1. Pepperland
    Joined
    30 May '07
    Moves
    12892
    24 May '09 18:35
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124299917547447295.html

    (extract from the text)

    GOP Sees Road to Revival Starting at Guantanamo
    Fights Over Prison Closure, Transfer and Treatment of Detainees Gives Republicans Momentum for First Time Since Election


    WASHINGTON -- Republicans have been able to drive the Washington agenda for the first time in months, and dent the top two Democrats' armor, by hammering away on antiterror policy and keeping the debate squarely in the GOP comfort zone of national security.

    Some Republicans see in events of the past two weeks -- the culmination of a carefully developed GOP strategy and missteps by Democrats -- the beginning of a political comeback, and they plan to keep pressing the issue. Democrats say they still hold an advantage with the public on a matter more urgent to most Americans: fixing the economy.

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat whose claim that the Central Intelligence Agency misled her had brought matters to a boil, tried to change the conversation Friday. She refused to answer any further questions about whether CIA officials were forthright with lawmakers about aggressive interrogations of suspected terrorists. "I have made the statement that I'm going to make on this," she told reporters at her weekly news conference. "I don't have anything more to say about it."

    President Barack Obama, meanwhile, followed his Thursday face-off with former Vice President Dick Cheney with another defense of his counterterror policies during a commencement speech at the U.S. Naval Academy on Friday. "We uphold our fundamental principles and values not because we choose to, but because we swear to, not because they feel good but because they help keep us safe," he told the graduates.

    The president has been compelled in recent days to offer a more detailed explanation of, among other things, his plan to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that houses terror suspects and others deemed "enemy combatants." Even fellow Democrats have distanced themselves from that decision over the past week.

    The setbacks suffered by Mr. Obama and Ms. Pelosi this week may prove fleeting, and neither figure's power appears seriously compromised. Ms. Pelosi's support remains strong among Democrats and her hold on the speakership isn't in doubt, party officials said.

    "This is just a dust-up that occurs often inside the Beltway," South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat and chief vote-counter for his party, said in an interview. "She's not lost any ground with her caucus."

    Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said focus groups conducted this week across the country suggested the CIA issue isn't resonating with average Americans. "People are focused on [the] economy, security, health care," she said.

    Yet a recent Gallup poll suggested Ms. Pelosi is taking a beating on the CIA matter. In a May 19 survey, 47% of respondents said they disapproved of her handling of it, compared with 31% who approved; 23% had no opinion.
  2. Joined
    08 Oct '08
    Moves
    5542
    26 May '09 12:46
    for the GOP, it's very tempting to lay back, see what the Dems propose, and then start howling about what "how all those evil liberals are going to destroy America". This approach may well give the GOP a certain amount of "momentum", depending on how much fodder the Dems give them. The problem is that the GOP continues to offer very little besides lots of scary talk about liberals, socialists, and taxes. They offer few reasons for actually voting FOR them instead of merely voting against the other guy.

    On the issue of national security, the GOP position seems to be that the only way we can do it is by rounding up a bunch of so-called terrorists, send them to Guantanamo, subject them to torture, and let them all rot.

    Is this really the only option? What if we took them same approach to violent criminals in general -- round up a bunch of people that look like they're "up to something", send them all to Alcatraz, deny them a trial, and torture them daily. And suppose that this approach actually causes a significant drop in the crime rate? Should we do this? Even the GOP hasn't proposed anything like this. Why not argue that "we're in a drug war, so all drug users can be viewed as enemy combatants? -- or we're in a war against gangs, so any gang member can be viewed as an enemy combatant? - or we're in a war against illegal immigration...etc

    Maybe the Dems plan is a bad one. The GOP needs to offer a better one - something they'd be willing to apply to American citizens as well as foreigners.
  3. Pepperland
    Joined
    30 May '07
    Moves
    12892
    26 May '09 18:03
    Originally posted by Melanerpes
    for the GOP, it's very tempting to lay back, see what the Dems propose, and then start howling about what "how all those evil liberals are going to destroy America". This approach may well give the GOP a certain amount of "momentum", depending on how much fodder the Dems give them. The problem is that the GOP continues to offer very little besides lots of ...[text shortened]... - something they'd be willing to apply to American citizens as well as foreigners.
    Agreed.

    The GOP doesn't have policies anymore, its policy is to be against the democrats.

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