Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

US & Int'l Papers

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Bush STILL Winning

Wednesday September 19, 2007

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The Mullblog!

Check out the new Mullings Blog.

You really should take a look.
There's some good stuff there.

On the Road in
Orlando, FL & Austin, TX

Dear Mr. Mullings:

Is it true, as Susan Estrich said on "Fox & Friends" yesterday morning, that you called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "a linguini?" If so, what does that mean?
Signed,
The National Association for Clarity of Thought
I categorically deny I called Harry Reid "a linguini" which, even for me, is a bit obtuse.
What I said was "Harry Reid has a spine like an overcooked linguini" for having not had the backbone to denounce the MoveOn.org anti-Petraeus ad.
I hope that puts that horrid Estrich rumor to rest. And further, makes it even more unlikely I would ever qualify for a government post requiring Senate confirmation.

From the "I Told You So" Department comes report after report that Congressional Dems are in full retreat on their scheme to force the Administration to withdraw from Iraq before General David Petraeus, et. al. think they should.

Sharp-eyed readers may remember that Monday's MULLINGS was titled: Bush Won. MoveOn Lost. The Washington Post has a story headlined: Democrats' Iraq Push on Hold

The lede by reporter Shailagh Murray:

Unable to garner enough Republican support, Senate Democratic leaders said yesterday that they are abandoning a bipartisan effort to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq by next spring.

I forget what the logical error is called, but note Murray writes that "Democratic Leaders" are "abandoning a bipartisan effort."

If only Democratic leaders are in favor of the effort, how can it be "bipartisan?" If only one party is in favor of something isn't that the working definition of "partisan?" Did all the editors over at the Washington Post take the early buy-out?

But, I stray.

In Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, Mullfave reporter David Rogers ledes his piece on the collapse of support for the partisan Democratic attack on Administration policy thus:

In what could be a serious setback for Senate Democrats, Republican Sen. John Warner (R-Va) says he is "reconsidering" his support of a defense amendment requiring all U.S. troops returning from Iraq be guaranteed more time at home before their next deployment overseas.

The New York Times wrote that partisan Senate Democrats "suffered a setback on Tuesday as a senior Republican who is influential on military policy told colleagues that he was reconsidering his earlier support for the proposal."

This is crucial because Sen. Warner recently announced his retirement so he is not posturing for a 2008 re-election campaign. When Warner was in favor of an amendment which would have extended home leave for troops who had been deployed he became the darling of the MoveOn.org crowd.

Now? See ya' John. Thanks for playing.

Also on the Iraq front The Hill newspaper's Manu Raju wrote:

Another measure that will come up [in the Senate] would be one by Democratic presidential hopeful Joseph Biden of Delaware to partition Iraq into its three rival ethnic factions with a decentralized federal government.

No explanation about how, without restoring the Coalition Provisional Authority (which was the entity which was the occupying entity in Iraq) the US Senate might actually pull that off, but never mind.

Biden, who at three percent, is not exactly closing quickly on Democratic favorite Hillary Clinton, may be considering a race for President of � Kurdistan and, thus, needs a partitioned Iraq to have a place to run.

Here's an important fact: The Congress has only been back from its August recess for a couple of weeks. If the public sentiment for troop withdrawals was as overwhelming as the Popular Press suggests, Members of the House and Senate would have raced back to Washington with their voting cards in hand to get exactly that done.

That they have not done that - and, in fact, appear to be moving in the opposite direction following the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus, tells us a great deal about the wisdom of the American people.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to the Washington Post piece and the Gallup Poll on Dems. An amusing Mullfoto from a stop in Florida last week and a Catchy Caption of the Day. Also, if you haven't yet, you should check out the Mullblog!. There is interesting stuff there and, you can respond for the whole world to see.

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