Stop the Presses!!!

Ok so maybe I picked a bad time to be out of the loop. We had Republican Presidential candidates snubbing a debate focused on “minority issues”, Bill O’Reilly being slammed by that moron Keith Olbermann and others for being a racists, Rush Limbaugh “supposedly” calling soldiers who oppose the war “phony”, the Jena 6, OJ back in the news…where to begin.

Well first off, I am sorry for being away. I actually was working toward a promotion on my real job and it came through (hooray) and now am back with a critical eye toward all things in politics, culture and items that I consider to be newsworthy.

So, we had a Democratic debate up may way in New Hampshire (actually up my way) and I wasn’t there for it but I did enjoy hearing most of the candidates announce or move away from the fact that they will pull out troops anytime soon. Here are some quotes from the CNN story entitled “Top Democratic candidates won't vow full Iraq pullout by 2013”.

"I think it's hard to project four years from now,” said Sen. Obama.

"It is very difficult to know what we're going to be inheriting," said Sen. Clinton.

"I cannot make that commitment," said former Sen. Edwards.

This honest response allowed the lesser candidates like Richardson and Dodd to of course vow that they would but in reality, there is no way in hell a true thinking person could commit to such a statement (no “read my lips” moment I guess).

What is amazing to me is how dismissive the top candidates are with their base that wants a commitment from them to pullout the troops now and of course has snappy slogans like “support the troops; bring them home”. Is the left in a frenzy right now hearing from their guys (sorry Hillary) that they are basically unable to make such a commitment? Now the Outspoken Roman knows that it is a fool’s errand to make any such statement and was critical of the candidates in the past making such stupid statements which were obviously politically motivated to pander to the base or were the result of incompetence and not examining the issue closely. Either way, it was scary that major candidates for the Presidential office couldn’t be honest until now that like it or not, we are in Iraq for a long haul and everyone better buckle down now and realize that.

One last note you Clintonites. So recall what Hillary said above. Why would she say something like that during the debate when in February 2007 she introduced the Iraq Troop Reduction & Protection Act of 2007 to the Senate? This Act in the words of the junior senator from NY would provide a way out of Iraq for President Bush. Clinton is quoted as saying “This plan is a roadmap out of Iraq. I hope the President takes this road. If he does, he should be able to end the war before he leaves office." So, if this plan is so great, why can’t Clinton adopt her own plan and make that commitment to the country?

Because she can’t. She is a phony who knows damn well that the troops are entrenched in Iraq and it would be foolish for her to say any different on the national stage. Most pundits think Clinton is playing to the center (in a sense assuming that she has the nomination and is actually running like she is in the general election). This is shameful. The troops and Iraq’s future is not a political football but a hard and fast problem whomever comes into office in 2009 has to deal with and cannot be fixed with a simple and ill defined act by the Senate. The troops deserve better.

- Outspoken Roman