From the King Of Blogging, Sean Conners. Various articles and op/ed's on just about anything from A to Z. Politics, religion, entertainment and whatever else seems interesting at the moment. Members and non-members alike are welcomed to participate in th
last night's special comments...
Published on May 24, 2007 By Sean Conners aka SConn1 In Current Events
Last night, Keith Olbermann gave one of his special comments. This time, he was not primarily focused on the President or Vice President and their failed Iraq policy, but rather the Democratic Congress folding to the President after recieving a clear mandate last fall from the voters. For those who claim that "all we do is bash the President" should read this. And those who have read some of my past articles and comments on other blogs know that I have been critical of the leadership and called for Harry Reid to resign months ago.

The entire government has failed us on Iraq

For the president, and the majority leaders and candidates and rank-and-file Congressmen and Senators of either party—there is only blame for this shameful, and bi-partisan, betrayal
SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Countdown
Updated: 9:56 p.m. ET May 23, 2007

A Special Comment about the Democrats’ deal with President Bush to continue financing this unspeakable war in Iraq—and to do so on his terms:


This is, in fact, a comment about… betrayal.

Few men or women elected in our history—whether executive or legislative, state or national—have been sent into office with a mandate more obvious, nor instructions more clear:

Get us out of Iraq.

Yet after six months of preparation and execution—half a year gathering the strands of public support; translating into action, the collective will of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who reject this War of Lies, the Democrats have managed only this:

The Democratic leadership has surrendered to a president—if not the worst president, then easily the most selfish, in our history—who happily blackmails his own people, and uses his own military personnel as hostages to his asinine demand, that the Democrats “give the troops their money”;
The Democratic leadership has agreed to finance the deaths of Americans in a war that has only reduced the security of Americans;
The Democratic leadership has given Mr. Bush all that he wanted, with the only caveat being, not merely meaningless symbolism about benchmarks for the Iraqi government, but optional meaningless symbolism about benchmarks for the Iraqi government.
The Democratic leadership has, in sum, claimed a compromise with the Administration, in which the only things truly compromised, are the trust of the voters, the ethics of the Democrats, and the lives of our brave, and doomed, friends, and family, in Iraq.
You, the men and women elected with the simplest of directions—Stop The War—have traded your strength, your bargaining position, and the uniform support of those who elected you… for a handful of magic beans.
You may trot out every political cliché from the soft-soap, inside-the-beltway dictionary of boilerplate sound bites, about how this is the “beginning of the end” of Mr. Bush’s “carte blanche” in Iraq, about how this is a “first step.”
Well, Senator Reid, the only end at its beginning... is our collective hope that you and your colleagues would do what is right, what is essential, what you were each elected and re-elected to do.
Because this “first step”… is a step right off a cliff.

And this President!
How shameful it would be to watch an adult... hold his breath, and threaten to continue to do so, until he turned blue.
But how horrifying it is… to watch a President hold his breath and threaten to continue to do so, until innocent and patriotic Americans in harm’s way, are bled white.
You lead this country, sir?
You claim to defend it?
And yet when faced with the prospect of someone calling you on your stubbornness—your stubbornness which has cost 3,431 Americans their lives and thousands more their limbs—you, Mr. Bush, imply that if the Democrats don’t give you the money and give it to you entirely on your terms, the troops in Iraq will be stranded, or forced to serve longer, or have to throw bullets at the enemy with their bare hands.
How transcendentally, how historically, pathetic.
Any other president from any other moment in the panorama of our history would have, at the outset of this tawdry game of political chicken, declared that no matter what the other political side did, he would insure personally—first, last and always—that the troops would not suffer.
A President, Mr. Bush, uses the carte blanche he has already, not to manipulate an overlap of arriving and departing Brigades into a ‘second surge,’ but to say in unequivocal terms that if it takes every last dime of the monies already allocated, if it takes reneging on government contracts with Halliburton, he will make sure the troops are safe—even if the only safety to be found, is in getting them the hell out of there.
Well, any true President would have done that, Sir.
You instead, used our troops as political pawns, then blamed the Democrats when you did so.

Not that these Democrats, who had this country’s support and sympathy up until 48 hours ago, have not since earned all the blame they can carry home.

“We seem to be very near the bleak choice between war and shame,” Winston Churchill wrote to Lord Moyne in the days after the British signed the Munich accords with Germany in 1938. “My feeling is that we shall choose shame, and then have war thrown in, a little later…”

That’s what this is for the Democrats, isn’t it?

Their “Neville Chamberlain moment” before the Second World War.
All that’s missing is the landing at the airport, with the blinkered leader waving a piece of paper which he naively thought would guarantee “peace in our time,” but which his opponent would ignore with deceit.
The Democrats have merely streamlined the process.
Their piece of paper already says Mr. Bush can ignore it, with impugnity.

And where are the Democratic presidential hopefuls this evening?
See they not, that to which the Senate and House leadership has blinded itself?

Judging these candidates based on how they voted on the original Iraq authorization, or waiting for apologies for those votes, is ancient history now.

The Democratic nomination is likely to be decided... tomorrow.
The talk of practical politics, the buying into of the President’s dishonest construction “fund-the-troops-or-they-will-be-in-jeopardy,” the promise of tougher action in September, is falling not on deaf ears, but rather falling on Americans who already told you what to do, and now perceive your ears as closed to practical politics.
Those who seek the Democratic nomination need to—for their own political futures and, with a thousand times more solemnity and importance, for the individual futures of our troops—denounce this betrayal, vote against it, and, if need be, unseat Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi if they continue down this path of guilty, fatal acquiescence to the tragically misguided will of a monomaniacal president.

For, ultimately, at this hour, the entire government has failed us.

Mr. Reid, Mr. Hoyer, and the other Democrats... have failed us.
They negotiated away that which they did not own, but had only been entrusted by us to protect: our collective will as the citizens of this country, that this brazen War of Lies be ended as rapidly and safely as possible.
Mr. Bush and his government... have failed us.
They have behaved venomously and without dignity—of course.
That is all at which Mr. Bush is gifted.
We are the ones providing any element of surprise or shock here.
With the exception of Senator Dodd and Senator Edwards, the Democratic presidential candidates have (so far at least) failed us.

They must now speak, and make plain how they view what has been given away to Mr. Bush, and what is yet to be given away tomorrow, and in the thousand tomorrows to come.

Because for the next fourteen months, the Democratic nominating process—indeed the whole of our political discourse until further notice—has, with the stroke of a cursed pen, become about one thing, and one thing alone.
The electorate figured this out, six months ago.
The President and the Republicans have not—doubtless will not.
The Democrats will figure it out, during the Memorial Day recess, when they go home and many of those who elected them will politely suggest they stay there—and permanently.
Because, on the subject of Iraq...
The people have been ahead of the media....
Ahead of the government...
Ahead of the politicians...
For the last year, or two years, or maybe three.

Our politics... is now about the answer to one briefly-worded question.
Mr. Bush has failed.
Mr. Warner has failed.
Mr. Reid has failed.
So.
Who among us will stop this war—this War of Lies?
To he or she, fall the figurative keys to the nation.
To all the others—presidents and majority leaders and candidates and rank-and-file Congressmen and Senators of either party—there is only blame… for this shameful, and bi-partisan, betrayal.


Comments (Page 1)
3 Pages1 2 3 
on May 24, 2007
. Keith is a far-left "pundit", the same thing you seem to denounce from the conservative side.
on May 24, 2007
keith oberman is an idiot. may I ask what EXACTLY are the 'LIES" in the "war of lies he is blathering about?
on May 24, 2007

He is just mouthing the same things the loons on the left are (Disclaimer for the Hard of reading: Loons on the left indicates a subset of those on the left, characterized by the rantings and ravings at such sites as du.org and moveon.org).

This just makes him a loon like the rest of them.

on May 24, 2007
Keith is a far-left "pundit", the same thing you seem to denounce from the conservative side


Keith Olbermann has responded to accusations of bias by saying, "I'm not a liberal, I'm an American."

and i agree. feel free to spew the usual rhetoric tho...
on May 24, 2007
I ask what EXACTLY are the 'LIES" in the "war of lies he is blathering about


well, here's a short list...WWW Link
on May 24, 2007
This just makes him a loon like the rest of them.


yeah, yeah, yeah,,,blah, blah, blah...everyone who has been right about this war from day 1 is a loon and must be an evil liberal. and all the chickenhawks who lied us into there are oh, so sane....puhleeeaassseeeee!

i'm sick of this nonsense. this war was a huge mistake. it has been mishandled from day 1. i could care less where the rest of your politics are. if you can't spot these boobs in the administration for what they are, then i seriously question your judgement skills.

be a free market capatalist. be pro life. be whatever the hell you want to be. but stop pretending that this administration is either the biggest bunch of wolves in sheep's clothing ever or the most incompetent group of people ever who rely on keeping their lil cirlce loyal over everything else. in either case. stop defending them like it's eiter you are with them or "with the liberals." AS IF

on May 24, 2007
MM is right. Some people will believe anything, regardless of the evidence (BTW: Your link has lies in it and last I checked stating a belief is not a lie).
on May 24, 2007
yeah, yeah, yeah,,,blah, blah, blah...everyone who has been right about this war from day 1 is a loon and must be an evil liberal. and all the chickenhawks who lied us into there are oh, so sane....puhleeeaassseeeee!


First, read Thinkaloud's latest. Second, you decry the sisterhoods attempt to put words in your mouth. Why do you do the same thing?

Third, Keith Olbermann is a loon. Birds of a feather and all. Dont believe me? Google his statements and find out how many blog hits you get at the Puffington Host, du.org, and Moron.org.
on May 24, 2007
Some people will believe anything, regardless of the evidence


yes,,,you,,,err,,,i mean they will
on May 24, 2007
https://forums.joeuser.com/?Forumid=34&AID=153414

In answer I refer you to this article written by me with FACTS debunking the bullshit you are claiming to be facts which in reality are just DEMOCRATIC PROPAGANDA.
on May 24, 2007
"For those who claim that "all we do is bash the President" should read this. And those who have read some of my past articles and comments on other blogs know that I have been critical of the leadership and called for Harry Reid to resign months ago. "


No, you and Keith are blasting Dems... for not blasting Bush enough. Damning Dems for not being, well, "Dem" enough doesn't mean you aren't a Dem...
on May 24, 2007
In answer I refer you to this article written by me with FACTS debunking the bullshit you are claiming to be facts which in reality are just DEMOCRATIC PROPAGANDA.


blah blah blah...i read the article. disagreed.
on May 24, 2007
No, you and Keith are blasting Dems... for not blasting Bush enough. Damning Dems for not being, well, "Dem" enough doesn't mean you aren't a Dem...


need i remind you that the only reason those "dems" are in power in congress is because us independents put them there. us independents who are the real majority in this country.

just more neocon nonsense.
on May 24, 2007
LOL.  As I said, Keith is no different than O'Reily or Hannity.  Just because he claims he isn't a liberal doesn't mean he isn't part of the far-left.   You constantly tell us about the conservative "pundits", but here you are hailing Keith as if he's something special.


on May 24, 2007
(Citizen)Sean Conners aka SConn1May 24, 2007 12:13:22Rep


blah blah blah...i read the article. disagreed.


balh blah baa baa baa...... read your article filled with DEMOCRATIC lies.... go away sheepboy.. baaa baaaa baaa I am done here.
3 Pages1 2 3