(Cross-posted at My Left Wing, ePluribus Media, and my blog)Have I mentioned that I just adore Max Cleland? I would adore him if he never spoke a word. His sacrifice to our country, literally leaving parts of himself on the battlefield, would engender such adoration.
But he didn't keep his mouth shut on CNN's Situation Room just a little bit ago. The subject is the Iraq War, and Max didn't pull a single punch. Not one.
Make the jump.
Update [2006-10-12 23:42:26 by RenaRF]: Al Rodgers ROCKS. He provided the video clip - shoot into the thread and shower him with mojo love.
I'm transcribing this - it's worth it so you can read it.
BLITZER: Iraq, many experts believe, will be the key issue voters will consider when they vote in the midterm elections, now less than four weeks away. And part of both parties' strategies is to try to convince you that you'd be better off with them in control.
Joining us from Cleveland, the former Democratic Senator Max Cleland of Georgia; here in our DC Bureau Terry Jeffrey, he's the editor of Human Events. Thanks very much to both of you for coming in.
Senator Cleland, the President of the United States was very forceful yesterday in depicting you and other Democrats as being a party in his words of "cut and run". Listen to what he said.
[Begin clip of Bush]
BUSH: When you pull out before the job is done, that's cut and run as far as I'm concerned. And that's cut and run as far as most Americans are concerned. And so yeah - I will continue reminding them of their words. And their votes.
[End clip]
BLITZER: What other Republican strategists are saying, they're going to try to do to other Democrats what they did to you when you lost your bid for re-election in Georgia. What do you make of this Republican strategy?
This is where it gets good.
CLELAND: Well first of all, I'd like to remind the American people and the President that he cut and ran from Vietnam. So did his Vice President. I mean, they cut and ran from Osama Bin Laden. They're cutting and running from American veterans - they spend $8 billion a month in Iraq and underfund the VA by $6 billion a year according to the Congressional Budget Office.
This cut and run stuff is just bumper sticker stuff. It is not a plan to win, it is certainly not an exit strategy. So, we have 140,000 troops on the ground getting blown up and shot in a civil war, it's time to redeploy them, bring our Guard and Reserve home to guard our own borders and go after Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. It's still Al Qaeda, stupid. And that's what the President doesn't get.
Max is definitely not keeping his powder dry. He's aiming to use it.
BLITZER: You know, a lot of Americans agree with the Senator, Terry. In our most recent CNN poll we asked if you favor or oppose the US war in Iraq. Look at this: 32% say they favor it, 62% say they oppose it. That's the lowest number of support for the war since we've been conducting these polls over the past three and a half years.
JEFFREY: Well Wolf, I agree with Senator Cleland that cut and run can become a bumper sticker and it's really not going to be helpful for Republicans, but the truth is that a lot of Democrats like Senator Cleland voted to authorize this war...
Yawn...
JEFFREY: Now we have both a moral responsibility and a responbility to our national interests to make sure that in the way we get out of the Iraq war we don't entail greater consequences than we are suffering right now. So I think it is a good strategy for the President and other Republicans to point out that Democrats are not presenting a realistic, viable alternative for getting out of Iraq without bringing on consequences.
Republican talking point dreck, but I will point out that the tone regarding getting out is softer. He has NOT just said that getting out is uncalled for or wrong - rather, the way we get out matters. Surprising.
BLITZER: What is a realistic, viable alternative, Senator?
CLELAND: Get out. Redeploy. Take care of our own troops. I think that's what we're talking about here. We do not have a plan to win. Stay the course is no strategy. It is no strategy to win, it is no strategy to exit. We're just getting kids blown up. We've lost 2,700 kids over there, we've got 20,000 wounded, 10,000 wounded for life, maimed for life, and it's time to end this thing. Now the Iraqis are going to settle their differences. One way or the other. They've been at this for 5,000 years. Let them have it. Iraq it is not our 51st state. We've got to take care of our country - we've got to bring the Guard and Reserve home to take care of our country, we've got to focus our active forces - active covertly and overtly, on killing or capturing Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist cadre. They are the real threats to America right now.
Wow. I can't bold that whole statement enough. Max is using the rod thingy to pack that powder in...
JEFFREY: But Wolf, what Senator Cleland is not dealing with is the potential consequences of withdrawing US troops from Iraq now. How are we going to prevent a civil war? The problem we've had over the summer there is an intensification of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia...
I'd consider that a civil war. So what it is he wants to prevent?
JEFFREY: ...You have Iranian backed and armed Shia militia there you have Sunni insurgents who don't want ot give up the fight - how is Senator Cleland going to stop if he removes our troops from Iraq, Shiite civil war from breaking out all down the Persian Gulf?
BLITZER: What about that Senator?
CLELAND: If people don't understand that there's a civil war going on there, and more than 100 Iraqis die every day and that 3 out of 5 Iraqis want to kill Americans, then I can't make this point any more clearly. It is time to redeploy our forces from Iraq and bring them home and refocus on the real enemy.
He said it again. The powder is officially ready for use.
New subject: Polls showing more Americans now think Democrats would do a better job of fighting terrorism than Republicans, 45% to 40%, respectively. The panelists weigh in:
JEFFREY: Well, it is very bad news for Republicans politically, there's no doubt about it Wolf. But voters should remember the Democrats tried to stall the Patriot Act, many Democrats have opposed intercepting international communications of Al Qaeda in and out of the United States, they've objected to military tribunals for terrorists that we have detained, so I think on the merits the Republicans have the high ground - they've lost the political high ground - I think that is in large part the fallout from public dissatisfaction with the course of the war in Iraq. I believe that were it not for the public dissatisfaction with what's going on in Iraq, the Democrats would have no chance at this time of winning in November. However now, I think they have a very real chance.
Well that was kind of useless. I don't know how he's tying the Patriot Act to the sagging poll numbers. We don't know WHAT kinds of communications they're listening to so the Al Qaeda reference is useless. The military tribunal reference is ridiculous - I believe the courts were the ones who said it was ILLEGAL.
Max deals with it masterfully.
CLELAND: If a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his rear end. This has been a disaster - not just for the Republicans - for the country. We are four years into this war and we've lost a lot of fine young Americans there. It's time to redepoy our forces and bring the Guard and Reserve home and refocus on the real enemy. It is Al Qaeda stupid and this crash in New York should just remind us that it's been five years since 9/11. And if we don't get it now - that it's Al Qaeda stupid - we should be sent up the creek.
And he said it AGAIN!! Max literally fired the weapon with that one.
Wolf went on and asked some questions that aren't especially germane - I've transcribed what was important.
It's Al Qaeda, Stupid.
Update [2006-10-12 21:35:41 by RenaRF]: Ok - many many people pointed out my horrific use of "wet powder" in the original diary. They were right, so the powder is now being used not drowned. :-D