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| Iraq |
| Democrats: Iraq fades as political issue... -Quagmire drying up |
| 2007-12-01 |
| Democrats: Voters shifting focus from Iraq Congressional Democrats are reporting a striking change in districts across the country: Voters are shifting their attention away from the Iraq war. Rep. Jim Cooper, a moderate Democrat from Tennessee, said not a single constituent has asked about the war during his nearly two-week long Thanksgiving recess. Rep. Michael E. Capuano, an anti-war Democrat from Massachusetts, said only three of 64 callers on a town hall teleconference asked about Iraq, a reflection that the war may be losing power as a hot-button issue in his strongly Democratic district. First-term Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-Kan.) — echoing a view shared by many of her colleagues — said illegal immigration and economic unease have trumped the Iraq war as the top-ranking concerns of her constituents. In an interview with Politico, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) attributed the change to a recent reduction of violence and media coverage of the conflict, saying there is scant evidence that more fundamental problems with the Bush administration’s policy are improving. Even so, he agreed voters are certainly talking less about the war. “People are not as engaged daily with the reality of Iraq,” Hoyer said. The change in mood perceived by Democratic lawmakers comes as one of Congress’ most vocal war critics, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), returned from a trip to Iraq and told reporters Thursday that “the surge is working” to improve security, even though the central government in Baghdad remains “dysfunctional.” On Friday, Murtha, chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, clarified his remarks. The surge, he said, “has created a window of opportunity for the Iraqi government,’’ which he added has “failed to capitalize on the political and diplomatic steps that the surge was designed to provide.” “The fact remains that the war in Iraq cannot be won militarily, and that we must begin an orderly redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as practicable,” Murtha said. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), who traveled to Iraq with Murtha over the Thanksgiving break, also agrees the surge is working, adding another high-profile Democrat to the list of lawmakers who believe there has been improvement. Like Murtha, though, Dicks still favors troop withdrawal and points out that political reconciliation in Iraq has been a failure. “There is a sense of normalcy you didn’t see before. In that sense, the surge is being successful,” Dicks said in an interview with the Seattle Times. “But there is no success on political reconciliation. From that standpoint, it’s not working.” The apparent shift in voter intensity about Iraq, also captured in some polls, shows how dramatically the political context of the war debate has changed from last summer. Democrats believed then that mounting public pressure would soon force Republicans to take flight from President Bush, allowing Congress to impose a more rapid end to the war on an unwilling administration. It has not happened yet, and if anything it shows Democrats are facing a stiffer challenge at year’s end than they had at the beginning to frame the public debate on their terms. Hoyer said the public clearly backs the Democratic view of the war: that it was a major foreign policy blunder that must be ended quickly. That is true, based on dozens of public polls over the past year. The diminished attention to Iraq, moreover, could end in an instant with a new burst of violence or other unfavorable turn of events. For now, however, Democratic leaders are reckoning with a more complex, if fragile, reality both in Iraq and their congressional districts. The military surge ordered by Bush over Democratic opposition is helping pacify pockets of Iraq, according to many official and journalistic accounts, with 175,000 U.S. troops showing at least temporary success in reducing violence and death. Cooper, who represents a moderate Nashville-area district, said Democrats "shouldn't be against good news" in Iraq. At the same time, even military planners fear the situation could quickly worsen once U.S. troop levels are reduced, or if delicately crafted ceasefires collapse. Continue reading our story |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #3 The Quagmire is drying up on account of the drought and global warming. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-12-01 17:19 |
| #2 The donks still can't accept that we might actually SUCCEED in Iraq, and are doing everything they can to make sure we don't. The American people are a bit more reasonable and optimistic. This will eventually hurt the donks across the board - maybe as early as 2008. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-12-01 13:59 |
| #1 The ongoing collapse of the housing bubble & the associated economic distress will most likely be the big issue of the 2008 election. It's one thing to oppose a war & quite another to be out of a job & your house foreclosed on. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-12-01 13:26 |