Well, this is just great. Robert Gates, the bumbling idiot in the White House’s choice to be the next Secretary of Defense, has just testified at his confirmation hearing that we’re losing the war in Iraq. Good grief. If you thought they were laughing at us in Teheran before, they must be doubled over now. I’m sure our boys in the Sandbox will take heart and fight even harder now that they know they have the full confidence of the Department of Defense behind them. Things just go from bad to worse. I’ve been feeling like we’re behind the looking glass for quite a while now, both domestically and internationally. This moron might as well have put on a top hat with the size label still on it. Is there NO ONE in our government who has any sense, or any guts and commitment? In the immortal words of Slim Pickens, I am depressed.
Update: It’s been pointed out to me in comments that Gates didn’t actually say we were losing, he said we’re not winning, and went on to say that we’re not losing, either. Oh. Well, in that case….. As I said in comments, I really don’t care whether he said that we’re losing, or that we’re not winning. That’s a semantic distinction that’s irrelevant. As the putative head of the Department of Defense of the United States of America, Gates has an obligation to choose his words carefully on the big stage. The Dems and the drive-by media are just waiting to spin anything they can into liberal talking points, and he has troop morale to think about.
I’m not suggesting that Gates paint a rosy picture where there is none. In fact, Bush has been consistent for five years now in saying that this is and will continue to be difficult. But by answering the question the way it was posed, what Gates did was accept Levin’s premise. It’s not very useful to take a snapshot of a moment in time during a war. It’s been noted by smarter people than I that there were moments of dark despair during WWII when it looked like we might lose, like, you know, after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. If Gates can’t handle a softball like that, he shouldn’t be playing with the big boys.
Become a progressive. Then you’ll be ELATED!
Too late, once you’ve swallowed the red pill there is no going back.
Like I said on November 8: Now it really is another Vietnam.
Well, I guess all will depend on his course of action. With Bolton out of the way, will we try the too-cute-by-half tried and true method of backdoor deals and phoney diplomacy?
Or will we triple troop amounts and run this war like it should have been run from the beginning—the political solution we’ll worry about after the Ba’athists and al Qaeda, and anyone else standing in the way of a peaceful transition to a democratic republic, are wiped out.
Let the press print stories of our soldiers’ barbarism. Let phantom sources like Jamil Hussein, whoever that is, invent additional atrocities and pass them on to the AP. Only in the meantime, worry about nothing else but complete military victory.
You want to stop talk of pull outs and “losing”? Commit to winning the fucking thing with all necessary force. Because it ain’t so easy to spin overwhelming military victories as it is incremental victories coupled with ineffective PC message management.
Gates is such a fool he’s just giving them the answers he knows they want. A secretary of War/Defense with no brain of his own. A secretary that don’t support the troops nor the mission is a sure sign we will lose the war and millions of lives in the United States.
It was pitiful watching KKK Byrd read someone else’s questions. He is beyond the need for assisted living arrangement and needs 24-7 nursing care. He has progressed deep into the senile stage of life.
I’ve been saying for months that if the dimmi’s take charge of anything you boys and girls in the military had better get the he** out. Arrange your discharge for no later than the first quarter of 09, and if you are thinking about enlisting in any branch of the service, Don’t.
The dimmi’s will hang you out to die and they could care less. Cowardance is just part of their makeup. I guess you can say it is now bred into them and has been since the 40’s. Look out for Hussein Obama, master american terrorists in 09. If you are a vet you had better file and complete any claims for VA benefits now, if you have to lie, lie. Major cuts in funding is coming, you can bet on it.
Great. He’s a shoo in for confirmation.
I think you nailed it Jeff, admit defeat, send in triple amounts of reinforcements, and eliminate the threat. Can this be and obvious Rovian plot?
What in the wide, wide world of sports is a-goin’ on here? I hired you people to try to get a little track laid, not to jump around like a bunch of Kansas City faggots.
TODD: you have been warned about misuse of the code words.
-Olaf
I would triple the amount of people in the armed forces just on general principle. Unfortunately, it seems clear that we cannot even spare 20 K troops for the present conflict. And so we are reduced to two alternatives: #1 slogging along (which the people do not want), or #2 some form of disengagement. I’m betting the latter. it’s good tactics to lay down a smokescreen when you turn away from an adversary. So expect a lot of that.
Well, it’s a good thing Robert McNamara is dead.
The dinosaurs will have one last ride before the grave takes them. I hope we’re still around when they get done with us.
It’s not a pretty picture61
Then there’s John McCain, who’s must be in a manic phase of his political bipolar disorder. If only he were so rational as a habit.
Whoa, hoss! That is not what he said. Levin asked him if he agreed with him “that we are not winning the war” and Gates agreed. But he later said we are not losing it either. To him it is limbo or between a rock and a hard place. He is open to alternative strategies. This is a confirmation hearing where he needs to field every hard ball and every soft ball and make no glaring errors. Let him get confirmed and then lets see what hes going to do. The Dems want him in place soonest so as to get rid of Rummy. But to say he said “we are losing” is a misread and dependent on the way the MSM is reporting it.
Do we need more troops or can we just loosen up the rules of engagement?
It could be BOTH, I suppose, but when I hear “more troops” I have to wonder what it is they are going to do that’s different from the ones we’ve got in place.
I’m with Jack on Track… let us wait and see…
Bushy didn’t pick him for no reason, but he has made (small) mistakes before, or so some say.
Once he is confirmed what can the Dems do about it? If he, like… 180degrees on them….
O.K. yell and scream about being ‘lied’ to… nope, just told ya what you wanted to hear, you didn’t want the truth… so I didn’t tell you the truth…
Next question!
TW: lower(69)ed expectations….ugh.
Jack, I really don’t care whether he said we’re losing, or that we’re not winning. That’s a semantic distinction that’s irrelevant. As the putative head of the Department of Defense of the United States of America, Gates has an obligation to choose his words carefully on the big stage. The Dems and the drive-by media are just waiting to spin anything they can into liberal talking points, and he has troop morale to think about.
I’m not suggesting that Gates paint a rosy picture where there is none. In fact, Bush has been consistent for five years now in saying that this is and will continue to be difficult. But by answering the question the way it was posed, what Gates did was accept Levin’s premise. It’s useless and pointless to take a snapshot of a moment in time during a war.
It’s been noted by smarter people than I that there were moments of dark despair during WWII when it looked like we might lose. If Gates can’t handle a softball like that, he shouldn’t be playing with the big boys.
My definition of victory over radical Islam is Ahmadinejad’s head on a pike, so what’s to quarrel about?
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard from “Tokyo Rose”.
I died recently, at it’s been slowing me down.
Here, I got an idea: What if it’s a clever plan by the administration to lull the Dems into a false sense of security? What if Gates goes into the nomination sounding like Murtha and walks out sounding like Bolton?
Nah.
on their way to invade Singapore.
Bastards.
furriskey, I’m not sure this made it across the pond in any significant fashion. But we swear by it here.
Pablo,
Thank you for that. A ray of entertainment in a drab day.
Belushi is sadly missed.
(TW more 76, which sounds revolutionary)
My pleasure, furriskey.
“What the hell we s’posed to do, ya mo-ron?” may be one of the best delivered lines in cinematic history.
Yeah, Animal House has a boatload of those, but I think my favorite is still this exchange in Mr. Mom that could be used in acting class as the perfect example of comedic timing:
Michael Keaton: “Wanna beer?”
Martin Mull: “It’s seven o’clock in the morning!”
MK: (…three…four….) “Scotch?”