Wisconsin’s lawmakers chime in on the President’s Groundhog Day “strategy”:
Rep. David Obey, a Democrat who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said, “From what I’ve seen in the papers, I think this is just a last gasp, Hail Mary pass by the president, which ignores the fact that their policy has essentially produced an incredible disaster in that region of the world that will not be correctable for years to come.”
Sen. Russ Feingold, a long-term critic of the war in Iraq, said the president had it backward.
“We should be bringing our troops out of Iraq, not the other way around,” he said. “The American people’s message at the ballot box was loud and clear, and it is past time that the administration listened.”
Sen. Herb Kohl, a fellow Democrat, was more cautious.
“Because the administration’s execution of the war has been so badly mishandled, I want to hear and analyze the president’s proposal to see whether it will signal a genuinely new strategy instead of more of the same,” he said.
Rep. Gwen Moore, a Democrat, called the plan “exactly what the American people have said they do not want: a failed policy of ‘more of the same.”‘
Rep. Ron Kind used a football metaphor to describe the plan.
“What we need is a president capable of calling an audible rather than the same play over and over again,” he said. “I will have serious concerns if what the president is proposing is more of the same, only with more troops in harm’s way.”
Rep. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, said she strongly opposed the plan.
“In November, voters sent a clear message that they don’t support a war without end,” she said.
Freshman Rep. Steve Kagen, a Democrat, said that without a comprehensive plan, “any proposal to send more of our brave men and women into Iraq is just another example of this administration’s failure to appreciate and respond to reality.”
Republican Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner and Tom Petri declined to comment ahead of Bush’s speech, while GOP Rep. Paul Ryan said he was keeping an open mind.
“I want to hear the specifics of the president’s Iraq plan and get more details before drawing conclusions,” Ryan said. “… At minimum, any temporary increase in troop levels should be part of a concrete, achievable plan for stabilizing the area and turning over security to the Iraqis as soon as possible.”
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and sons Carter and Colton.
For those who say that everyone here will always disagree with Republicans, I believe that we all can agree with this:
Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., introduced a House resolution Friday that would require the president to receive congressional authorization to use military force against Iran.
The rats aren’t jumping ship, they’re trying to mutiny against Ahab before it’s too late for all of them.