John Kerry was right about everything! Read this and weep.

[beachmom]

I'm currently reading this WP article written by Bob Woodward. It is absolutely stunning. And after listening to John Kerry speak out against the failed policies in Iraq, and giving us younger folks a history lesson on Vietnam, it just AMAZES me how he spoke with such wisdom.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/30/AR2006093000293_4.html?nav=rss_print/asection&sub=AR

Talk about the WORST advisors:

Kissinger sensed wobbliness everywhere on Iraq, and he increasingly saw the situation through the prism of the Vietnam War. For Kissinger, the overriding lesson of Vietnam is to stick it out.

In his writing, speeches and private comments, Kissinger claimed that the United States had essentially won the war in 1972, only to lose it because of the weakened resolve of the public and Congress.

snip

In a meeting with presidential speechwriter Michael Gerson in early September 2005, Kissinger was more explicit: Bush needed to resist the pressure to withdraw American troops. He repeated his axiom that the only meaningful exit strategy was victory.

Meanwhile, this is what the military thought in 2005:

Vietnam was also on the minds of some old Army buddies of Gen. Abizaid, the Centcom commander. They were worried that Iraq was slowly turning into Vietnam -- either it would wind down prematurely or become a war that was not winnable.

snip

Abizaid held to the position that the war was now about the Iraqis. They had to win it now. The U.S. military had done all it could. It was critical, he argued, that they lower the American troop presence. It was still the face of an occupation, with American forces patrolling, kicking down doors and looking at the Iraqi women, which infuriated the Iraqi men.

"We've got to get the (expletive) out," he said.

Later Abizaid met with Murtha (after Murtha called for a redeployment of troops), and said they weren't far apart at all in their views of Iraq.

Damn, this is huge, and tragic.

[TayTay]

1. Yup, Kerry, Murtha, Feingold and a whole lot of others were right

and for their patriotism in not wanting to sacrifice more American lives for a lost cause, they have been ridiculed, had their patriotism questioned and derided within their own party as trouble-makers.

That's why the brave souls in Congress who keep fighting and who keep telling the truth have to be supported.

This fight today is every bit as important as any the US has ever engaged in in our entire history. History will remember who was on the side of truth and who was not. And history will never forgive those who failed this country in it's hour of need.

[blm]

2. Tay, I hope you make this exact same point in GD.

You say it the way it needs to be said.

[ProSense]

3. There are explosive details in this book, but there is a lot of

bullshit too. From the NY Daily News:

Woodward: '04 win left Prez in tears

BY TINA MOORE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A relieved President Bush burst into tears when he was finally declared the winner over John Kerry after a long nail-biting night.

"The President put down the phone and started to cry, a deep, convulsive cry," Bob Woodward writes in his new book "State of Denial." "As he tried to compose himself he went around and hugged each of the people in the room with him."

Snip...

The campaign was left to anxiously wait for a statement from Kenneth Blackwell, a former black power student leader who had morphed into Ohio's gadfly Republican secretary of state.

"I'm the President of the United States," Bush fumed, "waiting on a secretary of state who is a nut."

Frankly, Bush and the Repubs are in deep shit for a lot of reason, and must be contemplating the Congress changing hands. But the timing of this book is suspect given that Woodward knew this information all along. The book sure seems to give a lot of people cover, trying to give the impression that everyone from Laura Bush to Andrew Card wanted Rumsfeld out, and Bush thinks his election fraud buddy is a "nut." Bullshit!

Bush cried!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Bullshit!

[beachmom]

4. Has Bob Woodward been caught in lies in his books before?

Why do you think Bush crying is a lie? Maybe he did. All the guy gives a s*** about is winning. He obviously doesn't care about governing. For him, his job was done when he was "re-elected". After that, it didn't matter whether he showed up for work or not.

As far as Laura Bush goes, I don't have a clue about her. She is a total enigma, and if this account is true, it sounds like she doesn't have much influence over her husband.

[whometense]

5. I've always been convinced that

Bush genuinely thought he was in danger of losing. And it served the purposes of Rove et al to keep him in the dark. They were probably afraid he might blurt out the truth by accident. And it made the whole stealing-the-election thing appear less likely. Hah.

Okay, :tinfoilhat: off.

[ProSense]

6. Woodward has credibilty issues

because of the entire Plame incident, and the fact that he withheld this information doesn't make him more credible. The idea that Bush broke into a "deep, convulsive cry" after "a long nail-biting night" doesn't wash. Given all that we know about the election and the money laundering by people, from Abramoff to Noe, linked directly to Bush, the Swift Liars aided by Bush's lawyer, the letter Jeb Bush sent to the liars, it's hard to swallow that this was some long hard road he traveled that would evoke such a response. Then there are the images from election night:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/politics/110204-15v.htm

[ray of light]

7. Of course he cried! He was relieved that they successfully cheated

despite the long time he had to wait for it to happen. (snark)

[karynnj]

8. We cried too!