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2005-11-16 Home Front: Politix

Why was Sen. Jay Rockefeller talking to Bashar Assad about the president's "plans" for Iraq?

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Posted by anymouse 2005-11-16 09:30|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The Dhimmidonks like playing rough - or so they think. The scorched-earth policy that they've pursued for the last year deserves an ass-kicking. Kicking this asshole out of the Senate, not to mention the Intel Committee, a sensitive position which should have given him pause precisely where he took it upon himself to play at being President, would be an appropriate response. Do it you gutless Senate Pubs, burn him.

Posted by .com 2005-11-16 10:43|| 2005-11-16 10:43|| Front Page Top

#2 Two possible flaws in this reasoning. First of all, even a US Senator is generally free to "express their opinion" about what they think the president is planning to do -- in the absence of information or knowledge on the subject.

Second, he almost certainly had a State Department briefing before he went on his trip, for any number of reasons. They may have proposed to him that he tell the Saudis, Jordanians, and Syrians this with the express purpose of sending a message to Iraq that the US was not just jerking around, and that they meant it this time.

Traveling congressmen and bureaucrats are often used for message purposes. They both fly under the radar, and can have 2nd tier meetings without the press and formality getting in the way. Just two guys chatting over martinis.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-11-16 11:11|| 2005-11-16 11:11|| Front Page Top

#3 Anonymoose...I hear what you are saying and understand that is a common way to back-channel. But don't you think it odd to use a donkey...and a donkey that is not sympathetic to the administration...as an emmisary?

Posted by anymouse">anymouse 2005-11-16 11:30|| 2005-11-16 11:30|| Front Page Top

#4 There are two faces in Washington, the public face and the private face. Senators who, before the cameras, lambaste and snarl at each other, then retire to the cloakroom and are laughing and joking with each other 10 minutes later.

Of course, the politics is always there, but there is a lot more common ground then they let on. For example, both sides rely on bureaucratic mandarin experts to explain reality to them; then they turn to their Hill Rats to get the party line and the political finesses of the situation.

Often times, legislation is submitted almost tongue in cheek, knowing that it has no chance, or is just a stupid waste of time. But when something dead, damn serious comes around, both parties reach agreement quick and there is minimal b.s. As the saying goes, "The bigger the fight, the smaller the stakes".

As far as Rockefeller goes, if he was being used as an emissary, I'm sure the State Department was very careful to follow the political ground rules, so that he would neither be embarrassed or be able to embarrass the White House.

If this is the case, then this story will go nowhere. If he was being a loose cannon, then that is another matter.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-11-16 13:57|| 2005-11-16 13:57|| Front Page Top

#5 This article is approprietly placed in SAST section.

Posted by DepotGuy 2005-11-16 15:51|| 2005-11-16 15:51|| Front Page Top

#6 Lol. Well, I guess almost anything's possible. That Bush would send Rocky, when he has Condi and a number of other people in State who actually work for the President, is a stretch, lol. In the Rosemary Woods 18 minute gap League. But please, spin away, it's very entertaining.

Posted by .com 2005-11-16 20:02|| 2005-11-16 20:02|| Front Page Top

#7 was Joe Wilson unavailable? Jeebus

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-11-16 20:07|| 2005-11-16 20:07|| Front Page Top

#8 Okay, my first assumption was that he was a loose cannon who knew nothing. The second was that he was under the radar enough to spread a message for the administration. The third alternative is that he was *used* by the administration as a tool to spread that same message.

This third alternative is not impossible, that he was fed information to leak to the bad guys, not knowing that he was being used.

But I look at what the situation was at the time: officially, we were trying any number of means to get Saddam to cut it out. By sending R to the neighboring countries to let them know we weren't kidding, would almost certainly get back to Saddam. And Saddam might not believe us, but his spies in Syria, Jordan and Saudi would get that message back to Bagdad ASAP.

It also lets those countries know that they had better start pulling their people out of a soon to be hot zone, and not to get too friendly with Saddam right now.

So, whether or not R was doing what George wanted him to do, one way or the other, or was just a bumbling fool shooting off his mouth doesn't really matter. It had the same effect.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-11-16 20:28|| 2005-11-16 20:28|| Front Page Top

#9 Pre-War Situation: One doesn't need much of a crystal ball if one has eyes and more than a few neurons.

Side Note: The Left conveniently forgets that the UNSCOM inspectors were allowed back into Iraq for one reason only - and it had dick to do with the UN: Bush began sending large numbers troops and the necessary matÃ©riel for them to fight to the Gulf. Period. Full Stop.

Same for Baby Assad and everyone else Rocky "visited" on his "trip". They could see for themselves: Bush is dead fucking serious. Somehow I seriously doubt Bush required the services of the ranking opposition party member of the Senate Intel Committee to communicate with anyone in the region.

I will grant one observation: it was not as clear then that Rocky was a card-carrying Kool Aid swilling flaming BDS basket case. The revelation of the depths to which he had sunk came a bit later... in Nov 2004, methinks. The unhinging of the Dhimmidonks on that beautiful Wednesday morning reached epidemic proportions, lol.

I see no reason why Rocky shouldn't be grilled to well-done and lose a few fingernails and toenails over his moronic mission to the Bad Guyz on the eve of war. Far better people have suffered much more for much less in this poisoned mess.

Okay, this was interesting. I'm done.

Posted by .com 2005-11-16 21:46|| 2005-11-16 21:46|| Front Page Top

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