Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Bush Speech [UPDATED, With Links and Quotes]
What did you think?

[UPDATE: Here's a transcript of Bush's remarks announcing an escalation in the war, including sending troops to monitor Iran's activities.

Here's Senator Durbin's official Democratic response - which I thought was pretty good, for such things.

Obama's response:
Tonight, against all military advice to the contrary, the President announced his intention to plunge us ever deeper into the quagmire of Iraq. I have no doubt that the President is sincere in believing that his strategy is the right one. But escalation has already been tried and it has already failed, because no amount of American forces can solve the political differences that lie at the heart of somebody else’s civil war.

I opposed giving the President the broad, open-ended authority to wage this war in 2002 partly because I feared we would arrive at this point -- a point where the ideological pursuit of an ill-defined victory would overwhelm the reality of the facts on the ground. We must not risk more American lives in service of a failed policy, but do what’s necessary to force a political settlement in Iraq so that we can bring our troops home and redouble our nation’s efforts in the wider struggle against terrorism.
H. Clinton's response:
Based on the President’s speech tonight, I cannot support his proposed escalation of the war in Iraq.

The President’s Iraq policy has been marred by incompetence and arrogance as his Administration has refused to recognize the military and political reality on the ground.
John Edwards' pre-response (given the day before):
Escalating the war in Iraq, which our own generals agree won't help, sends the wrong message to the Iraqi people, to the region, and the world. In order to get the Iraqis to take responsibility for their country, we must show them that we are serious about leaving, and the best way to do that is to actually start leaving and immediately withdraw 40–50,000 troops. Once the U.S. starts leaving, the Iraqi people and other regional powers will be forced to step up and engage in the search for a political solution that can bring an end to sectarian violence and allow reconstruction to take hold, creating — as should have been done long ago — Iraqi jobs for Iraqis.
Also if you'll scroll down this lengthy CNN transcript you can read Larry King's converation with Obama and Edwards following the President. And at Olbermann's home page right now is video of Obama's conversation with Keith, where he was very good I thought.]

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