Say Anything Blog

The Democrats are being rather glib about the fact that they don’t care what General Petraeus or any other military or political official will have to say to them about Iraq this month.  Of course, this isn’t exactly news given that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was all but calling Petraeus a political hack back in June.

Congressional Democrats are trying to undermine U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus’ credibility before he delivers a report on the Iraq war next week, saying the general is a mouthpiece for President Bush and his findings can’t be trusted.

“The Bush report?” Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin said when asked about the upcoming report from Gen. Petraeus, U.S. commander in Iraq. “We know what is going to be in it. It’s clear. I think the president’s trip over to Iraq makes it very obvious,” the Illinois Democrat said. “I expect the Bush report to say, ‘The surge is working. Let’s have more of the same.’ ”

The top Democrats — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California — also referred to the general’s briefing as the “Bush report.”

Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Gen. Petraeus’ report was potentially compromised by the White House’s involvement in drafting it. “If the same people who were so wrong about this war from the start are writing substantial portions of this report, that raises credibility questions,” he said.

Of course, the fact that the law passed by the Democrat-controlled Congress requiring this status report on Iraq stated that it should come from the White House doesn’t matter even a little bit to Rep. Van Hollen.

This was pretty much my reaction to the whole thing:

Republicans bristled at the pre-emptive strike against the report. “Are these leaders asking the American people to believe that the testimony of a commanding four-star general in the U.S. Army should be discarded before it’s even delivered?” said Brian Kennedy, spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.

Remember when the Democrats were all like “listen to the generals!”?  I guess they only say stuff like that when it’s politically convenient.

I think this proves, once again, that the Democrats don’t care one iota about our efforts to stem the threats this country faces from the middle east.  They also don’t care about the mission our troops are fighting and dying for in Iraq. For them, this is all just politics.  No amount of testimony on Iraq from our highest-ranking military officials on the ground is going to change their minds about Iraq because winning, or even sound foreign policy, isn’t their goal in Iraq.

Their goal is here in America, and it’s simply beating the Republicans in elections.