Does someone want to defend Daschle on these statements

[wuushew]

-snip-

Daschle told state chamber of commerce representatives meeting in the South Dakota capital that he is satisfied with the way things are going in Iraq.

"I give the effort overall real credit," Daschle said. "It is a good thing Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. It is a good thing we are democratizing the country."

He said he is not upset about the debate over pre-war intelligence on weapons of mass destruction, an issue that has dogged President Bush as Democratic presidential contenders have slogged through the primary season.

"We can argue about the WMD and what we should have known," Daschle, the Senate minority leader, said.

Daschle took a different tone when he and other congressional leaders met with Bush in late January to discuss the intelligence snafu.



http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2004/02/20/news/local/news05.txt

[pinto]

1. nope

[adriennel]

2. CAN someone defend Daschle?

I just want to know how to get rid of him and select a minority leader with a SPINE!

[RichV]

3. The only defense

is that he's trying to keep his Senate seat out of John Thune's possession. South Dakota ain't DU.

[truthspeaker]

14. Truth is the truth regardless of party

He could easily turn opposition to the Iraq war into a strong position on national security. Remember during the Clinton admin when opposition to sending troops overseas unnecessarily was a REPUBLICAN position? Daschle could have talked about the need to keep our forces ready for real threats; the need for accurate intelligence; the need for smart decision-making; and most importantly of all, the importance of having a commander in chief who does not lie to Americans!

Anyone who thinks the Iraq war is an issue of conservative vs. liberal or hawk vs. dove has fallen for the Bush propaganda.

[distortionmarshall]

4. <sigh>....

he's the minoirty leader, but he's got a tenuous hold on his senate seat within SD.... he's trying to hold onto it.....

so this makes him even wussier than he would normally be....

the dems need to put someone into the leadership role whose home seat is safe, so that that leader can speak out loudly....

that's about the best defense i can come up with..... :)

[BayCityProgressive]

7. I hope Daschle mantains his senate

seat. He is from a conservative state. He should NOT be leader however. Someone from the North East should be leader.

[Loonman]

5. Screw Daschle

Wimp.

[curlyred]

6. I don't need to read the statements to say "no"

there's no defending a pink tu-tu democrat like that man.

[boxster]

8. Look, folks. It's South Dakota.

I grew up there, and I still have family there. It's very conservative, and Daschle CANNOT be fully anti-war and CANNOT openly question Bush on a daily basis unless you want him to lose his Senate seat.

I realize that this approach is going to piss off the purists, but once-in-a-while, we need to look at realism vs. idealism. Regardless of what you think of him, we *need* him to keep that Senate seat.

I think we tend to forget that Congresspeople represent their constituents, and to keep those constituents, they need to be aware of the public perception of issues like this.

Besides, Daschle has plenty of other Congresspeople questioning Bush's record in Iraq on a daily basis. We don't need Daschle to rant and rave about it for it to be effective overall.

[wuushew]

9. Thats all good and fine, but why did he give the SOTU rebutal then?

n/t

[distortionmarshall]

10. once again.....

<sigh> he gave the rebuttal cuz he's the minority leader...

it's been said here a few times now that

(a) daschele isn't _totally_ to be blamed for his wussiness, cuz his senate seat isn't secure, and

(b) because his senate seat isn't secure, he shouldn't be minority leader....

is there something that these two don't answer sufficiently?

[boxster]

13. He probably shouldn't have, but he's the minority leader.

I'd actually have preferred that the SOTU rebuttal be given by someone who was in a better position to heavily criticize Bush and his policies.

[lovedems]

11. Excellent point

I have been one to point the finger at Daschle over the last 3 years but I never took into consideration his constituents. That will be something I remember next time I want to scream at him.

[Lucille]

12. I can't defend him, but the article also includes an explanation

though it is not explicitly stated:
---
Daschle also praised South Dakota's National Guard troops and their employers Thursday.

The state has the nation's highest per-capita enrollment in the National Guard, something that has been significant as troops have been called up and rotated into active duty during fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"We ought to be proud of that, and I think we all are," Daschle said.
----

I'm sure many of Daschle's constituents have not yet wised up to the fact that their loved ones have been betrayed. In fact, you could argue that many are still firmly stuck in the denial stage of grief. Not that this justifies Daschle's statement of praise, but one can be sure than Thune would try to twist any criticism of Bush into an "attack" on our "brave men and women." I notice that Daschle sticks to his criticism of Bush's intelligence, notes Bush's failure to secure international support, and turns his sharpest criticism to a more neutral topic that everybody can be p***ed off about:
--snip
The $167 billion in planned defense spending combined with Bush's tax cut packages and homeland security spending are leading the federal government to borrow $1 million per minute.

"We're hemorrhaging at a rate unlike anything in the nation's history," Daschle said. "We are going to have a mess for our children and grandchildren that ought to embarrass us."

--

That's odd kind of praise, don't you think? Perhaps Daschle is, in his own quite way, trying to nudge voters on past denial and into anger. Perhaps, in a reversal of Mark Antony, he comes to bury Ceasar, not praise him. OTOH, no way should Daschle's local politics become national politics. He's got to step down as minority leader.