Interesting...
Oct. 3rd, 2006 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lederhosenNot that blogs are much of a weathervane, but a few weeks will show whether this particular sentiment is widespread:
I have decided to vote Democratic this fall. I am a conservative and a Republican party member. I believe in small government, free markets, strong defense, etc., but Bush’s snafu in Iraq is just too much. It overwhelms those issues which for 30 years have made me vote GOP. In addition to screwing up so far, there is zero evidence that he’s changed, or that he “gets it,” or anything...
Iraq is totally hopeless. Today, now, it is beyond any rational expectation of recovery. I cannot foresee anything like victory, not by any remote definition, such as “getting Iraq to slightly stable, barely functioning, almost worthwhile kind of place.” I cannot see how to get there. I can see us staying there for a long, long time. 150,000 US troops, well-armed and well-supplied, in secure bases, are not easy to dislodge and are not even easy to hit with high casualties. Our guys are very smart and very tough. The insurgency cannot “drive us out” or even inflict “unacceptable” casualties. What this means, combined with what I can see from internet debates is that … as long as we meet some threshold, as long the troops can hang on, then the “true believers” will say “There is hope. We are winning. Look at the ELECTIONS!” If we’re waiting for a defeat in battle, some military rout of the Americans, that is not going to happen. Do we then stay indefinitely, spectators to chaos? No Democratic politician will say it, but maybe they would be the party of “cut and run.”
How long does the party of “stay the course, even although we have brought things to this violent, fractured, unpromising, unending situation,” deserve my vote? If there is any magic formula, some way out (not that I can see one), at this point I have zero confidence in Bush’s and Rumsfeld’s ability to find it. - Commissar
Over at dailypundit.com (and also at hotair.com), similar responses to Bill Frist's call to bring the Taliban back into the Afghan government:
I have fucking had it with the Republican party. No mas. I was going to sit out the election, let the chips fall where they would. No, I'm gonna vote Dem. I want the Republicans to lose. They just don't deserve to win, and I'm in the mood to hurt someone for the betrayal I feel. May as well be George Allen and Virgil Goode.
Ace of Spades:
At least the Democrats talk tough about sending more troops to Afghanistan and killing Taliban fighters and capturing bin Ladin. If that really is no longer a GOP priority, then I am no longer a member of the GOP... The Democrats have complained for years the GOP wasn't serious enough about defeating Al Qaeda and the Taliban, that it was too focused on Iraq. Congratulations -- you just took a talking point and made it an established fact. Well, enjoy your minority status. The rest of us will try to rebuild to the extent we can a party that actually sees ending the Taliban and Al Qaeda as somewhat more critical than ending internet poker.
I have decided to vote Democratic this fall. I am a conservative and a Republican party member. I believe in small government, free markets, strong defense, etc., but Bush’s snafu in Iraq is just too much. It overwhelms those issues which for 30 years have made me vote GOP. In addition to screwing up so far, there is zero evidence that he’s changed, or that he “gets it,” or anything...
Iraq is totally hopeless. Today, now, it is beyond any rational expectation of recovery. I cannot foresee anything like victory, not by any remote definition, such as “getting Iraq to slightly stable, barely functioning, almost worthwhile kind of place.” I cannot see how to get there. I can see us staying there for a long, long time. 150,000 US troops, well-armed and well-supplied, in secure bases, are not easy to dislodge and are not even easy to hit with high casualties. Our guys are very smart and very tough. The insurgency cannot “drive us out” or even inflict “unacceptable” casualties. What this means, combined with what I can see from internet debates is that … as long as we meet some threshold, as long the troops can hang on, then the “true believers” will say “There is hope. We are winning. Look at the ELECTIONS!” If we’re waiting for a defeat in battle, some military rout of the Americans, that is not going to happen. Do we then stay indefinitely, spectators to chaos? No Democratic politician will say it, but maybe they would be the party of “cut and run.”
How long does the party of “stay the course, even although we have brought things to this violent, fractured, unpromising, unending situation,” deserve my vote? If there is any magic formula, some way out (not that I can see one), at this point I have zero confidence in Bush’s and Rumsfeld’s ability to find it. - Commissar
Over at dailypundit.com (and also at hotair.com), similar responses to Bill Frist's call to bring the Taliban back into the Afghan government:
I have fucking had it with the Republican party. No mas. I was going to sit out the election, let the chips fall where they would. No, I'm gonna vote Dem. I want the Republicans to lose. They just don't deserve to win, and I'm in the mood to hurt someone for the betrayal I feel. May as well be George Allen and Virgil Goode.
Ace of Spades:
At least the Democrats talk tough about sending more troops to Afghanistan and killing Taliban fighters and capturing bin Ladin. If that really is no longer a GOP priority, then I am no longer a member of the GOP... The Democrats have complained for years the GOP wasn't serious enough about defeating Al Qaeda and the Taliban, that it was too focused on Iraq. Congratulations -- you just took a talking point and made it an established fact. Well, enjoy your minority status. The rest of us will try to rebuild to the extent we can a party that actually sees ending the Taliban and Al Qaeda as somewhat more critical than ending internet poker.
