Feeling the heat? (Josh Marshall is getting excited)

[Elidor]

"President Bush and his administration spent 18 months trying to convince the American people that there was a tie between Saddam Hussein and al Qaida and even to the 9/11 attacks. There wasn't. There was never any evidence for that. But they knew the charge would be effective. And, for them, that was more than enough.

"They can't wash out the taint of that cynicism and infamy no matter how much they try and no matter how loud they yell.

"As I said above, many Democrats ran scared in the face of this once-popular president's onslaught and said many things they probably now wish they hadn't. Let's catalog those statements and let them answer for their cowardice and wobbliness. But the president was president -- a fact of accountability he never seems to grasp. He drove the train. He and his advisors cynically worked to convince the public that Saddam was tied to 9/11 -- an explosive claim in the aftermath of the 9/11 horror. That's something they knew wasn't true and which none of the president's critics, to be the best of my knowledge, ever agreed with or argued for. President Bush and his administration are on the line for that.

"Now they want to go back and try to wriggle out from under the past we all remember. So to use his words, bring it on. The facts indict him. And his White House's ferocious desperation in response shows they know it.

"Let them dig through the transcripts. And if there's collateral damage among today's accusers, so be it. Let the facts get hashed out and the chips fall. There's only one side of this argument running scared from the truth. We know what happened. We were there. We all remember."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007005.php

[IChing]

1. nominated a worthy read

we can hope, i just don't want to get to "perky" only when the media comes aboard
do we have a chance of it. Josh has known the truth for a while and is one of my reads.

reference is to the word perky
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1924266&mesg_id=1924818

[Elidor]

2. This is the strongest condemnation of the administration he's yet written

Marshall is pretty cautious for my taste. When he gets this frank, it carries some real weight.

[IChing]

3. He had promised that the plame scandal would bring down the

administration way before the election,
he had facts that have been proven accurate.
Air America Radio recognizes him as a great blogger

[belpejic]

10. josh needs to come clean

I read him every day, and have the utmost respect for him, but read the following:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2003_03_30.php#000097

Josh was duped as well. He should come clean.

[HardWorkingDem]

4. Let's face the truth....

if our most popular, powerful and election safe Democrats had done their job, it might not have taken two to three years to reach this point.

We had election safe politicians, yes, remember that word, politicians, who went along with Bush and his mad run to war when they could have been out there fighting against this nutjob. (And we can't use Joementum because I think he has other motivations when it comes to the war in Iraq.)

I sit back and look back at all of this, and not to appear arrogant or know it all, but knew the war in Iraq was a sham before it even started and when I think about this I wonder, "Where were all of our Democratic leaders in this?!!?". They were too busy protecting their day jobs instead of taking care of the American people. And this is one problem of the Dem party - the image of our politicians being more concerned with themselves rather than the people. (Though don't get me wrong - I believe the Rethugs have successfully cast themselves as more caring when they certainly are not).

One last thing. Another thing that baffles me is did so many average people KNOW before hand this war was wrong, while our politicians blew it? All one had to do was read the right sources and watch the right journalists and agencies and it was clear the war in Iraq wasn't over what it was said to be.

[Jacobin]

5. I take solace in the fact that over one hundred congresscritters

did vote AGAINST the IWR.

[PurityOfEssence]

8. I'm glad you said that; it truly bears repeating.

Carl Levin was one of only two Senators standing for re-election who voted against the resolution; the other one was the conveniently offed Paul Wellstone.

Almost half of the Democratic Senators voted against this crap, and one Republican did too. About two thirds of the Democratic Representatives voted against it, as did seven Republicans. Our leaders didn't just completely roll over, and it needs to be repeated: they're not all craven weasels.

Lest we forget, too, the final Senate vote was on October 13th of an election year. That's just ugly.

[Toots]

6. Millions upon millions of average people throughout the world knew before

hand invading Iraq was wrong. They protested throughout the world in the largest mass protests ever held and yet Democratic Leaders hunkered down and let the GOP call the shots and even joined in with them in the charge to war. Marshall is right in that there is lot of answering to be done from those on our side. Edwards is off to a good start in apologizing and saying he made a mistake. The others must do so as well or we should see if it would be possible to find a Primary candidate attuned more to Democratic Principles.

[donkeyotay]

7. "Relax, Celebrate Victory" This brush cuts both ways

Bush wants to pretend that he did what he did because some Democrats supported him. Let's not forget the right wing drum beat for war and the contempt they held for the marginalized, unpatriotic anti-war movement. Here's RICHARD PERLE, one of many who have quietly slunk away, taken from USA Today, May 2, 2003, entitled

"Relax, Celebrate Victory"

This was a war worth fighting. It ended quickly with few civilian casualties and with little damage to Iraq's cities, towns or infrastructure. It ended without the Arab world rising up against us, as the war's critics feared, without the quagmire they predicted, without the heavy losses in house-to-house fighting they warned us to expect. It was conducted with immense skill and selfless courage by men and women who will remain until Iraqis are safe, and who will return home as heroes....

Iraqis are freer today and we are safer. Relax and enjoy it.

http://www.benadorassociates.com/article/801

[Jacobin]

9. Oh, my. Don't you know he wishes he could take that back

Choke on it, Perle!!!!!