Dick Lugar calls administration incompetent

[quaoar]

He and Joe Biden were on This Week with Stephanopoulos this morning and he was asked why Bush has spent only about 5% of the $18 billion appropriated for Iraq reconstruction. He replied that it was because of the "incompetence of this adminstration."

Biden just sort of shook his head -- in disbelief that Lugar actually said it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. If lugar said it

Bush is about to get abandoned

[Heath.Hunnicutt]

11. Lugar is honest and smart

Lugar was my Senator during Gulf War I. I wrote all my representatives, stating that I was against the war.

Only Lugar wrote an honest reply in favor of the war. His letter explained that oil is a strategic resource upon which the U.S. depends.

Lugar has a long, respected history in the Senate. He considers this administration "incompetent."

This could change my dad's vote. That, and Kerry promising to exempt retirees from capitol gains taxes.

[kodi]

23. and he detests bush and his stupidity in foreign affairs

lugar found out early how dumb bush was when bush attempted to gut the lugar/nunn legislation that provided US dollars to support the dismantling of soviet nukes and pay ex-soviet nuke scientists who were either going to starve or sell their knowledge on the black market.

to help pay for his tax cuts initially bush cut this lugar/nunn act funding completely, but had to reinstate most of it when lugar squawked.

most of us can agree to the wisdom of paying ex-soviet scientists not to help terrorists build nukes, but bush didn't.

all so he could have his tax cuts

i bet lugar votes for kerry

[LiberalFighter]

18. It would be interesting to know...

how the lack of support by people like Senator Lugar, Hagel, McCain effects people that normally vote Republican.

[BootinUp]

2. That will hurt bush some

I would say Lugar is about ready to let Bush loose. Course I didn't see all of his comments.

[Blue Gardener]

3. I'm missing all the good shows this morning

Stupid cable has been out all day! Thank goodness for DU or I wouldn't have any idea what was going on.

[Rose Siding]

4. Until Lugar says the words,

"vote for Kerry", his opinion shores up the idea that things aren't going well (probably in a demographic so wide that the repubs KNOW they have to address them) but that repubs should still back Bush.

[madaboutharry]

5. Maybe moderates like Lugar and

Hagel actually want Bush to lose in November. They may think that if he continues in office, things will become such a disaster that the Senate and House will be lost for a good long time.

[tedoll78]

15. That's a good theory.

I have a theory along that line.

Moderates want mixed government because it gives them power. It also prevents legislation from going too far in one direction. Since the odds of the Democrats winning back Congress are smaller, it would be far easier to put the Presidency into Democratic hands. It would also give moderate Republicans more power since their buddies would still be in control on Capitol Hill.

Now, if we can condense this into an argument for the swing voter seeking moderate government.. "The GOP will likely retain control of Congress. Vote for Kerry to force compromise and balance."

Of course, our party's leaders would never seek to demoralize our congressional candidates in this manner. But we can still use it as an argument in our own individual lives..

[quaoar]

6. And then Stephanopoulos asked Biden

Why Bush has only spent a fraction of the money, saying that Bush surely must want all those Iraqi troops to be trained, etc. etc.

Biden said the only thing he could figure is that Bush is trying to maintain the status quo in Iraq until the November election and that he would take care of things (i.e. launch offensives) after our election. Biden said if Bush tries to do that, he'll discover that he will "inherit the wind."

[coloradodem2005]

7. "Inherit the wind"?

What does he mean?

[geek tragedy]

8. Biblical phrase

"He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind."

[quaoar]

9. Proverbs 11:29

[asjr]

10. And that great Biblical scholar Shrub doesn't know what that means.

[quaoar]

17. Bush probably thinks

It refers to farting.

[LiberalFighter]

19. Talking about the Bible...

Journalists worth their salt should drill him on different parts of the Bible. Asking him what it means.

[quaoar]

20. Ask him what Christ meant

when he said, "Let he who is without shame, cast the first smear." Or something like that. LOL

How about, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's..."

Or, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle then for a rich man to enter into heaven."

[A_Possum]

12. More evidence of media bias

The incredibly damning things that the REPUBLICAN committee members are saying about Bush and Iraq don't get near the play that Dan Rather's supposed mistake is getting.

[lanparty]

14. The media has such a short memory ...

...

The rule by which current predictions are measured should be the evaluation of past prediction. Our press has no memory.

* "If we pass this tax increase, our economy will lapse into recession"
* "There is plenty of money to both pay off the debt and cut taxes"
* "My tax cuts go largely to the bottom, not to the top."
* "Our troops will be greeted with flowers."
* "We know where the weapons are."
* "Rogue nations with missles are the largest threat to our nation."
* "I can do my job effectively from Crawford."
* "Outgoing Democratic staffers trashed the White House and stole the silver off Air Force One."


The press needs to go back and judge what the administration has said through their campaign to today. They need to review the ENTIRE Bush record.

And if they want to evaluate CBS' "liberal bias", they should go through all the echoing CBS did of all those lies they bashed Clinton with.

[A_Possum]

16. They don't want to remember

It's becoming amazingly clear that the media are simply determined to destroy democracy in this country by making sure they do not act as a free press, so that Bush will stay in power.

Maybe they figure that propagandists will be well-paid in the future.

[lanparty]

13. We must hire the best and brightest ...

No affirmative action for important government positions. That was the howl from conservatives when Bill Clinton was making his cabinet appointments.

Isn't the appointment of reconstruction administrators nearly as important. Shouldn't "affirmative action" be left out of those hiring decisions. Surely seasoned experts in civil engineering, civil planning, law enforcement and diplomacy could be found. Surely, there were countless veterans of the peace corps who could lend sensitivity and experience in dealing with foreign cultures to the task. Surely, we would have veterans of Kosovo reconstruction available to apply their invaluable experience in Iraq.

Who did the Bush administration apply for the job. The children of right wingers with ZERO experience in these domains. They put fresh college graduates whose only experience (and prime qualification) was membership in the college Republicans in charge of $18 billion in reconstruction funds.

That my friends is "old school" affirmative action. That my friends is one of the larger reasons that large portions of Iraq are now so hostile that US forces cannot enter.

Kerry's pledge on this point "I will not send the inexperienced children of political associates to do the job of seasoned professionals. I will NOT insult the Iraqi people by binding tying their fate and prosperity to political payoffs like the Bush administration."

[A_Possum]

21. It's one of the most infuriating things about this whole mess

It was never ever ever about terrorism. It was always about the ego of Bush and Republican party. They were gonna "show us how it's done." So they had to trash everything and anything, like Kosovo and the Clinton experts on terrorism, just to show THEY had the "better" way to do it all.

Yeah, right.

This country is mired for the next generation's lifetime, at the least, in the horror of an endless war with Islam because these of these guys macho strutting opinion of themselves.

And they've turned out to be clowns. Utterly incompetent clowns.

[quaoar]

22. Here's a link to the NY Times story on this

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/international/middleeast/19CND-POLI.html

G.O.P. Senators Voice Rising Concerns on Iraq
By BRIAN KNOWLTON,
International Herald Tribune

Published: September 19, 2004


ASHINGTON, Sept. 19 — Reflecting rising concerns, one senior Republican senator said today that the United States was in "deep trouble" in Iraq, another denounced administration "incompetence" in Iraqi reconstruction, while two others said that unless American-led forces quickly retake several areas from insurgents, credible elections cannot be held in January.

The senators' comments, made on televised political programs, underscored mounting worries even within President Bush's party about the murderous attacks of recent weeks, and about the coalition's failure to bring some Iraqi cities under control.

The comments of Senators Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina came as the interim Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi, was telling a television interviewer that "we are winning" the fight against what he said were increasingly desperate insurgents.

< snip >

Mr. Lugar, asked why only $1 billion of $18 billion appropriated last year for Iraqi reconstruction had been spent, replied, "Well, this is the incompetence in the administration." The Foreign Relations Committee chairman was appearing on the ABC News program "This Week."