Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Democrats play nice with Bush defense nominee

Prior to the Nov. 7 election a number of key Democrats and liberal pundits called for the firing of Secy. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The Democrats handily won the election. In order to divert media attention from the Democratic victory and buy himself more time in Iraq, Bush fired Rumsfeld (although immediately before the election he blatantly lied saying that Rumsfeld's job was safe).

Bush then selected an old Washington hand Robert Gates, who is known to comply with whatever his bosses want. Among other misdeeds Gates was intimately involved with the Iran-Contra deception of the 1980s.


The corporate media pundits, following the right-wing definition of the situation, have argued that the Democrats still have to prove that they can play the anti-terrorism game with the big boys and "keep the American people safe." The fact that it is the Bush administration and its puppet brigade in Congress that have totally failed the American people (not to mention the Iraqis) doesn't seem to have shaped the post-election discussion. It remains for the Democrats to prove that they are capable of standing up to the terrorists.

It seems that they took a step toward "manhood" Tuesday. It wasn't yet their bar mitzvah, but it was definitely a step in the "right" direction. In other words, instead of offering a serious alternative to the Bush Iraq mantra "we will not stop short of victory," whatever that means, the Democrats are still chanting "we can fight the war better than you can." When clearly what the people want is an end to this Bush fantasy.

(from MSNBC.com)

"Robert Gates won approval by a Senate panel Tuesday to be the next defense secretary after a daylong hearing in which he said the U.S. is not winning the war in Iraq and there could be a "regional conflagration" if the country is not stabilized.

"At a Senate confirmation hearing that was long on praise for Gates and short on criticism, the man President Bush picked to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld said he is open to new ideas about correcting the U.S. course in Iraq. He said the war would be his highest priority if confirmed as expected.

"In a closed-door meeting following five hours of open testimony, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 21-0 to recommend approval of Gates' nomination, said panel chairman John Warner, R-Va."

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