Bush Will Call McCain's Bluff: One Last Push

By Big Tent Democrat, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 11:45:21 AM EST
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That is my prediction - Bush will increase troop levels in Iraq. This story buttresses my belief:

As President Bush weighs new policy options for Iraq, strong support has coalesced in the Pentagon behind a military plan to "double down" in the country with a substantial buildup in American troops, an increase in industrial aid and a major combat offensive against Muqtada Sadr, the radical Shiite leader impeding development of the Iraqi government. The Joint Chiefs of Staff will present their assessment and recommendations to Bush at the Pentagon today. Military officials, including some advising the chiefs, have argued that an intensified effort may be the only way to get the counterinsurgency strategy right and provide a chance for victory. The approach overlaps somewhat a course promoted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz). But the Pentagon proposals add several features, including the confrontation with Sadr, a possible renewed offensive in the Sunni stronghold of Al Anbar province, a large Iraqi jobs program and a proposal for a long-term increase in the size of the military. Such an option would appear to satisfy Bush's demand for a strategy focused on victory rather than disengagement. . .

The Bush/McCain/Lieberman Iraq Debacle. Sad.

< Sad and Correct | RIP: Peter Boyle >

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Bush Will Call McCain's Bluff: One Last Push | 27 comments (27 topical)

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Does anyone remember Nixon's (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by Mreddieb on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 11:55:51 AM EST

One last chance? I remember the final result of the invasion of Cambodia. Will we end up with an Iraqi version of the "Killing fields"? You can bet on it.
Ego! is a deadly thing and our miscommander has a very very bad case of Ego fever.

When the chips are down... (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by desertswine on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 12:32:48 PM EST

"I think it is worth trying," a defense official said. "But you can't have the rhetoric without the resources. This is a double down" -- the gambling term for upping a bet.

And what could be more thrilling for the bloodthirsty than gambling with other people's lives?

I am all for bush continuing to... (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by Bill Arnett on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 12:41:46 PM EST

...bring ruin, disrepute, and inflicting much more damage on the GOP "brand name".

In a few short months, after the first of the year, bush will complete the destruction of the republican brand for generations to come as the people of America have stopped buying bush's BS.

Now, as with SocSec, the more bush talks the less people believe him and that will always accrue to the democrats benefit.

Anyone with half a brain can see that bush is going to "stay the course" and will probably adopt McCain's position of a final push with more troops needlessly sent to their deaths.

That will complete the finishing off of McCain's reputation and eliminate him as a viable contender, something bush has desired to do since the 2000 election. I don't think the neocons EVER had it in their game plan to allow McCain become president, but let's not disabuse him of the fantasy that he (McCain) will become president in '08.

Mornin', everybody.

Good day, Bill (none / 0) (#6)
by aw on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 12:54:46 PM EST

United for Peace and Justice has a list of local peace vigils taking place all over the country. I hate to just watch helplessly as more soldiers are sacrificed for Bush's ego and manhood. It's time to get back on the march again and spread the contagion for peace now.


Mornin' Bill. (none / 0) (#7)
by Edger on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 12:56:25 PM EST

I get the feeling you don't much rethugs? ;-)


Mornin' aw and edger, but edger... (none / 0) (#8)
by Bill Arnett on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 01:07:40 PM EST

...was there supposed to be a blank for me to fill out when you ask:

I get the feeling you don't much _____ rethugs?;-)

If there was supposed to be a blank there I could go on filling it in for days if I could manage to hold down the bile the rethugs tend to bring out in me!


Heh. (none / 0) (#9)
by Edger on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 01:16:35 PM EST

Just a typo, Bill. But I like your idea better so can I pretend it was supposed to be a blank?? ;-)


Now I gotta spend weeks on an answer! (none / 0) (#10)
by Bill Arnett on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 01:31:24 PM EST

Actually (none / 0) (#12)
by aw on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 01:38:22 PM EST

I can read your mind. Oh, my!


: Thanx. This time of year I need all the... (none / 0) (#13)
by Bill Arnett on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 01:52:27 PM EST

...laughs I can get!

Bill... (none / 0) (#17)
by Edger on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 02:34:08 PM EST

C'mon man. You can't think that stuff in public, ok? You'll make the rethugs cry.


Isn't 'One Last Push'... (4.00 / 1) (#2)
by TomStewart on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 12:02:42 PM EST

Something one does when they are already winning, or at least close to it? Sorry, but we are not winning, and are not close to it. This just gives Bush yet another holding pattern, an excuse to make no real change until he's out of office, and the repubs can start blaming a Democratic president for the whole mess. Besides Bill Clinton, that is.

: This is a republican debacle, purely... (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by Bill Arnett on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 12:48:31 PM EST

...a republican debacle, and every sentient being living in America KNOWS that this was is a GOP disaster.
Republicans wanted this war, they got what they asked for, they couldn't handle it when they did get their way, and they have no viable plan to do anything but to make a bad situation into a cataclysmic-ally worse situation.
Rethug prez, rethug House, rethug Senate. THEY OWN IT.
It's a beautiful thing.

: Beltway Pundits != Real Human Beings (5.00 / 2) (#16)
by scarshapedstar on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 02:14:29 PM EST

Look, it's been hard for me to realize this, given my blog addiction and the accompanying obsession with countering every RNC talking point that comes down the pike. But I do talk frequently with my mom, who's a pretty well-known figure in an extremely conservative small southern town. And even there, people are sick to death of this war, and unlike our "liberal media" they aren't afraid to say that Bush started it.
So remember, the next time you see a "debate" on the war on a cable TV show that gives equal weight to a Bush mouthpiece and a reality-based individual, that the time would need to be divided 80%-20% in our favor to reflect actual political reality. And the next time you see a Republican whining that the Democrats should have been responsible friends and taken away the keys, keep in mind that no real American gives a sh*t.
My point is that they can blame all they want, but high school debate tactics don't work anymore. That's worked against us for a long, long time, but payback's a b*tch and they're about to find out that all the sophistry in the world isn't going to magically change this into a Democrat [sic] war.

Tinhorn Despots (4.00 / 1) (#11)
by Sumner on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 01:31:47 PM EST

Voters are combatants. Voters are fair targets on the battlefield. In an age when war is fought by remote control, voters cannot claim impunity for their crimes any more than soldiers can.

America is like what Nazi Germany would have been, had Nazi Germany won the war.

The 5th Estate has now come about, (Corporatism). The Intelligence Communities have combined with Corporatism to become the 5th Estate.

The 6th Estate is said to be when the machines (technologies) seize control. As courts now act as mere automatons, one might question if whether or not we have already arrived at the 6th Estate. If no human being is able to stop the juggernaut, is it not then already here?

John McCain is long known to be a tinhorn demagogue, a bigot opposing pornography in all forms. He cares little about who he destroys as long as he retains power. This plan has been years in the works. The war on sex, nudity and pornography is planned to supplant the worn out wars on drugs and terror. No matter how Draconian it has become, still it never stops.

These bills keep coming and coming down the line.

The state uses terror as its own instrument anyway.

Pretty good stuff... (none / 0) (#18)
by Edger on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 02:43:07 PM EST

...huh, paperbrain?


Heh! (none / 0) (#20)
by Edger on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 02:53:30 PM EST

You really believe, don't you? Between you and Bush what does that calculate to as an approval rate?

About 2:300,000,000? Well, you're getting there! Be sure to drop in again next time you visit this planet, huh?


: Heh! Look paperbrain (none / 0) (#24)
by Edger on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 03:57:25 PM EST

I hate to break this to you... but you need to read thru the Talkleft archives first if you're going to troll.
You are starting where all the other discredited trolls here were finished off a couple of years ago.
No one here other than you and ppj have bitten than rotted bait for so long it's just a faded memory.
Where did they find you, anyway? They just can't get good help like they used to, I guess. ;-)
Now run along.... that's a good boy.

: History (none / 0) (#28)
by aw on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 05:32:39 PM EST

didn't have to wait to judge FDR. The people were with him. His fight was the country's fight.

Our previous president did and look where that got us, attacked multiple times by Al Qaeda.
Bush took the bait and did exactly what al Qaeda wanted.
Now where did I put the shredder...

I have a response! (none / 0) (#32)
by Sailor on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 10:35:59 PM EST

Hello? I don't remember Germany being attacked prior to the war.

Germany started WWII on a made up attack by Poland.

Sheesh, you mimeographheads always forget about Poland!


Huh? (none / 0) (#21)
by Dadler on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 03:09:15 PM EST

You wrote:
We are so close to a victory in Iraq and that is why the MSM is turning up the negative press and trying to convince us that all is lost.
This is nothing short of wild irrationality. This is the same MSM that marched in lockstep with this administration's lies/distortions/plain stupidity right into Iraq? Didn't they embed and show us all that was right and good with our soldiers and their mission? What planet have you been on the last few years? That the MSM is only NOW catching the foul stench of reality, well, better late than never...but they are still damn late. Be a sentient human being, realize that the press, like most Americans, have come to see what a disaster this is and always was destined to be with the incompetent leadership running the death show.

And we are SO close to victory in Iraq? Explain to me how you arrived at this conclusion when not a single credible expert believes anything approaching this fairy tale kind of nonsense? You sound like Wolfowitz BEFORE the war, for heaven's sake. Hello? Earth to paperhead?

If you want to disagree with the position of the ISG, that is fine and dandy, but to do so based on certified insanity is not.

As for Iran and her President Ahmaf*ckinidiot, did you believe East Germany was democratic because it called itself the German Democratic Republic? Of course not. So why do you buy into this guy's rhetoric? Iran is no Nazi Germany, has none of the ability to invade an occupy other nations, tho some of its leaders, like ours, are deluded with thoughts of empire. This Holocaust Denial Conference speaks for itself, don't you think? Which is the entire point. A guy like Iranian President Ahmaf*ckinidiot is easy to lick in the political arena. Are you really afraid we can't be more creative, imaginative, more generous, hopeful, tolerant than he is or what he represents? Guys like that offer the world nothing, and if we can't prevail non-militarily, then that speaks volumes about us. Because Iran is no military threat to our nation. None, nada, zip. Nor is it a real threat to Israel. Why? The same nukes we don't want them to have.

And I still cannot believe you think the press is now colluding to ensure American defeat. The depth of the denial and delusion in that is staggering.


He does this (none / 0) (#22)
by Edger on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 03:32:27 PM EST

once in a while, Dadler. He's just an troll. Inept one too.


Heh.. (none / 0) (#26)
by desertswine on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 04:29:38 PM EST

paperbrain


: He flatters himself... heh. (none / 0) (#27)
by Edger on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 05:31:48 PM EST

101st Keyboard Kommando (none / 0) (#29)
by squeaky on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 05:44:27 PM EST

There were two attacks on Germany prior to the war. The Reichstag was burned down and the radio station at Gliewitz was attacked.

We are so close to a victory in Iraq and that is why the MSM is turning up the negative press and trying to convince us that all is lost.

What are you on crack or something?


Addicted to Fox? (none / 0) (#30)
by squeaky on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 05:48:03 PM EST

Did they not realize that 80% of the IED's are made in Iran.

WTF? Perhaps you better get your shi'a and sunni countries sorted out.

Where do you get your info, FOX?

paperhead (none / 0) (#31)
by cpinva on Wed Dec 13, 2006 at 08:34:48 PM EST

i find you amusing, in that "slightly tetched in the head" brother sort of way.

guys, he doesn't actually believe the nonsense he's spewing, he's just trying to get a rise out of you. and look at all of you, you're giving him exactly what he wants!

too damn funny for words. :)