He was right. So what?

[question everything]

A long essay on the home page about... the war in Iraq, again.

Yes, many died and are still dying. Many severely wounded. The image of our country internationally is in the toilet.

But... in 11 months we will have yet another chance to capture the house and by then the war will be a non-issue. Watch for all the reports about how excited families of service men and women are that they will not have to return to Iraq next month.

Rove knows that he needs to remove the war from the equation. Rumsfeld, too.

So while we will still be fighting the last war, literally, we will be losing the real war at home.

We need to concentrate on the fight at home. The deficit - which will "improve" once we are out of Iraq and we will be subjected to impressive graphics.

Thousands are still losing jobs, moving to lower paying ones with no "benefits." Millions still have no health insurance, schools are slipping but, hey, we have the "no child left behind." Thousands more lose their promised pensions.

Seventy nine percent of our economy is service driven.

Even the Republicans won't be able to wrap themselves in the flag for the next elections. Let us concentrate on what really matters to most voters. Something that occupy their minds daily, that they discuss with family and friends. And it has to be the economy. Otherwise we will find ourselves, again, talking of high idealism while the Republicans will run with the prise talking about other topics that occupy the voters' mind - faith and family values.

[Erika]

1. My nephew Marine in on his 2nd tour in Iraq

That issue will take dominance. The GOP has blown their family value ideals as they vote for tax cuts for the rich and cuts for the American needy.

It's nice to see our Marines building new schools for Iraqis while our own are crumbling. Not.

So it's OK to direct our taxes to foreign governments while denying our own? Smacks of payoffs to W's corporatists friends.

[WCGreen]

2. All they have to do is point out the deficit in 2000....

And then the deficit in 2006...

And point to the cuts in Student Loans, Medicaid, the decimation of the National Gaurd...

Develop a culture of incompetence.... Built on greed and coruption....

[AndyTiedye]

6. It Was a Surplus in 2000

[WCGreen]

8. I meant debt..... Not deficit....

Sorry...

[guidod]

3. I agree with you for the most part but,

The republican party won't be able to duck and hide after all that's happened under their watch. The deficit, DeLay, Libby, Frist, Schiavo, Rove, Blame, Rumsfeld, torture, the lies that got so many killed in a senseless war, the very obvious thrashing of the Constitution, Social Security and on and on and on. Not all but many of these charges will stick and will stick very tightly to the entire republican party.

I think Murtha and the dems came out at just the right time when they started talking about getting out of Iraq. The polls are very strong when they take the pulse of this country about how we feel towards starting this war that took us so deep into war. I honestly think that most voters have had enough and certainly want a change. We are all tired of being afraid.

I agree with you that we have to start concentrating and talking about all the things we so easily put on the back burner.

[question everything]

4. Thank you. And this was in Newsweek

Politics: Plans (and Hopes) for the SOU

Newsweek

Dec. 19, 2005 issue - The White House is crafting a State of the Union agenda to help it relaunch after a dismal 2005. The focus: a domestic package to shore up GOP support in next year's elections, says a senior adviser who declined to be identified because the discussions are ongoing. Bush will stress fiscal discipline, while his senior staff have warned congressional leaders privately to reform their own pork-barrel spending.

Bush will also promote health-care savings accounts and portable pensions as part of a vision for moving employees away from lifetime reliance on a single big employer. He is also likely to open a broader debate about entitlements such as Medicare, questioning whether the country can afford the growing burden of the baby boomers' retirement. The good news for Team Bush is the upbeat mood of guru Karl Rove. After months of fretting about a possible indictment in the CIA-leak investigation, Rove is energized by the challenge of elections. "Karl is in his laboratory," said one close friend, granted anonymity when discussing a private conversation. "He's already got more ideas about next year than you can imagine."

—Richard Wolffe

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10414542/site/newsweek/

[guidod]

9. Thanks for the article.

I agree that the republicans are miles in front of us because they have control of everything. If they start rehashing all of their failures, social security, medicare and the war they will be doomed to fail. It will be very tough for them to speak of fiscal discipline after the way they've acted over the last five years. They may shore up their 40%, but I truely believe the people of this country are tired of the direction we're going. If they decide to go in the opposite direction the hypocrisy would take them down further

With all my heart I believe the Rove era of thievery is dead. They may get a bounce in the polls for a while but I don't think it would last until the end of the year.

A lot of liberals argue about the democratic leadership but I refuse to be a pessimist. I'm not afraid of the republican robots and our learders are not as well. I look beyond the media for the truth and the word fatalist doesn't stand with me.

[dusmcj]

5. what should matter to voters is Constitutional use of power

and this administration has failed that test, miserably. Since the venues in which it has failed that test are domestic security and foreign military activity, those are the venues in which we must do battle with, and defeat them. They are losers, we need to demonstrate this to the electorate, and the only way to do that is in the arenas where they have been losers most significantly.

[No Exit]

7. THE DAMN WAR IS AN ISSUE TILL EVERY SINGLE SOLDIER IS HOME!

Every single one--OUT of fucking Iraq!!!!

If the repukes think this draw-down of 20,000 troops is gonna cut it, they've got another think coming. And if they think that just taking the soldiers and moving them from Iraq to another illegal invasion--this time, of Iran--they've got another think coming.

[guidod]

10. This war will

always be a terrible issue for them. We liberals must keep reminding them of this.

[question everything]

11. Can you take a few steps back and pretend that you are, say,

a day laborer in, say Alabama, who does not know any service man or woman in Iraq, does not know any guard, does not know any families with members affected by the war? Or, alternatively - you support your president and the troops no matter what?

Yes, for us, thinking liberals, starting and continuing the war is as close to a war crime as one can get. But for most voters, who are not personally affected, or ar blindly loyal it is more of an abstract thing. And once we stop hearing stories day after day about one more American was killed; five more Americans were killed - especially when the Rove machine starts talking about "faith" and "family values" we will lose.

Because most people do not care about things that do not touch them personally. In fact, this is what separates liberals from today's Republicans: thinking about what affects one directly, and thinking of the common good. The sad reality is, with the shift from a manufacturing and farming society to a service one, too many are thinking only about themselves and their close circles of family and friends.

"Faith" and "family values" can speak to many in red states. And if our only counter attack is the war in Iraq and even larger issues of the deficit, we will lose.

Simple as that.