Sunday, November 13, 2005

The President has a hissy

Yesterday, President Bush was here in PA, at Tobyhanna. At first glance, I was really amused. Sen Rick Santorum, the senator liberals love to hate, and who I feel is a personal embarrassment, was not with Bush. He was at a Veterans Day event in Philadelphia. Santorum's people keep saying it was a scheduling problem, but I have my doubts. I believed the Senator is trying to distance himself from Bush. Then, as if to confirm that suspicion, Santorum said that the White House shares the blame with the media for problems in Iraq.
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., took a rare swing Friday at President Bush, saying the war in Iraq has been less than optimal and that some blame for that lies with the White House.


Now that kind of in fighting between Republicans usually makes me smile. But our President decided to have a hissy at the Veterans day event he attended.

President Bush used Veterans Day to strike back at critics of the war in Iraq. He told an audience of veterans and military workers in Pennsylvania that his political rivals are sending the wrong message to troops -- and the enemy -- by questioning the rationale for the war

I feel his comments were completely uncalled for at a Veteran's Day celebration. Politics has not place at an event to honor our veterans. And definitely not the politics of fear. He sounded mean and petulant. The worst part is:
In his speech, Bush asserted that Democrats as well as Republicans believed before the invasion in 2003 that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein possessed banned weapons, a conclusion that was shared by the United Nations, he said. He pushed back against any implication that his administration had deliberately distorted the available intelligence and said the resolution authorizing the use of force had been supported by more than 100 Democrats in the House and Senate based on the same information available to the White House.

Let's get real. All of us who believed in the WMDs did so in a large part because of what the White House said. So because we believed they were truthful then, we aren't allowed to believe them to be liars now?

Then he said:


These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will.

As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them.


I think our soldiers deserve to know that their elected officials are making certain that the soldiers were not sent to war on false pretenses.

2 comments:

Hippoclites said...

I think you're right Julia. The speech was a disgrace. Compare Kennedy to Bush on freedom:

"That strength will never be used in pursuit of aggressive ambitions--it will always be used in pursuit of peace. It will never be used to promote provocations--it will always be used to promote the peaceful settlement of disputes.

"We in this country, in this generation, are--by destiny rather than choice--the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of "peace on earth, good will toward men." That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: "except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

Passages from remarks prepared but never delivered. Dallas, Nov. 22, 1963

Best,
H

Claire said...

Using Veteran's Day to further one's political agenda is in truly bad taste.