Michael: The 'Out of Iraq' Caucus forms
The Downing Street Memo Meeting (Real Player link) is a real rip-roarer. It will be in the history books as the real begining of the end of the Bush Administration's reputation, if not it's rule. You owe it to yourself to watch this, especially if you support the mission in Iraq.Avoiding factual information doesn't make it go away, it just makes it more painful when it finally sinks in. I dare anyone who supports this war to watch this meeting and come away without any doubts about the 'fixing of the facts and intelligence around the policy.'
Following this meeting, we saw the shameful spectacle of a group of United States Congress Members being denied access to the White House by a terrified Administration. Conyers and his delegation, bearing a letter demanding answers from the Administration and a petition signed by over 560,000 American citizens, were stymied in the attempt to deliver their message on purely pretextual grouds.
When asked why they had failed to respond to Conyers' letter, signed by 105 members of Congress, the White House replied through mouthpeice McClellan:
"Why not? Because I think that this is an individual who voted against the war in the first place and is simply trying to rehash old debates that have already been addressed. And our focus is not on the past. It's on the future and working to make sure we succeed in Iraq."[emphasis added]
The White House is obviously terrified of addressing these issues head-on, not to mention unable to do so. They are trying to characterize a letter signed by the legal representatives of millions of Americans, and bearing the signatures of 560,000 more of us, as the act of an individual with an axe to grind. They are going to bury their collective heads in the sand and act like the DSM and all the other damning evidence outlined in The Meeting doesn't exist, hoping that this blows over and the MSM gets distracted by something else. I for one applaud their choice of strategy, and hope they keep it up.
posted by Michael Bryan @ 6/17/2005 08:36:00 AM
2 Comments:
McLellan's quote is illuminating. It says two things.
First, you'd think that a successful war would have more supporters now than when it started. Conyers and his crew would voices in the wilderness if this were a rip-roaring success. Less people like this thing now than when it started, what does that say?
Second, it is typical of the Bush administration to dismiss any concerns of detractors. They didn't vote for the war, they don't count. You don't support the president's plan on Social Security, you can't come to a tax paid forum for the discussion...you see the patern.
Yep, the pattern is crystal clear and it doesn't look at all like genuine American democracy.
Good point that support for the war is not growing. Just the opposite, many who were confident and supportive of the President's actions (some to point of jingoism - the Representative who renamed French fires on the House menu now is having grave doubts) and were firm political supporters of Shrub, are now falling away from the cause and criticizing the handling of the entire affair. Junior's finding out that being CiC is more than dressing the part.
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