so desperate are they to prevent any idea of our actions in Iraq being the correct ones to take, that democrats are preemptively dismissing the report to be issued by General Patreus.
Joyner says: [1]
Democratic leaders are dismissing the “Petraeus Report” as the “Bush Report,” S.A. Miller [2] reports on the front page of today’s Washington Times.
Congressional Democrats are trying to undermine U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus’ credibility before he delivers a report on the Iraq war next week, saying the general is a mouthpiece for President Bush and his findings can’t be trusted.
“The Bush report?” Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin said when asked about the upcoming report from Gen. Petraeus, U.S. commander in Iraq. “We know what is going to be in it. It’s clear. I think the president’s trip over to Iraq makes it very obvious,” the Illinois Democrat said. “I expect the Bush report to say, ‘The surge is working. Let’s have more of the same.’ ”
The top Democrats — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California — also referred to the general’s briefing as the “Bush report.”
Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Gen. Petraeus’ report was potentially compromised by the White House’s involvement in drafting it. “If the same people who were so wrong about this war from the start are writing substantial portions of this report, that raises credibility questions,” he said.
Republicans bristled at the pre-emptive strike against the report. “Are these leaders asking the American people to believe that the testimony of a commanding four-star general in the U.S. Army should be discarded before it’s even delivered?” said Brian Kennedy, spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.
So let me understand this, here.
What Dick Durbin and Harry Reid are saying, here, is that so bereft of honor is Petreus, that he’s sending men to fight a battle he knows is lost. And why? to Curry favor with a lame duck administration with approval numbers in the 30’s?
Sorry, but I don’t buy it. One does not get to his position of importance by being that blind to the political conditions surrounding them. That he is quite so tone deaf , simply does not ring true.
Further, as Joyner says:
…questioning Petraeus’ integrity is simply stupid. They confirmed his appointment with fanfare mere months ago; to accuse him of being a shill for the administration at this point is sure to backfire.
McQ agrees [3], saying in part:
How political has this war become? Well I think this sort of an attempt to destroy the credibility of someone who has taken a very difficult job with the unanimous backing of the Senate and who has apparently done his level best to implement a new strategy and make it succeed is, frankly, despicable, and points to how sick party politics have become in this country.
Those who have preemptively attacked Gen. Petraeus and impugned his character before ever hearing a single word the man has to say aren’t statesmen, aren’t leaders and aren’t worthy of the title of “representative”. They’re small minded political hacks more interested in the welfare of their party and the power they can gather for it and themselves than the best interests of the nation they claim to serve. They are intending to willfully ignore obvious progress in Iraq for the sake of political gain.
…
I think what is going on is both shameful and disgusting, and for those engaged in such, yes, I do question their “patriotism” for whatever good that will do. I also question their intelligence, judgment, credibility, ethics and most of all their principles.
I’m in full agreement, here… and believe me when I tell you, that it will, next week when the General delivers that report. If he comes at this thing, in his usual style, which is to simply whose with credibility, the democrat leadership is going to find its credibility seriously damaged with the American people. But perhaps, there’s the rub; can it possibly be more damaged with non democrats ? I doubt it. And that’s the reason behind this action.
McQ also points, perhaps without meaning to, at the reason the Democrat leadership is so whacked on all this… [4]
In a post entitled “New Twist In Saga Over ‘Petraeus Report’: There Will Be No Report”, Think Progress [5] says (while faithfully plugging the Durbin characterization):
In the latest twist to the ongoing saga over the
PetraeusWhite House report, a senior military official tells the Washington Times today that there will actually be no report at all:A senior military officer said there will be no written presentation to the president on security and stability in Iraq. “There is no report. It is an assessment provided by them by testimony,” the officer said.
The only hard copy will be Gen. Petraeus’ opening statement to Congress, scheduled for Monday, along with any charts he will use in explaining the results of the troop surge in Baghdad over the past several months.
To recap, first the public was incorrectly led to believe that Gen. David Petraeus would issue his own report about the situation on the ground in Iraq. Then the Los Angeles Times reported that the so-called “Petraeus report” would “actually be written by the White House.”
Hello!? Where have you freakin’ people been? This all became common knowledge quite some time ago. Heck we even wrote a post on August 27th explaining it [6] for those who still didn’t understand the point. There isn’t a “Petraeus Report”. There never was a “Petraeus report”.
Yet we have “progressive” blogs which still haven’t figured that out.
What I’m suggesting here, is that Durbin and Reid and the rest of them, are attempting to respond to their whacked out leftie base. Let’s face it; Looking at the lay of the political landscape, it would be relatively easy to conclude that there is nothing that could damage the credibility of the democratic party’s leadership with non democrats. It’s already been thoroughly destroyed enough that no amount of care and common sense is going to resurrect it. There is no one, outside of Democrat nutjobs, IE; their base, who would vote for them if they were the last people on earth. These are people who know the only possibility they have for retaining power, is if they can whip their base up enough to get the votes needed. And they really don’t care about anyone BUT that Leftie base.
Update: Linked by the WSJ’s Washington Wire. [7]
Thanks, gang.