Dean On Bush’s ‘Stay The Course’ Strategy For Iowa And Missouri
Today, President Bush will bring his failed ‘stay the course’ policy on Iraq to the Midwest. With even the most ardent Republicans fed up with President’s failed strategies, Bush will appear at rallies in Missouri and Iowa in a last ditch attempt to help the struggling campaigns of Republicans on the ballot this November. Instead of going on the offensive during these midterm elections, Republicans who have rubber-stamped Bush’s disastrous agenda are now playing defense.
“President Bush’s failed, ‘stay the course’ rhetoric is not only bad for America but has been a drag on Republicans on the ballot who have rubberstamped the White House’s failed agenda,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. “The President continues to stand by his failed Iraq policy that actually creates more terrorists. With today’s reports of more dangerous incompetence, it is clear that President Bush is determined to stay the course at all costs and with no oversight. You simply can’t trust Republicans to keep us safe. The American people are fed up and want to change course. Democrats are offering the American people a new direction that includes a strategy for victory in Iraq that redeploys our troops to better fight the war on terror.”
Dangerous Republican Incompetence On Iraq
Bush Administration Put Iraqi Nuclear Bomb Blueprints On The Internet. “Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to ‘leverage the Internet’ to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein. But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.” [New York Times, 11/3/06]
Republican Lawmaker Inserted Provision Into Law, Ending Oversight In Iraq. “Investigations led by a Republican lawyer named Stuart W. Bowen Jr. in Iraq have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces. And tucked away in a huge military authorization bill that President Bush signed two weeks ago is what some of Mr. Bowen’s supporters believe is his reward for repeatedly embarrassing the administration: a pink slip. The order comes in the form of an obscure provision that terminates his federal oversight agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, on Oct. 1, 2007. … The termination language was inserted into the bill by Congressional staff members working for Duncan Hunter, the California Republican who is the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and who declared on Monday that he plans to run for president in 2008.” [New York Times, 11/3/06]
Republicans Should Be Worried About Turnout
Bush Event Today In Iowa Will Draw One-Fourth The Crowd Of 2004 Rallies; “Lackluster Enthusiasm” Among Republicans. “GOP offices in Le Mars and Sioux City handed out all of the 2,500 free tickets soon after the White House announced the visit on Tuesday. … At two Bush rallies during the 2004 campaign, including one just a day before the election, more than 10,000 supporters packed the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City.” State GOP leaders sensed “lackluster enthusiasm among local GOP voters” in the area. [Sioux City Journal, 11/2/06]
Democrats Making Inroads In Places Like Springfield, Missouri. “Tucked in southwest Missouri, near Arkansas and Oklahoma, Springfield is home to 200 churches and five Christian colleges, including Jerry Falwell's alma mater, Baptist Bible. Republicans in Springfield outnumber Democrats by a 2-to-1 margin. … McCaskill thinks her close race against incumbent Jim Talent (R) will hinge on winning votes in places such as Springfield, where Democrats in recent years had virtually given up trying to break the GOP's lock on culturally conservative voters.” [Washington Post, 10/9/06]
