WP, Milbank: It's Time to Cut and Run From 'Cut and Run'

[DeepModem Mom]

It's Time to Cut and Run From 'Cut and Run'
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, June 21, 2006; Page A02

....Not quite six minutes after the Senate chaplain prayed yesterday for God to use senators "as agents of your grace," Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) started the sloganeering. "If we break our promise and cut and run, as some would have us do, the implications could be catastrophic," he said. In case anybody missed that, he also said "we can't cut and run" twice on CBS News and issued a follow-up press release titled: "FRIST DENOUNCES DEMOCRATS' PLAN TO CUT AND RUN."

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) added: "If we cut and run in Iraq, what we will have done is prove what Osama bin Laden said."

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), an expert windsurfer, had heard quite enough of this nautical term. "Cut and run, cut and run, cut and run, cut and run -- that's their phrase," he told Don Imus. "My plan is not cut and run. Their plan is lie and die."..."John Kerry calls it 'lie and die,'" (Fox News) anchor Bill Hemmer told Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)...."I think the sound-bite war is not going to be an effective way to fight the war," the sensible senator said.

But Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman had a different view. "There's a debate going on within the Democratic Party," he said on CNN. "Some are saying we need to cut and run, others are saying we need to cut and jog, and still others are saying we need to cut and walk."...(Senator Jack Reed, D., R.I.) suggested that Democrats come up with a taunt of their own for Republicans: "I guess their position is 'we're there forever.'"

Before nightfall, Democrats had drafted a new press release. Title: "Bush Republicans Plan to be in Iraq Forever."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/20/AR2006062001343.html

[msongs]

1. mehlman is a coward too bad dems do not call him on it - */cheney/rummie

as well, chickenhawks all murdering the sons and daughters of american and iraq in their phony war based on deliberate lies.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier.
- Rudyard Kipling

[wordpix2]

2. even Norah O'Donnell was asking Mehlman why all the chickenhawks never

served this country but are gung-ho for war (Hardball Tues night). Mehlman did not answer. :eyes:

Best I've ever seen Norah O. :bounce:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. The only response is "humina-humina-humina--what's that over there?"

[MallRat]

3. Memo to all Democrats: USE THIS LANGUAGE!!!

Before nightfall, Democrats had drafted a new press release. Title: "Bush Republicans Plan to be in Iraq Forever."

Could we please, PLEASE, PLEASE try to disseminate this talking point? PLEASE?

I want to turn on the TV, the radio, read magazines and newspapers, and see DOZENS OF PROMINENT DEMOCRATS SAY, "BUSH REPUBLICANS PLAN TO BE IN IRAQ FOREVER."

THAT'S how you get a message out.

[npincus]

4. Agreed. Love it: "B*SH Republicans Plan to bein Iraq Forever"

puts the bastards on the Defense, where they usually have us.

[WyLoochka]

6. I prefer "Lie and Die"

The Dems always use too many words. John Kerry had it right and it should have immediately been taken up by every single Dem - the GOP is for the

"Lie and Die Plan"

It is much more memorable, more potent and cuts deeper into the GOP than Reed's "Bush Republicans plan to be in Iraq forever." Although this is good also. It's just not as spot on for repetition repitition repitition.

[Toots]

5. "Break our Promise" ...to whom did we promise anything Exxon?

:shrug:

[ladjf]

7. or, until the oil is depleted.

[Hubert Flottz]

8. John F. Kennedy once said

"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Dick Cheney once said:

"Go F??K Yourself!"

[grasswire]

9. Milbank, snarky as ever

Note the reference to Kerry's windsurfing, and how he calls Graham the "sensible" Senator.

Ya can't take the Skull and Bones out of Milbank, ever.

[NYCGirl]

10. Milbank was in Skull & Bones? He's not listed in its membership:

http://www.wealth4freedom.com/truth/3/skullroster.htm

[grasswire]

19. that's a damn odd page you cite...

...because the same organization's other page at http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/bones.htm includes Milbank in the list. And if you google dana milbank skull bones, you'll find numerous references to his membership.

[NYCGirl]

20. I just googled it. So why would a scion of the rich and powerful be just

a reporter, and not a celebrated one, at that? Judging by other famous bonesmen, he could own a newspaper.

[NYCGirl]

21. Here's an interesting passage from a Democracy Now episode:

JUAN GONZALEZ: You mentioned that -- or the caller mentioned there were many journalists who were members of Skull and Bones. It would be interesting to perhaps keep track of the journalists who are, and how they're covering the current presidential race and analyze their coverage of both Kerry and Bush.

ALEXANDRA ROBBINS: There are a slew who are members of Skull and Bones, and some of them are biased. Some of them are not. Dana Milbank of the "Washington Post" is certainly not a biased journalist. He doesn't hold allegiance to his Skull and Bones connections, which is nice. There are others who follow their profession more than the society, but you will get people in Skull and Bones who favor Skull and Bones. That's the point of the group.

http://democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/23/0445212

[grasswire]

22. I disagree with the notion that Milbank is not biased

He is happy to show his disdain for Democrats at every opportunity. He's jaded and lazy, IMO.

[wordpix2]

13. I caught that, too---what's with the windsurfing reference, Milbank?

It's pretty f**cking good that Kerry can windsurf at his age so why doesn't Milbank just cut the crap out and stick to the issues?

Just remember, he has pix enjoying himself at the WH Xmas party. Several of them. When asked, he said he was a contributor to *.

[catmandu57]

11. I like Pelosi's

cut and run is a slogan not a solution. Where's the solution? Just how long do we plan on being in Iraq? If we did what we went for why o why are we still there?

[Norquist Nemesis]

14. I like "Cut the Crap!" followed by

""Bush Republicans Plan to be in Iraq Forever" :thumbsup:

[TahitiNut]

15. "Bush Republicans Plan to be in Iraq Forever"

This is actually an inescapable conclusion based on the rhetoric of Frist, et. al.

Let's first note that an American "President" not only failed to inform the Iraqi Head of State that he was arriving but showed absolutely no obligation whatsoever to obtain diplomatic permission to enter the sovereign territory of Iraq - less respect than he would afford a state or territory of the US! It is inconceivable that any head-of-state in the world would feel free to visit the sovereign territory of another nation not only without permission but without notice!

Even during the Viet Nam war, the government of the Republic of Viet Nam was "in the loop" and all diplomatic/political visits were cleared through them.

The complete and total disregard for the political sovereignty of Iraq is there for all to see. It is just as evident in the 'arguments' posed by the Fascist Right Wing in the Senate. We decide. It's up to us, not them. But it doesn't stop there. We can never leave because anyone opposing our presence would be 'served' by our departure - and there will never be a reasonably foreseeable time when such opposition does not exist! Never!

Thus, the very 'rationale' for opposing any withdrawal is a never-ending opposition in Iraq. Frist and Co. might as well be saying we'll never leave as long as anyone wants us to leave! (But we'll stay when nobody wants us to leave, too!)

Catch-22.

We won't leave if there's opposition to our occupation of Iraq.
We won't leave if there's NO OPPOSITION to our occupation of Iraq.

Get it?

How fucking stupid does someone have to be not to get it?

[bdamomma]

16. I am sick of their one liners

I am sick of them. It is time that we get our shit together and get them out of office.

[dogday]

17. I don't like Mr. Milbank, and I don't trust Mr. Milbank.... nt

[Blue_In_AK]

18. My personal gripe

is that they keep calling this a "war." What it more correctly should be termed is an "occupation." Instead of cutting and running, what the Democrats should be advocating is discontinuing an occupation of a country we had no business being in in the first place.