Via the New Editor’s Tom Elia, I’m alerted to the latest verbal boner from DNC Chairman Howard Dean, who unleashed this bizarre articulation of Democratic war strategy (liberally peppered with anti-GOP invective) on Monday’s Hardball (with Norah O’Donnell):
DEAN: I believe that John Murtha, who served two terms in Vietnam and 37 years as a combat veteran marine, knows a great deal about national defense than anybody in the Republican National Committee and in the large majority of people in the White House.
You can’tâ€â€you simply can’t trust the Republicans to defend America anymore. It’s not that they’re not willing to be tough, it’s just that they’re not smart. They’ve gotten us into a situation in Iraq, we had one week of good news, now two of our brave soldiers are kidnapped. You cannot trust people who won’t pay attention to the military and will send our troops abroad without proper equipment. You can’t trust those people to defend America. I submit to you that it is the Republicans that are weak on defense, because they don’t know what they’re doing.
[…]
John Murtha and John Kerry served in Vietnam. Karl Rove did not, George Bush did not, Dick Cheney did not, Don Rumsfeld did not and they wouldn’t listen to the people who did.
Sorry to interject here, but what is it with these people and Vietnam? I mean, I can see why we might listen to the opinions of soldiers who served in Vietnam, but why not, say, soldiers who served in the first Gulf War (which has the advantage of being more recent, and taking place in the very country in which we’re now deployed), or soldiers who served in Grenada, or those who served in the Korean War, or World War II?
I mean, this fascination on the part of national Democrats with Vietnam—this desire to se every international conflict through the cultural moment that defined their political and ideological lives—seems rather unhealthy to me, particularly inasmuch as they tend to romanticize our “defeat” and wish now to confer our nation’s military planning and strategy onto people like John Kerry, who was one of the chief architects of that defeat.
Oh. And Rumsfeld was a Navy aviator and flight instructor, and Bush was part of the TANG. But don’t let the facts stop you, Howard. Because you’re rolling, baby!
The fact is you can’t trust these folks, they didn’t serve abroad defending America. They talk tough, but the fact is that they are sitting in an air-conditioned office on various parts of their anatomy and it is big cheap to talk in Washington or to fly in for a half a day with the troops, but what about sending our troops over there with proper equipment?
What about standing up for what the troops really need, not just talking a good game? You can’t rely on the Republicans to defend America. Today we see North Korea about to set off a missile. North Korea has been doing that for five and a half years while George Bush has been president and the president hasn’t done anything about it and now look at where we are. You’ve got to be tough, but you’ve got to be tough and smart, Norah.
You mean like Jimmy Carter smart and tough, Howard…?
[…] We’re not going to win with this president in command, because this president didn’t understand what was happening when we went in there. He misled the nation about what we were going to find when we did. How about Don Rumsfeld saying their oil revenues were going to pay for all of this. It’s going to cost us a trillion dollars. How about Don Rumsfeld saying that they were going to welcome us with open arms and parades. Give us a break.
This president got us in there without understanding what he was doing, I would be honored to have people who actually served this country in a war leading this country again, to talk to us about what it really takes to fight a war. I don’t think the Republicans understand that.
Just to be clear, this is the leader of the DNC playing the chickenhawk card. Without irony. Though I’m not sure why he’s talking about military matters. Did he serve?
Similarly, he seems to be ignoring the fact that the soldiers fighting in THIS war—not Vietnam, with its conscript army, but THIS war, fought by a volunteer military—overwhelmingly supported President Bush in 2004.
Dean pretends to care for the troops, but what he’s saying, once you peel away all the bluster, is that the troops who supported Bush are as clueless as the President is, and that if we want to win this war, what we need to do is make sure it’s run by Vietnam vets who will make sure we pull out. Or in other words, the only way to win is to lose.
Which makes me wonder: does no one vet this guy before he opens his mouth? Because he sounds remarkably like he’s cribbing his talking points from “Joshua” at the end of WarGames.
And I’m not the only one to whom all this seems a bit curious. Here’s O’Donnell:
O’DONNELL: With all due respect, Chairman Dean, many of these issues were talked about in the 2004 election and so what many voters may be talking about in this election is the way forward. What do we do in Iraq now. Why is it that the Democrats, who just unveiled this new plan last week called the new direction for America make absolutely no mention of Iraq in a plan for Iraq. Doesn’t that just reinforce the idea that Democrats are weak on national security, they can’t come together and put together a plan?
DEAN: No, actually, the unified Democratic plan does call for something to do with Iraq, it calls for a transition now, it calls for a redeployment of our troops so we get them out of harm’s way while we’re still able to respond to the terrorist threat.
Say what now?
You want to remove troops so that they can respond to terror threats? Let me guess—from Okinawa, right? Maybe we can use some of those long range cannons we have that shoot pork spring rolls and naughty Geisha girls…
O’DONNELL: What does a redeployment of troops mean?
DEAN: Well, let me first answer your question. What you were talking about is the House agenda for what they were he going to pass, should they come back in power, which is increasing the minimum wage, balancing the budget, which the Republicans haven’t been able to do. In fact, no Republican has balanced the budget for 40 years.
O’DONNELL: You’re still not dealing with the issue of Iraq. You have three quarters of the House Democrats who say they want some sort of phased withdrawal, if you will, from Iraq. You have multiple resolutions and amendments being put forward in the Senate, even a new one today by Senators Reid and Senators Levin. So with all this talk out there, why is it the Democrats can’t put down on paper exactly what their unified plan is. What are you trying to avoid?
DEAN: Well, first of all, let me remind you that it’s the Republicans that run everything. I think it’s pretty terrific of the Democrats to put down a plan because the Republicans don’t seem to have one of any kind, except a permanent commitment to a failed strategy, which we got into because we weren’t told the truth.
Our plan is this is a transition year, which the Republicans have now adopted, which I think is great, and there’s going to be a redeployment our troops, some to other countries, for example, Afghanistan, some in the region out of Iraq but in the region ready to respond to events in Iraq, some remaining in Iraq for a period of time, in order to train the Iraqis and the guard and reserves coming home. I think that’s a good plan, I think it’s a Democratic plan, and I think it’s far better than the Republicans that have no plan of any kind.
Well, Howard, just because you say “I think” over and over clearly doesn’t make it so.
I mean, I thought Murtha’s remarks the other day showed a profound misunderstanding of the military situation in Iraq—not to mention a rather curious misunderstanding about the administration’s strategy for the GWOT.
But this? This makes Murtha seem positively Churchillian by comparison.
Translation: We don’t need to say what we think should be done. It’s enough for us to complain.
God…
At least he managed to get a period in before contradicting himself, though he couldn’t make it out of the paragraph.
If the Democrats actually made proposals and listened to the criticism, maybe they’re input would be constructive and taken into consideration.
Slapping “pull ‘em out” and “Okinawa” on the table and then sticking your fingers in your ears and screaming “IT’S ALL A FAILURE UNLESS WE LEAVE!!!!” is not taking part in a debate.
Constantly retreating to Vietnam and the chickenhawk slime is not taking part in a debate, either.
When is it going to dawn on the Democrats that their leader is a babbling idiot? And I mean that literally, the dude is a babbling fucking idiot.
Actually, Pablo, I think that was Dean being uncharacteristically honest:
What he’s saying is that the Democrats have no plan, and the Republicans (he says) have adopted that.
Keep talking, Deano…
They continue their circular logic. We will lose if we stay, and if we leave we have won?
It all boils down, again, to the fact that yes, even the right would like to see our soldiers come home as soon as possible. However, the far left and their supporters have been more then happy to do everything they can to prolong the fight by accomplishing the job OBL et.al. had expected them to do.
The irony has always been in this conflict that we would have been done and home sooner had the MSM and Deanlosi just shut the hell up.
Seriously, no one prays for peace more then a soldier.
“the latest verbal boner”
Dean is hard to beat on those.
You know, the really scary thing to think about, aside from his retarded politics, is that this blithering idiot is a doctor.
I read it…I read it twice and I still don’t have a fucking clue what he was trying to say.
Translation….anyone?
Now, there might be something to be said to pulling back to the bases, as Iraqi forces come more and more online, to provide support and be less of a presence on the street. If the Dems were advocating that, I’d maybe think that they were thinking. This, though…Dean really IS insane.
I did just hear Rep. Jane Harman refer to it as a “cut and win” strategy.
Um, he did say that a Democratic Plan would entail training the Iraqis to handle their security situation, didn’t he?
So, I guess we are going to take the Iraqis to Okinawa so they can flush the remaining WWII Japanese hold-outs out of their caves. Then, they can take their vast experience with search-and-destroy in a jungle environment (just like Vietname!), and apply it to the desert, urban environments of Iraq.
Does taking the Democrats’ presuppositions to their logical conclusions actually count as a plan? I think it does.
They have a “plan,” and it sucks harder than a Vietnamese prostitute who just swallowed a bottle of Preperation H.
Now do you believe me when I say the Dems’ plan includes heavy reliance on Sardaukar?
You seem to be saying we should maybe listen to the people who served in wars that we actually WON, right.
Seems sensible. So, naturally, the Democrats would be against that.
From Wikipedia:
Donald Rumsfeld:
The things you can find our on the internet!
Dean was just demonstrating that people like him who didn’t serve their country overseas can’t say anything about foreign or military policy that anyone should listen to. I salute his self-sacrifice.
Now cut that out!
[/Jack Benny]
The nerve of that Bush fellow! I mean, he didn’t even send his Secretary of State to dance with Kim Jong Il!
Dean keeps harping that Bush, Cheney, etal didn’t serve abroad. Did Dean?
“A DOCTOR, mind you!”
Yeah, ma – but also a schlemiel
SB: being
and nothingness
Tang is a prophet!
(’Cause prophets probably talk about themselves in the third person – and Bob Dole too, for that matter.)
What the fuck is the deal with air-conditioning? Is this some type of perjorative? Would Bush et al have more credibility with the Dems if they turned off the AC in the West Wing before they sat down to talk about military matters? Seems like Murtha mentioned something about air-conditioning in his little hissy fit the other day also.
One of the many problems with babbling idiots is that they don’t recognize that other babbling idiots are in fact….babbling idiots.
And let us not forget about Dean’s military experience:
Most impressive.
And would Howard Dean please tell me when the Democrats think we should get out of Bosnia.
And when we should get out of Japan.
And when we should get out of Germany.
Or any of the other 103 countries where we maintain US bases.
I mean, the only reason John “White Flag” Murtha can suggest that we stage operations in Okinawa is that WE ARE STILL FUCKING IN Okinawa for crissakes.
When is our occupation of Okinawa going to end?
The sad fact of the matter is that both John Kerry and Howard Dean know that we are never leaving Iraq, and that we never should. We never leave anywhere we shed blood – except for Vietnam, where THEY served.
And hey are unpatriotic to suggest that we do leave.
They are cowards.
Murtha is the single most knowledgeable and brilliant military mind in the Democratic party today.
And that’s the problem in a nutshell.
Jeff asked (probably rhetorically, but that rarely stops me): Sorry to interject here, but what is it with these people and Vietnam?
They’re trying to relive their glory days. They feel they stopped Viet Nam and they were POWERFUL, man, they were so… REAL, man. It was a happening and it…
Well, you get the idea.
I’ll tell you what the deal is with the repeated references to air conditioning.
The troops don’t have it in the desert.
That’s what that’s all about.
They are trying to drive a wedge between the troops and their commanders by pointing out that the commanders have air conditioning, and thus, cannot possibly care what a grunt on the ground might have to endure.
It’s cynical and unpatriotic of them. They know EXACTLY what they are doing.
Well, at least we know that Howard Dean can speak “Murtha”.
Here’s a partial list of others who should just shut the hell up about Iraq because, according to Howard Dean, they haven’t served their country in a time of war: Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Cindy Sheehan, Edward Kennedy, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Paul Krugman, Andrew Sullivan, Michael Moore, George Clooney, Sean Penn, Maureen Dowd, and Frank Rich.
The Democrat plan for our Iraq: Air Conditioning for our troops! In Okinawa!
Uhh, right#1, the troops in Iraq have air conditioned barracks–for the most part. My nephew was based at Camp Taji, and they slept in air conditioned trailers, as is at permanent base camps. Some FOBs are not as well-provisioned, but there is no wedge to be driven regarding A/C.
Politicians as cynics and idiots, well yes.
I believe you could call this the “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for” strategy of foreign policy.
Of course he’s incoherent and irrational, but he hits all the moonbat emotional triggers and millions of Americans agree with him 100%.
Think about that.
rightnumberone makes a very good point we would do well to keep in mind now and later. A redeployment or pull-out will not mean there will no longer be troops in Iraq. We will always have some military presence in Iraq, like what we have in Japan and Germany. So we had better get used to that idea.
I have no respect for Dean. He’s a first-class idiot. Completely partisan.
It’s sensible to the modern Democratic Party. They don’t care about winning any wars, just beating Bush.
That’s fine – I prefer the US Army relying on Sandworms m’self. I remember helping test them out at…ooops, did I type that out loud?
I would rather not try to interpret Chairman Dean anymore. I have to go take a couple of ibuprofen now.
Oh, and I have to give some credit to Norah O”donnell for trying to resist the winds of illogic from Hurricane Dean and try to push him for at least ONE direct answer.
I think the Republican Party media consultants will get fat and lazy this upcoming election – all their TV footage is pre-made, courtesy of Mr. Murtha and Dr. Dean.
Can you imagine what a difference it would make if all of the USA got behind GWB and the GWOT and said git r done mr. prez? Instead of all this bickering and in-fighting that does nothing but hamper our efforts and create a division that is seen world wide and emboldens our enemies all for the purpose of political positioning.
This war has not been executed perfectly but that’s just the reality of the situation and a reality of war but damn it lets quit this shit and just git r done.
Is this illogical on my part?
Deans a moron
Yup.
This guy did not get where he is because of how his ramblings – read.
Listen, see and feel the passion.
Become the passion.
With all due respect, Chairman Dean
Which would, of course, be none.
The situation is so bad that we plan on removing our troops. But if the situation gets worse, we’ll come rushing back in.
That’s it, isn’t it? That’s the plan? That’s really the Democrats idea of strategy?
Good. God.
– The DemAsses are just trying too use bombastic rhetoric to find SOMEWAY to get in front of the Iraq curve because they know its THE issue, and on THE issue they know without a doubt they’re fucked. This will go on and on, and just keep getting worse, and worse, since they already put both feet in their mouths, rolling the dice that they could use the “Nam” model to turn people against the war hard enough to panic the administration into cutting and running.
– They didn’t have a fucking clue in the 60’s and 70’s, and they’re doomed to make the same mistakes all over again. They’re losing the PR battle, and they’re panicky. The better things get in Iraq, the more unhinged they’ll become.
– You’ll see them go even more unhimged after this “troop withdrawal” vote in Congress. Fuck the Leftist cult. Its days are numbered.
I don’t mind partisan.
Idiot, on the other hand……
Bene Gesserit
Mr. Goldstein, since you’ve been leading us dumbasses to a better understanding of such literary concepts as intentionalism over the past several weeks:
In referencing Churchill was your intent a direct comparison to Ward’s corpse of work or an incredibly sarcastic look at Winston’s take on warfare and the human condition?
TW: I’m not exactly sure.
Yep-the Dems sure pay attention to Vietnam vets like Sam Johnson.
We had air conditioning at FOB Bernstein in the barracks (thank God), but not any that worked worth having in my ambulance.
At Cedar II in 2003 we used swamp coolers.
Scares the heck out of me, about a third of my fellow citizens are completely ignorant about how the world works. And they are lead by cynical fools who know it, promote it, and hold onto power because of it.
t/w: what is a proper reaction to Deanish foolishness?
Lefty for Speakers of Other Languages (LSOL). Lesson #4:
“You’ve got to be tough, but you’ve got to be tough and smart, Norah.”
Translation: “You’ve got to be a pussy, but you’ve got to be a pussy and stupid, Norah.”
—
Whatever happened to ‘the land of the free’ and ‘the home of the brave’? So the Dem’s plan is to leave – excuse me – halfway leave to Okinawa. Which, to me a margin of a few thousand miles is pretty much all-the-way leaving, Howie. That plan strikes me as neither tough nor smart.
rls, you asked for a translation:
DEAN: “We wanna be just like France!”
But that’s just my take.
…and to the Retired Reserve with the rank of Navy Captain in 1989.
Maybe we should start referring to CAPT Rumfeild and LTJG Kerry.
I just can’t fathom why these guys are shitting all over themselves in an effort to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I really think they must be mad. Maybe the stress of modern civilization is too much for them to take. Or they are so corrupt, invested in political power and their own egos, that they’ll just do anything to hold onto that power. Anything. Once in office, they can vote themselves power and money and perks and more money and more perks….
Also, Clinton had a lot to do with legitimizing the climate of cynical disinformation. Now that oral sex isn’t sex and ‘is’ no longer means ‘is’, any freelance political charlatan can define reality as they wish–with none of the necessary moral reality checks of the past. Time was, an idea could actually be held up to opprobrium. For example, you couldn’t sock a police officer in the capitol and get away with it or betray everyone in your country and win a Pulitzer prize.
As a result of the erosion caused by cultural marxism, every idea is as good as every other idea. Do your own thing, baby. No one will ever call you on it. And these politicans are playing that card for all it’s worth. Outrage is the tenor of the day.
Dean’s both an idiot and–what is even worse–a cynic.
tw: “law”.
You know, it took me a full two seconds after reading “Sardaukar” to bring to consciousness the fact that there aren’t really any Sardaukar. Well done, Mr. Herbert.
Slartibartfast, I was just over at TruthOut yesterday (I think it was there – some wildly lefty site, anyway), following a link to somebody’s horror story about how we’re consolidating bases in Iraq and creating more “permanent” structures, which we Dare Not call permanent. In other words, the Democrats, if they advanced a pullback to a limited number of bases as a withdrawal/redeployment plan for Iraq, would be doing what they did in the 2004 runup to the election: saying “We think we ought to do exactly what the Republicans are already doing, but believe us, we’ll do it better. How? Just believe us, that’s all – you’ll see after you elect us.” The masters of the “pig in a poke” political pseudo-strategy.
I vote for sarcasm.
I think what he was really saying is “John Kerry is running again and we’ve decided we can win as defeatists.” and “I don’t want that Clinton woman in the White House, so I’m taking Murtha’s talking points and shoving them down the throats of the whole DNC.”
Two years from now he’ll be saying, “(Republican President to be named later) has no plan and the Republican controlled congress is ruining the country.” That is, if he still has a job, which I doubt.
TW company, In good company with Petain.
The irony is, in addition to being immeasurably better for the country, it would undoubtedly have been smarter, politically, for the Democrats to take that line.
If they had, the election of 2004 would have been fought over domestic issues, John Kerry would certainly NOT have been their nominee, and Bush would have been in big trouble.
But they are too blinded by hate to do what is in their own best interests – as Americans, OR as Democrats.
Shyah, and the reality of every other war we’ve won or lost.
Cynic?
Hell, I dare anyone to pay attention to modern politics and NOT be a cynic.
SB: soviet
Komitets Glavsovarny Besopasnosti
So the plan is to simultaneously flee Iraq yet remain in the region, stay in Iraq, and run all the way home. And the Dems wonder why many of us don’t trust them with national defense.
I don’t know what their deal is with Vietnam either, Jeff. Or Watergate or the entire ridiculous, self-important obsession ‘Boomers in general seem have with the 60s and 70s. I hate to admit it, but sometimes I look forward to when we put them all in the rest home.
On the one hand I don’t mind that the Dems have gone so far into lunacy. Given everything else they ‘stand’ for their marginalization suits me fine.
On the other hand it does worry me that there is no competent or coherent alternative available today. Not necessarily directly opposing (naysayers we have in spades), but perhaps challenging the current strategy and tactics and noting alternative approaches that are intended to create long term success.
I am no expert, I would neve purport to be able to design and implement a successful GWOT all by my lonesome. So as an involved citizen I can only judge the current administration in relation to the alternatives put forth by their political opponents. Based on the current alternative, as expressed by the Dem leadership I must conclude that the Republicans remain the most viable option. This is not meant so much as a complement to the Reps as it is an indictment of the Dems, who continue to do a great disservice to their party and the nation by refusing to accept a war and foreign policy that is supported by a majority as indicated by the last rounds of national elections.
I wish I knew. It’s the same deal they have with The Beatles and Woodstock.
Beatles, Woodstock, Vietnam. The generation that time forgot.
God damn I can’t stand the fucking Boomers. Just retire to Florida and die already.
Wow. Jeff posted this at 0900, and nearly FIVE HOURS LATER, not one troll has popped in to tell us paste eating cock slapping RWDBs that Bush lied, Iraq is a failure, Cheney is a bad shot, and (horrors!) Rummy and Condi tortured Yasser Arafat before he died in Paris by singing “Onward Christian Soldiers” as a duet in his hospital room.
Either them poophead trolls are busy sleeping in (or working…..I’m sure most of them do have day jobs), or they are busy ignoring Howie’s latest public crash&burn stunt.
The truly baffling thing is this guy was close to becoming the nominee for PRESIDENT.
nailed it!
– And don’t think that all of the mainstream Democrats aren’t painfully aware of this, and extremely unhappy. Probelm is they just don’t know how to shake off the yoke of the hard Left, because the party leadership is still deeply in lust with the money and noisey support that small gaggle provides….
That’s fine – I prefer the US Army relying on Sandworms m’self. I remember helping test them out at…ooops, did I type that out loud?
Jeeeez, I was just talking to another guy who was visitting the Stargate at Cheyenne Mountain.
You guys get all the good gigs. All I ever got was trips to Slidell.
I had a/c in Iraq.
I also had soft serve icecream.
Now THAT is how to fight a war.
Poonanni? Not so much.
Dear G-d, NO! Can you imagine working in a nursing home chock-full of 80-something confused ex-hippies, all of them talking in Grandpa Simpson-like voices about the time they took over the ROTC building at Yale or dropped some damn good acid in Haight-Ashbury or got laid during Hendrix’s guitar solo at Woodstock?
The HORROR, man. Think of the employees. Your CHILDREN could be working there.
Must’ve been that last tab of blotter acid…
The family favorite Grandpa Simpson line:
Family shorthand for rambling aimlessly: having an onion tied to your belt.
Kinda puts it all into persepctive, doesn’t it?
Turing Word: quality, as in, “Warning lights are flashing down in quality control, somebody threw a spanner and they threw him in the hole. There’s rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town, somebody blew the whistle and the walls came down. There’s a meeting in the boardroom they’re trying to trace the smell. There’s leaking in the washroom, there’s a sneak in personnel. Somewhere in the corridors someone was heard to sneeze. ‘Goodness me, could this be BDS disease?’”
Quick note about Rummy and being a Captain for some who may not be fully aware. (And before some troll tries to look like an idiot I guess).
Navy Captain = (everyone else) Full Colonel = O-6
Just to put it in perspective.
TW Now I think we have that covered.
I think Vietnam was the life-defining lesson of their youths, much as the Depression and WWII were for their parents.
Unfortunately, while the conclusions that people drew from WWII (i.e. America is a force for good in the world, we can do anything when we put our minds to it and work together) were constructive ones, the lessons learned from Vietnam (i.e. we are the bad guys, and it is “the highest form of patriotism” to subvert us internally and see us humiliated abroad) were not.
One of the things at stake in the GWoT is whether it will turn into a WWII-type lesson (if we win) or a Vietnam-type lesson (if we retreat in disgrace). And THAT will have very far-reaching implications for America and the world.
You mean besides funding a system to shoot down a missile that the Democrats have opposed?
Anyone have any idea what the “proper equipment” was that Dean is talking about? Refers to it twice. Was there some miracle piece of equipment that would have prevented the latest tragedy, or is this the standard Dem canard re: body armor?
No he wasn’t. But TV must have really wanted us to think so, since it made itself a sea of waving blue DEAN DEAN DEAN placards for months before the primaries. Didn’t work.
But it got him the chairman job. So it did.
The problem with this is that, as every demagogue knows, the kind of people who listen to politicians treat ideas as embodied in leaders, and adopt ideas as their own in whatever readymade packages those leaders make for them.
The best recent example of this is when Osama started sounding like Michael Moore before the last election. He didn’t actually care at all about U.S. electoral politicsâ€â€strategically, for him, it really doesn’t matter who’s Presidentâ€â€but by adopting the language of one faction, he moved that faction toward him and his real, rest-of-the-package ideas. A freeing from rote condemnations of terrorism and a rise in blatant anti-Western and antisemitic rhetoric among people who already talked anti-imperialist was what he wanted, and got. In England, this rhetorical shift opened a path for a left-Islam alliance that’s growing frighteningly. Here, the Moore faction have just taken to speaking differently, being a little looser with their slurs, a little more openly defeatist. Baby steps.
Identifying with him already, because he’s the coach of their team, Dean can haveâ€â€and has hadâ€â€a similar effect on Democrats. Crazed and hateful as he is, this is a problem.
Look In the transcript linked, he does it, he packages. He gives Dems a reassuring backpat (the we’re-smart/they’re-murderers hate-rhetoric he specializes in), then leads them to positions‗redeployment” and a stronger-than-usual assertion of the identity of moral standing with (certain) military serviceâ€â€that they’d never adopt without official imprimatur (imagine Abbie Hoffman believing these things), and they’ll take up these positions as their own, unexamined. It works.
CHICKENHAWKS!
“Redeployment” is about to get huge.
You know what is really fascinating about the dems and their constant references to Veit Nam?
Is that they use Veit Nam n both the positive and negative. First, proud serving Veit Nam Vet, then second, Iraq is another Veit Nam. Which is it Howard? Good or bad.. Jack ass…………
Dean isn’t insane. He is using perfectly well-established advertising techniques. What was his message? “Tough. Smart.” That’s all he wanted to say, and he said it several times in more than one way. All the rest of his blabbering was intended to be blabbering.
I’m not saying it will work, but that’s the Dem strategy. Get the nation to think “tough/smart” means “Democrat” the same way “magically/delicious” means “Lucky Charms.”
A modest proposal:
Howard Dean should wear hippie-style clothes or disco-style leisure suits every time he discusses Iraq in Vietnam terms.
It would certainly illustrate his credibility.
BoZ, I didn’t see your comment before I posted mine, and I think we’re talking about the same thing. You’re right, “Redeployment” is part of the advertising package, as in “tough/smart” = “redeployment.”
Gotta give Ann Coulter her due: she got in a pretty funny dig at Deano on FoxNews DaySide
Captain Holly,
They are still cowardly self indulgent scum, just older. I wish them long lives, hope they keep their wits about themselves. I hope they remember every day that somebody else paid.
I hope they think about this every veterans day, every memorial day, every 4th of July, every time they see a flag, and every time they see a uniform.
I hope they loathe themselves. In the meantime, they can tell each other how brave, noble, and right they were. As long as they know down deep what they really are.
Props to O’Donnell for calling the Deaniac to explain his position more clearly.
By “position” I mean his mangled, tendentious, incoherent, and inchoate drooling of talking points.
Tim Gore-
It’s because Bush didn’t send the troops to Iraq with Godzilla. Godzilla would save us all, if Bush cared enough!
Or Batman, he’d sure be useful. But Bush refuses to use the Batsignal. Jerk.
– The only person the Left obsseses on as much as Rove, Bush, and Cheney, is Coulter. Very simply she scares the crap out of them. One Conservative not afraid to shove all the Frenchie anti-American crap right back up their collectivistic asses. All the power too her.
Tim: A white flag, of course.
And I say let’s redeploy tye Democrats back into the private sector this fall.
The Democtats are suffering from premature evacuation.
[/blatant theft from Lucianne.com]
OK, we are at SEVEN HOURS, and no snarking from idiot trolls in support of Howie Deano and His Bloviating. What’s up, is there a march with naked chicks (non-Code Pink types, I mean)?
Well, this Ordnance Corps officer has no idea what he is, or could be talking about beyond that old saw.
Great, 2 more ibuprofen now…
I always enjoy seeing that trademark Dean snarl. It really makes him look tough. I AM impressed with his beer drinking skills, though.
There’s actually quite a proud military tradition of phased redeployments.
Maybe it has something to do with the announcement that was just made on the floor of the Senate.
500 shells loaded with Mustard or Sarin gas have been found in Iraq. Saddams’ stuff. Chemical artillery shells. Banned stuff. Casus belli, all over again.
Heh.
tw: faith
Heh again.
Julian Epstein says Kerry’s latest plan is “not helpful” to the Dem’s chances of re-taking Congress.
In other news, the pope is still Catholic.
pablo, who what where when?????????????
VIA Hot Air:
Is this the death knell of Democratic electorial hopes this year?
Maybe the death shell….
Air Force?
They’re just waiting for the talking points to come out. And given the absolute mess Dean made of his yammering, developing ANY talking points will be tough.
Not to worry though, I feel a nice wet “chickenhawk” ready to be farted.
Good thing I bought a lot of stock in the ACME Goal-Post Jacking and Hauling Company, because I think that particular business is going to have a big demand spike.
A mere 5 years ago, and I would have agreed with you. But, one of the improvements in having KBR handle the food services in Iraq/Kuwait/Afghanistan is that ice cream is generally available at all mess halls.
A/C is standard as well. I hear some bases are light on A/C units, but it is there.
Thank GOD.
<blockquote>They’re just waiting for the talking points to come out. And given the absolute mess Dean made of his yammering, developing ANY talking points will be tough.
Not to worry though, I feel a nice wet “chickenhawk†ready to be farted. /blockquote>
Heh! True, true. Even Ted Kennedy’s staff, with their long years of experience, must be hard pressed to deal with this challenge.
But I have no doubts that they will succeed. Goal posts, moving, etc.
The democrats are squandering a huge domestic opportunity here. They need to find their own Tom Tancredo and back him/her without fractious squabbling. If they branded themselves as the party who would secure the borders, and really mean it, I think their fortune would greatly improve. As it is, you all are right, they are simply being contrarians, and that alienates many of us libs.