Review of reports onThompson and Rangel.
Today I will comment on two articles I saw on web sites. The first is titled Thompson wary of long-term Iraq presence written By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer.
I plan to list the quotes of interest to me and then give my impression.
“DES MOINES, Iowa - Republican Fred Thompson warned Saturday that suggestions the U.S. could maintain a long-term presence in Iraq "would not be a good development," and he conceded that mistakes were made that are only now being rectified.”
I say that Iraq could be a long-term international partner and why should there be a problem with military bases in a partner’s territory, such as in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Making statements such as this may signal that Thompson does not know the importance of strategic partnerships and may be unable to be president.
Furthermore, I see his criticisms of how the Iraq war was handled as pandering to “political correct” people. I have written before that in to today’s modern society you do not fight wars on the battlefield. You fight them in the “public theater” which is composed all the liberal news stories and the people’s impressions and comments of those news stories.
There was no reason for the Bush administration not to have an optimistic outcome of military operations in Iraq. What do we want? Gloom and doom presidents, who are two scared of liberal news media criticism to do what is right.
In addition, the modern standards are low casualties, minimal financial debt, and not leaving the place worst then when you found it. I have heard experts say that for a five-year war 4000 deaths is not to many casualties. Just this week I was hearing people on talk radio mention how compared to other wars the war with Iraq has come out costing less. Moreover, I have no problem saying that Iraq is better off with out Sadam and company.
The following are more quotes from the article.
"It's hard to see that far in the future, but I would certainly hope not, that would not be a good development," the presidential candidate told The AP. "I would not want to predict that. I don't know why he did."
Asked to assess the prosecution of the war, Thompson was able to find faults.
"I think we clearly didn't go in with adequate forces the first time," the former Tennessee senator said. "Clearly we didn't understand the nature of what we were facing and that it was going to take a good while in order to get control of the situation."
His described his definition of success in Iraq:
"The average person being able to go to worship without fear of being blown up. ... Political leaders being able to meet without fear of being blown up. They key is stability, and that would signal a level of stability we haven't had."
I think when you can write a constitution and elect a government you have a certain level of stability. In addition, all this week I have heard of how dramatic the violence in Iraq has decreased. Therefore, in my opinion, though there has been a lot of violence, Iraq achieved stability right after the Iraqi people voted for their leadership.
The other story I will review is Republicans Welcome Rangel's Tax Bill as Election-Year `Gift' written by Alison Fitzgerald of Bloomberg.
On this article, I will voice my comments before the quotes. I am not surprised that Hillary wants to dismantle the American economy. It makes government social programs more necessary, consequently making her more important.
I am not a fan of Class Warfare. If the middle class wants more money, why don’t they curve their spending and increase their income.
I view the American economy as follows. Imagine a hot air balloon with all the performing members of society who manage their money well in the basket. The balloon is air born but it cannot reach the sky because all the slackers are holding on to the ropes that held the basket to the ground and do not want to let go.
The ropes are all the liberal political lies that have conditioned these people unable to manage their lives.
Thus, America will never have true success because there will always be a group of people who will always want to bring down everyone who achieves personal success.
It took me 20 years to learn financial responsibility, but at least I learned. What is wrong with the rest of you?
I work 80 hours a week. I do not spend all my money. I have started saving and investing. I am not taking out of society.
I wanted to be a doctor of psychology. Life turned me in to a taxi driver. However, I am not crying and/or lusting after my neighbor’s success.
Another point is it is about time the republicans stood up and put up a fight.
Okay, now I will qualify my remarks. Nothing is wrong with dreams. Something is wrong with envy. I have seen that life is better when we appreciate what we have and protect it.
I cannot see how wanting what your neighbor wants and not working for your fortune is going to help anyone and keep America strong.
The greatest resources a country has are her people. For a country to succeed her people have to be about the business of gaining personal success.
This personal success is different for everyone.
The quotes of interests are from the above mentioned story are:
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel has dropped a political bomb that Republicans say may derail his fellow Democrats' pre-election momentum.
Rangel yesterday offered a sweeping tax overhaul, which he dubbed ``the mother of all reforms.''
The proposal would raise taxes on higher-income families and some businesses, while cutting bills for the working poor and lowering the corporate rate.
Republicans accused Rangel and his party of trying to raise taxes by more than $1 trillion.
``Very seldom in politics do your opponents give you this kind of gift,'' said House Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri. ``Very seldom in politics do your opponents say, `If we could just elect a president and if we can hold onto the House and Senate, here's what we're going to do: We're going to raise taxes.'''
Of the party's top-tier presidential hopefuls, only Senator Hillary Clinton of New York commented on the plan: ``Senator Clinton and Representative Rangel share the broad goal of progressive tax reform,'' said Phil Singer, a campaign spokesman.
A memo from the National Republican Congressional Committee outlined how the party has ``gone on the offensive'' by sending out more then 60 press releases and scheduling more than a dozen television and radio interviews.