Thank you, America!

[yesman065]

Glatt - its not that it was specifically said, its just the attitudethat seems to dominate. I knew going into this that my opinion would be very unpopular with the majority, but I still haven't heard anything that would cause me to alter my opinion. It SEEMS to me that the democrats didn't really WIN seats, the Republicans LOST them. And there is a huge difference there. I don't see where the democratic candidates direction or ideas (clears throat) were the reason for them being elected. It was simply a backlash against the Republican party.
Unfortunately, many of the republicans that were not re-elected are paying the price and not the person people were aparrently voting "against." Thats a serious flaw.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by yesman065

It SEEMS to me that the democrats didn't really WIN seats, the Republicans LOST them. And there is a huge difference there. I don't see where the democratic candidates direction or ideas (clears throat) were the reason for them being elected. It was simply a backlash against the Republican party.
Unfortunately, many of the republicans that were not re-elected are paying the price and not the person people were aparrently voting "against." Thats a serious flaw.

I'd agree with most of your post. But your conclusion doesn't make sense. It's not a flaw at all. The majority of those who voted think the country was headed in the wrong direction. So they voted (some of) the bums out. Bush is now seriously hindered in pushing his agenda. Thats what the majority wanted out of this election, and that's what they are getting.

The Democrats aren't going to be able to do jack now that they have Capitol Hill. Bush will fight them at every turn, and all the moderate republicans lost their seats. It's just fiercely partisan Republicans, fiercely partisan Democrats, and a smattering or moderate Democrats left now. Gridlock.

To use a car analogy, this election was about putting the brakes on. The next election will be about a new direction, if any. Or maybe taking the brakes off again. We'll see.

[yesman065]

Originally Posted by glatt

The Democrats aren't going to be able to do jack now that they have Capitol Hill. Bush will fight them at every turn, and all the moderate republicans lost their seats. It's just fiercely partisan Republicans, fiercely partisan Democrats, and a smattering or moderate Democrats left now. Gridlock.

Great and I'm supposed to be happy about that because. . . .? ? ? ? The big complaint after the 1st gulf war was that we pulled out too fast and didn't finish the job, now that we are trying to do that and germinate a democratic form of gov't into a part of the world that has known nothing other than dictatorships and tyranny for - like - ever, we should change directions and "put the brakes on." ?!?!? Thats where I differ I guess. The last thing we should be doing in this situation where we have deployed all these troops is to give them, the enemy and the rest of the world the impression that we are NOT going to finish what we started AGAIN. This election was a huge defeat for America not a political party per say, but the country as a whole. I couldn't give a rats ass about either party - its this amazing and wonderful country that I care about and this last election has made us look like a bunch of idiots with NO direction at all. Who would trust a gov't or a people that starts something and repeatedly changes after getting involed and finding that the work to be done is hard or messy or whatever. This is NOT an easy situation - it sucks, but it has to be done and we have to follow through with our, collective, word. Doesn't ANYONE else see that? Ugghh (not directed at anyone, just the situation as a whole)

[glatt]

Yup. The situation sucks. And the American public is fickle. They supported the Iraq war when it began, and now they don't.

But how long do you give it to win a war like this? And shouldn't you expect to see some progress? At some point, shouldn't you look at the lack of progress, and the fact that we don't control one square inch of Iraq outside of the airport base by Baghdad, and draw the conclusion that we aren't winning? At that point shouldn't you contemplate cutting our losses? The overwhelming majority of Iraqis now think that Iraq was better under Saddam than under the US. They all hate us, not just the insurgents. It's that bad there. We already lost the damn war. You can keep hanging on to save face and claim we haven't lost yet, but the reality is very grim. Is it worth 50 soldiers a month so we can claim we haven't lost yet?

The only way I see to get victory out of this war is to triple the number of troops. We should have done that in the first place. I don't see it happening . Neither party would support that.