The politics of attack and deception

[NJmaverick]

I think it's a pretty good slogan and describes what the GOP is doing. Berefet on any ideas and morally bankrupt, they seek to prevent real debate and discussion in this Country with their favored tactics of ATTACK and DECEPTION. Excellent examples from just the last two days.


Rudy Guiliani-

Rudy Giuliani said today that “if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001. But if a Republican is elected, he said, especially if it is him, terrorist attacks can be anticipated and stopped.”

Dick Cheney-

"What's most troubling about Senator Reid's comments yesterday is his defeatism. Indeed, last week he said the war is already lost. And the timetable legislation that he is now pursuing would guarantee defeat."

"Maybe it's a political calculation," Cheney continued. "Some Democratic leaders seem to believe that blind opposition to the new strategy in Iraq is good politics. Senator Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring his party more seats in the next election. It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage. Leaders should make decisions based on the security interest of our country, not on the interest of their political party."

Tom Delay-

Tom DeLay, who tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are "getting very, very close to treason" with their opposition to the war in Iraq.

"For the majority leader of the United States Senate, in the time of war, with soldiers dying on the ground, announcing that we have lost the war, is very close to treasonous," DeLay said. "I looked it up while we were driving over here, what the definition of 'treason' is."


The NY POST-

Here's the headline and lede of the original AP story (there were many versions of it throughout the day looking basically like this):

Democrats Challenge Bush on Iraq Bill
By DAVID ESPO - A historic veto showdown assured, Democratic leaders agreed Monday on legislation that requires the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later.

'No more will Congress turn a blind eye to the Bush administration's incompetence and dishonesty,' Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a speech in which he accused the president of living in a state of denial about events in Iraq more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion.

Bush, confident of enough votes to sustain his veto, was unambiguous in his response. 'I will strongly reject an artificial timetable (for) withdrawal and/or Washington politicians trying to tell those who wear the uniform how to do their job,' he told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with his top Iraq commander, Gen. David Petraeus.

Taken together, the day's events marked the quickening of a confrontation that has been building since Democrats took control of Congress in January and promised to change policy in a war has claimed the lives of more than 3,200 U.S. troops.

The New York Post, however, "edited" the story and ran a version beginning like this in their pages:

'WHITE FLAG' HARRY FUROR
WHITE HOUSE: PULLOUT PLAN A DEATH SENTENCE

By DAVID ESPO, AP

April 24, 2007 -- WASHINGTON - The White House warned yesterday that Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid's new legislation requiring the first U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1 is a "death sentence" for millions of freedom-loving Iraqis.

The stinging comments from President Bush's spokeswoman came just days after Reid declared the war is already "lost" and as negotiators for the House and Senate nailed down the details of the war bill, which also set a goal of completing the pullout by April 2008.

Dana Perino, the president's spokeswoman, charged that Reid is in denial about the vicious nature of the enemy and about the U.S.-led plan to provide more security in Iraq.

Reid (Nev.) had earlier accused Bush of being in a "state of denial" about what's happening in Iraq four years after America went to war.

Perino fumed about Reid, "He's also in denial that a surrender date - he thinks it is a good idea. It is not a good idea. It is defeat.

"It is a death sentence for the millions of Iraqis who voted for a constitution, who voted for a government, who voted for a free and democratic society," she added.