buddy, gwb

So, when the president addresses the nations, it has to be candid, it has to be something that is not in conflict with what people are hearing when their clock radios go off in the morning with the latest reports on Iraq and it conflicts with what they’re hearing from the White House.

If that’s the case, guess what? They’re going to become very suspicious and very skeptical. That’s why the president has to lay it out very clearly, openly and honestly what is going on, on the ground in Iraq.

:rofl:

ROFLMAO

from one propagandist to another...MKJ

[leesa]

22. Yes, we do Timmy, but you don't like it. I hope this guy is tried for

treason as well.

[zydeco]

24. Why formulate a plan at this time?

Until the cheney/bush gang has left office it would be stupid because we don't know what further destruction they will generate. Anyone with the ability to read knows it is going to get worse. With a rubber stamp congress, a powerless press, and a disinterested public this group of thugs aren't even worried about the DSM, At This Time. When the dust settles and the damage assessed then the attempt to restore America can begin.

[karynnj]

25. During the election Kerry, not Bush articulated a plan

On Meet the Press in January he summarized what he thought needed to be done. In the context of running for President, it made sense to ask him what he would do - and he answered with a pretty coherent plan. The press then bought the RW point that Kerry's plan was theirs (wrong on 2 counts: They had no intention of doing what Kerry said and they hadn't said what their plan was.)

Now, as the Democrats are out of power and the next election is far away, no one person speaks for the Democrats and I don't think there is a consensus among our leaders. What's interesting is that Russet is not blaming Bush for Bush's failure, but the Democrats. He should be demanding to know what Bush's goals are and what his plan is to achieve them and he should have been doing this since 2002. Our press was AWOL on this.

It may well be that Bush's goals are not acceptable and Russet (along with his counterparts) is quilty for not pushing Bush to articulate his goals and plans before the election - instead spending his time needling Kerry over minuetae.

[Enraged_Ape]

27. The alternative plan, Timmy, was not to go in the first place!

I think these "alternative planners" were pretty much in agreement on this:



Is Tim Russert REALLY as dumb as he seems?

[July]

28. Tim, firing incompetents IS a plan. Tool. nt.

[brooklynite]

29. Let's be honest; the Dems don't (yet)

I've been to gatherings with both Rahm Emanuel (DCCC) and Charles Schumer (DSCC), and in both cases this point has been raised. They've promised (to differing degrees) to come up with something, but I haven't seen anything yet.

Lets be honest - as much as we castigate the Republicans, their campaign message is short and sweet and we all know what it is. They won the Congress in 1994 on the that basis. Our message for 2006 must be equally succinct.

[Hippo_Tron]

42. But short and sweet doesn't work when applied

You're absolutely right, short and sweet is very good for getting votes because people don't want to have to understand anything complex. The problem is that there's nothing short and sweet about foreign policy, it is INCREDIBLY complicated.

The first few Episodes of season 4 of the West Wing are about President Bartlet running for re-election against Republican Bush clone, Rob Ritchie. Rob Ritchie is a master of "10 word answers" as they like to put it. The reason that he is creeping up on Bartlet in the polls is that people think Bartlet is an eliteist, whereas Ritchie is "normal folk" because he can answer things with simple catch phrases. What Bartlet and his staff have to figure out how to do, is make people realize that they don't want the shallow moron who will offer them 10 word answers, they want the guy who will actually use his intellect to solve foreign policy problems, even if the answer isn't always so simple. Of course, somewhere in Aaron Sorkin's made up political strategy, Bartlet (a liberal from New Hampshire) manages to get re-elected in a landslide winning extremely red states like Nebraska and the Dakotas.

We need to find a way to explain to the American people that foreign policy isn't short and sweet, it's incredibly complicated. There are no simple solutions to some of the most difficult problems in the world. We need a President who actually understands this and also a President isn't so ideologically driven, that he won't be willing to listen to other ideas. Bush is a catch phrase. We don't need a catch phrase, we need a leader.

[DemocracyInaction]

30. Note to Fat Fuck: That's EXACTLY the tactic that the Repubs used

in 1994 midterm elections and gained control. They just did the simple minded rally cry of "throw the bums out". It worked because the American people's mind runs at the simple level AND they have been trafficing on that simplicity ever since. Tiny Tim is worried, and he should be, that another simple minded campaign (damn talking about the hard stuff) will dump those who have brought "dumb" to an art form out of their seats.

[RandomKoolzip]

31. And this guy is the HOST of his own show on NBC?

A show that claims to be objective and hard-hitting to both sides?

Blow me, Russert.

[DuaneBidoux]

32. They don't have a plan that is explainable to the reptilian brain.

That's always been the left's problem: one has to actually think about issues and debate, and compromise and see nuance. This doesn't do real well in the days of soundbites and fear driven politics. We need to learn to talk the talk and use those soundbites, and in this sense Russert is correct.

However, let me say that "throw those guys out" is a hell of a good starting point.

[cally]

33. The problem is that * went to war with no plan!!!

Now you are asking Dems to figure out how to fix *'s mess. You can't be that stupid.

[amandabeech]

37. Shades of 1974?

After the Nixon impeachment, there was a general and severe disgust with the Repulicans. In the next Congressional election, 1974, the voters simply threw the bums out.

Between Iraq and gas prices, the voters may be in the same mood in 2006. And many of the seniors may have figured out what a bad deal that Medicare drug plan was. They vote early and would vote often if they could, even in mid-term elections.

[bklyncowgirl]

38. When you're the minority party throw the bums out sounds good. nt

[Vinca]

40. I'm sick of this crap about Democrats and "no plan."

We can plan and plot and come up with the greatest ideas on the planet, but we'll never be heard. Best to let the Republicans take things all the way to hell, have them voted out of majority, THEN bring forth the plans. (Plan #1 - Impeachment.)

[CityDem]

43. We just need to get the message out

We have a plan, but its hard to break through the echo chamber of the main stream media. Durbin is trying, but how many other dem senators are speaking out?

[napi21]

44. I agree the Dems need their own plan, but it's a little early to show

their hand. I've always thought about that when the Pugs kept screaming aobut Kerry not having a plan during the 2004 campaign. If I had a plan that I was convinced would work, why would I hand it to the opposition so they can steal it?

Not that I'm trying to compliment Nixon, but that's exactly what he did when he discussed the Vietnam war. I have a plan but I won't unveil it until after I'm elected!