A Democrat and a Republican give Obama & the GOP a lesson on what REAL bi-partisianship is:

[brentspeak]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/17/AR2011021705822.html

The solution in Afghanistan: Get out

By James P. McGovern and Walter B. Jones
Friday, February 18, 2011; 12:00 AM

No one, it seems, wants to talk about http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/afghanistan-pakistan/index.html">the war in Afghanistan. This week the House debated a budget bill that is touted as reflecting new fiscal restraint, yet borrows tens of billions more for the war. In an hour-long http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/25/remarks-president-barack-obama-state-union-address-prepared-delivery">State of the Union address last month, President Obama devoted less than one minute to the conflict. Given the investment and sacrifices our country has made for nearly 10 years, the phones in our offices should be ringing off the hook with calls from those who are tired of being told that the United States doesn't have enough money to extend unemployment benefits or invest in new jobs.

snip

Simply put, we believe the human and financial costs of the war are unacceptable and unsustainable. It is bankrupting us. The United States should devise an exit plan to extricate ourselves from Afghanistan, not a plan to stay there four more years and "then we'll see." This doesn't mean that we abandon the Afghan people - rather, we should abandon this war strategy. It is a failure that has not brought stability to Afghanistan and has not enhanced our own security. As the retired career Army officer Andrew J. Bacevich has written, to die for a mystique is the wrong policy.

It is easier for politicians to "go along" rather than make waves. But we were elected to do the right thing, not what is politically expedient. The discussion of Afghanistan shouldn't be about politics, which we acknowledge are difficult, but what is right for our country. And the right thing is to end this war.

James P. McGovern, a Democrat, represents Massachusetts's 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House. Walter B. Jones, a Republican, represents North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District.

[RandomThoughts]

1. I feel that way in my personal struggles also.

Those with far more then they need or earned, should pay the beer and travel money that is due to me. They can't win, although I don't have to win.

[jeanpalmer]

2. "It is bankrupting us'

No kidding. Obama is bankrupting us. And for what?

[ProSense]

3. Too bad Jones can't convince the rest of his party to act. Still

today is not a good day to laud Republicans who voted to defund Planned Parenthood. He also voted to repeal health care.

Screw Jones.