“Start spending our resources here”
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I had a chance to see Sen. Jim Webb’s endorsement of Leslie Byrne for Congress, which in all likelihood is a payback for her endorsement of him in 2006, and was struck not by its blatant defeatist mentality (which is certainly there), but this key line buried at the end of the literature in the small print:
“Now Leslie has signed onto a detailed plan to end the war in Iraq, to bring our brave troops home and to start spending our resources here (emphasis mine) where they are needed most.”
This is what gets Leslie Byrne the label “liberal”. It’s also a line I have heard uttered by Barack Obama several times in the last few months.
The reality is that the money going to the government to pay for this war should NOT remain in the government coffers. These resources are not for “spending”; they’re for winning the war. And when the war is over, regardless of whether that is preemptively achieved by liberals like Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and Byrne, that is not a blank check for Democrats to suddenly go on a shopping spree.
Sometimes I wonder if that’s their only opposition to the war — so they can have more money to spend domestically.
Jim - It’s almost like you’ve forgotten all the years the GOP couldn’t spend your money fast enough - or the GOP give-a-ways to GOP-dominated companies like KBR, Halliburton, Blackwater, etc. Talk about war-profiteering, the GOP has mastered it.
I for one would just like to see some sense brought to government spending - that doesn’t include bridges to nowhere (thank you GOP), or prescription drug give-a-ways to the manufacturers (thank you GOP).
Seriously, if the worst that happens is that we actually start investing our money in our crumbling infrastructure vice the Iraqi one, I’ll be one happy voter.
It’s one of my major objections to the war - that it’s bankrupting us, and that intervention overseas breeds interventionism at home. Obama is full of crap, he’s not anti-war. If you vote to fund something, you’re not against it.
“Start spending our resources…” They aren’t her resources - they are my tax dollars! As I heard McCain say at a rally, talking about spending tax dollars on some wacky study, “That’s your money! That’s YOUR MONEY they’re talking about!”
Is it just me, or does that flyer talk about the war in about the same tone you would use to talk about a friend with a bad boyfriend? “I opposed her going out with him. She just needs to admit that dating him was a disaster and she should withdraw from the relationship and leave him. Those two in a happy long-term relationship? It is just not possible. I just _know_.”
I wonder, Has Byrne thought for two seconds about what winning the war will mean for the entire Middle East for decades to come? A functioning democracy (if not just like ours) that isn’t completely opposed to us, in the crucial geographical location Iraq is in? Wouldn’t a congressman or -woman be thinking about that?
Guess not…
Two wrongs don’t make a right, Ragnar.
And if you haven’t been paying attention to this blog, the seeds of change in the GOP have been well sewn.
Jim - but, if you support McCain there’s no change from the current policies. I realize you really don’t have a choice, but that’s my opinion.
As for the “it’s my tax dollars” argument - no it’s not. It’s Chinese money, we don’t pay even close to enough in tax dollars to run this country of ours. Frankly, we should be paying more. We ask thousands of Americans to go to war, to suffer and to die to support and defend this nation, and yet there are many Americans who don’t want to part with a dime to support our nation. It’s very very sad.
Sadly spending rises as a process of time. As you knowm soney saved from one category pretty much always get moved to another. This in not unique to Byrne or Webb; it is almost universal among politicians.
“Frankly, we should be paying more.”
An attitude of the left I hope the voters see more of this fall.
BK - yes, we should be paying as we go. This idea of borrowing ridiculous amounts of money because some Americans would rather charge their bill to their children’s future on a Communist Chinese credit card is absolute insane.
If we want good roads, if we decide as a nation for x program, WE need to pay for it. Not borrow money because it is politically easier to give Americans all the programs we want, but then not charge us for it.
W’s war in Iraq is a great example. The nation decided to go to war via Congress. Some folks may not have liked it, but OUR elected officials made that decision. Now Bush has made it quite clear that most Americans will not only not bear a financial cost for this war - but the vast majority will also not bear a human cost.
There is a cost to everything we do. That’s what’s wrong with the right today. The right wants all the social programs and all of the government largess, but unlike the fiscally responsible left - the GOP wants to pass the bill to our children leaving them a financially ruined nation.
Ragnar, paying cash for roads? You’re opposed to paying for infrastructure through debt?
Your financial wizardry would bankrupt every state government in the nation and cripple our economy.
What’s next? Everyone should pay cash for their homes. Their cars?
You are right that the vast majority of Americans will not bear a human cost for the war. I’m shocked that you wish that wasn’t true.