Do the Democrats really need an alternative to the Bush \u201cstay-the-course\u201d policy in Iraq? The Republicans think so. I\u2019ve thought so. But the reality is even if both houses turn Democratic, there is little the Democrats can do to effect change in Iraq. Given this administration\u2019s view that it has extraordinary powers to conduct war without Congressional approval, challenging its authority in court would run the remainder of the Bush\u2019s tenure and then, we hope, become moot. So we\u2019re stuck with Bush\u2019s belligerent ideology for another 2-1\/2 years.<\/p>\n
In a strategy memo<\/a> by the progressive web site MyDD and the non-partisan 527 group Courage Campaign<\/a>, they suggest that simply running against Bush\u2019s policy is not only a winning strategy but an intellectually honest one. The groups say that polling conducted in the aftermath of the special election in California\u2019s 50th district between Francine Busby and Brian Bilbray, reveals that Bush\u2019s failures resonate with the public.<\/p>\n – 63% of Republican voters believe that Bush has made some or a lot of mistakes in Iraq. Holding Bush accountable, something that rarely has been done in connection with many of his failures in life, trumps offering an alternative, including a withdrawal plan.<\/p>\n While the country is open to the idea of partial or total troop withdrawal, according to our As the memo states, the debate over Bush\u2019s competency is over. Even I\u2019m beginning to feel sorry for the guy. Not as sorry as I feel for the country that has endured the most inept administration<\/a> in the country\u2019s history, but clearly his reputation is shattered, never to recover in our lifetime. But for larger reasons, he must be held accountable: Accountability is fast becoming a lost concept in this country, where corporate executives plunder companies too often without consequence, public figures spew hate only to recover after public mea culpas and entertainment concerns reap profits by producing misogynist music while hiding behind the first amendment.<\/p>\n Republicans will holler that \u201cwe can\u2019t play the blame game,\u201d but accountability may just be a conservative concept that Democrats can win on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do the Democrats really need an alternative to the Bush \u201cstay-the-course\u201d policy in Iraq? The Republicans think so. I\u2019ve thought so. But the reality is even if both houses turn Democratic, there is little the Democrats can do to effect change in Iraq. Given this administration\u2019s view that it has extraordinary powers to conduct war… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– 34% of Republican voters believe that Bush has definitely or probably not told the truth
\nabout the situation in Iraq.
\n– 34% of Republican voters believe that Bush should probably or definitely be held
\naccountable for the situation in Iraq.
\n– 40% of Republican voters believe that the Democratic Party is more likely to hold Bush
\naccountable for mistakes in Iraq<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\ndata in CA-50 existing withdrawal messaging loses badly to Republican \u2018cut and run\u2019
\ncounter-attack messaging. This suggests that voters are seeking a set of actors in
\nCongress who will tell the truth about the war and hold Bush accountable for mistakes.
\nThis is in contrast to an immediate end to the conflict and \/or yet another withdrawal plan
\nthat Congress cannot enact. Voters intuitively understand that Congress doesn\u2019t run the
\nmilitary, and that regardless of the outcome of the 2006 election, Bush will be in charge
\nof the military until 2009. (emphasis added) <\/strong>As such, framing the election as a choice between rival Congressional military plans sacrifices the credibility of Democratic candidates who can only legitimately promise to hold hearings, restore congressional oversight of military matters, locate and identify blame, and serve as a check on a widely disliked and distrusted President. (emphasis original)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n