Great Analogy

[chuam]

The Republican driver says "I gotta plan...come on Dem, get in my car". The Dem is told it's the right car, the car is safe, and the road ahead is clear. Once in the car, the Dem realizes he's in fact not in the right car, he's definitely in the wrong car. By this time, the Dem realizes the Republican driver of the car is not sure of his destination. Shortly thereafter, the driver loses control, veers through the guardrail and off a cliff. While midflight towards the canyon bottom, the Dem is screaming for his life and cursing the driver. The driver turns to his passenger and irately says...."you gotta better plan"?

[Bill McIntyre]

Its absolutelyfrigging wonderful!

[ITSABOUTTIME]

and they are riding in the Republicans car because he worked hard and bought one and as usual the Dem rode for free and bitched

[bgbill]

It sounds like Ted Kennedy was driving the car.

[Steel Shootin']

It sounds like Ted Kennedy was driving the car.

Gotta admit, that was funny as hell! Bret loves to drop in a Kennedy zinger whenever possible! That was too easy... :lol:

[chuam]

and they are riding in the Republicans car because he worked hard and bought one and as usual the Dem rode for free and bitched

I'm trying to figure out if you actually got the analogy (Iraq war) and ignored it or blatantly missed the point.

And yes Brett, I did laugh at your reply........... :D

[mcjaret]

"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction."
-- Pres Clinton, Feb 17, 1998

"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face."
-- Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998

"We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the US Constitution and laws to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."
-- Ltr to Pres Clinton signed by Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry and others. Oct 9, 1998

"Sadaam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection program.
-- Rep. Nacy Pelosi Dec 16, 1998

I could go on, but why bother? Everybody believed he had the stuff long before Bush came along. His so-called "lies" just repeat what Dems said when they had the White House. It was just a question of what to do about it.

To complete the analogy, the Dem sold him the car, told him the road was clear and that the car was in great shape, gave him the map and dared him to wind it up. Now that the trip threatens to interfere with his tee time, the Dem wants out.

[Bill McIntyre]

I could go on, but why bother? Everybody believed he had the stuff long before Bush came along. His so-called "lies" just repeat what Dems said when they had the White House. It was just a question of what to do about it.

Yes, it was just that question. Clinton contained Saddam for all those years with what former CentCom commander General Anthony Zinni affectionately called "fewer people than go to work in the Pentagon every morning."

The only thing we know for sure is what Bush did. He was being advised by ideologues who had long advocated invading Iraq and just saw 9/11 as the way to talk him into it. Gore would not have been advised by that gang, and maybe would have been smart enough to evaluate information on his own. Maybe he would have let the inspectors have the additional time they wanted, and maybe he would have listened to Scott Ritter when he said that there was no threat.

We can never know for sure what a Dem would have done, but in spite of all those quotes, a Dem didn't get us into this mess, and a Dem didn't ignore the advice of his military commanders and so badly mismanage it.

[mcjaret]

Resolution Authorizing the Use of Force in Iraq, Oct 2002

House 296-133

Senate 77-23

I was unaware the Republican majority was ever that high. Appears to be one of the most bi-partisan bills in recent history. I've got a lot more quotes from that period showing those same Democratic leaders who are so outraged by the war now were all in favor of knocking off Sadaam then.

Sometime when I have more time, I'll tell you about a conversation I had with Scott Ritter in early 1999, just after he quit the weapons inspection team in protest over the refusal of the UN to use sufficient force to compel Sadaam to comply with the weapons resolution.

"What if" is a great game, but not part of the real world. Life is a series of decisions made with imperfect information. If they'd known then what they know now, somebody named Goldberg would have popped Hitler on a street corner in '28. If the battle plans for Antietam hadn't been lost and discovered by the North, you might need a visa to come visit Florida. If Clinton had accepted the offer to deliver Osama to the US in 1998, maybe 9/11 wouldn't have happened and none of this would have come to pass . . . or maybe something a lot worse would have happened. A Pres Gore might not have made the same mistakes as has Bush, but well could have made others as bad or worse following 9/11. Right now we have to play out the hand we've been dealt.

Eisenhower is a national hero, but poor intelligence analysis and mismanagement under his watch cost 20,000 Americans killed, 40,000 wounded and 20,000 captured at the Battle of the Bulge (less than a month, not the 4 years we've been at it here).

Unfortunately, we all prepare for the last war. Desert Storm was a relative cake walk, so too many people expected another one. I agree that Bush and Rumsfeld failed to commit enough troops or to plan appropriately to control the country after we had taken it.

No one yet has come up with a good way to decompress the ethnic and religious hatreds built up over centuries and kept under pressure by a savage dictator (see Yugoslavia after Tito.) Hell, until relatively recently, the Irish and the British were blowing themselves up regularly. They were all supposed to be educated and civilized.

Pummel them into a lull, declare victory and tell them not to mess with us again on our way out. Playing, the blame game of "tis all your fault" is pure politics, counterproductive and bullshit.

[bgbill]

Gotta admit, that was funny as hell! Bret loves to drop in a Kennedy zinger whenever possible! That was too easy... :lol:


Ted does make an easy target, but the analogy, while not perfect, is pretty close and pretty funny as well. :thumps:

[Bill McIntyre]

No one yet has come up with a good way to decompress the ethnic and religious hatreds built up over centuries and kept under pressure by a savage dictator (see Yugoslavia after Tito.)

That is one of my favorite talking points. With such a recent example of ethic and religious hatreds boiling over when the dictator was gone, you might think it could have occurred to us that the same might be true in Iraq.