‘Don’t talk about Plan B?’

‘Why not?’

‘We don’t have a plan B.’

‘You don’t have a plan B?’

‘Interns haven’t gotten to it yet.’

“Among the missing material: the record of a videoconference in the White House Situation Room in which former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown said he warned senior officials about the dire situation in New Orleans, but was greeted with “deafening silence.â€? Also missing: records believed to include messages and conversations involving the president, Vice President Dick Cheney and their top aides during the days in late August and early September 2005 when the Katrina disaster was unfolding and thousands of city residents were flocking to overcrowded shelters and hanging onto rooftops awaiting rescue.”

Lieberman not only is the only Democrat to back Bush’s surge, he simultaneously announced he was abandoning his Katrina probe of the missing records, which was a prominent campaign pledge in his re-election bid. These two in combination + Bush’s pick of him for a bipartisan congressional liason committee is annoying most Democrats.

His position on Katrina is what bothers me, his position on the surge was totally predictable. Lieberman’s decision as chair of Homeland Security NOT to investigate the WH on no-bid contracts or their actions during the crisis, took my breath away like Ford’s pardon of Nixon. Brown claims he told the WH how badly everything could turn out without quick action on their part, and heard complete silence in response. Now we’ll never know without a subpoena from Lieberman. He has just given Bush a pass on the second biggest blunder of his administration- was it in exchange for Republican support of his re-election? What self-respecting Democrat would behave like that? He knows that he holds the Democrat’s frail majority in the palm of his hand, and knows they can’t complain about this.

Indeed, indeed. He envisioned withdrawal in 2007 before supporting the surge for 2007. I wonder what his Dem voters think about his campaign speeches now (the Republican ones seem to have been much smarter in this case, they got what they wanted).

I agree with your assessment on the Dems. I think the Dems are trying to create political cover for the party by soliciting broad support for redeployment, or at least, killing the surge. This seems only fair to me, that since a bipartisan vote got us into this mess, a bipartisan vote should get us out. That way, no one party takes the hit in ’08. BTW, most of the GOP senators who have voiced concerns about the surge are from blue states and are up for re-election in ’08. So much for political courage.

Gray- Yes I agree. So much for the countless posts and comments about Lieberman’s integrity. He showed us in the first few days of the 110th Congress that he is all about personal ambition and the exercise of political power in the Senate, and no longer about the wishes of his constituency on Katrina. He should be exposed and reviled by all Americans for this cowardly move- totally corrupt in my view. Wonder what Connecticut’s Democratic voters (the 30% who voted for him) are thinking now?

And, watching that bootlicker Lieberman’s recent actions, it sure is necessary for the Dems to get some Republicans on board to pull the plug.

Democrats do not want to be painted in ‘08 as the party that pulled the plug on Iraq, causing our catastrophic defeat. They will talk big about the power of the purse, but the walk won’t match the talk, unless the GOP joins them for their stroll down defunding lane.

Yes exactly.

Why do you think they’re acting like they’re acting? It’s not all fake, I am sure, they are trying to create a mood in which Republicans will feel that they have no choice but to ‘pull the plug’ with the Democrats.

Well, that’s one of the reasons for it imo.

Though I am a registered Democrat, I could support Hagel over Hillary , because while Hillary is holding her cards, Hagel has laid them out on the table for all the world to see. McCain has the maverick rep, but it is Hagel who has emerged as a minority leader who is not afraid to buck this White House. Like McCain, he is tough, honest, experienced, and a Vietnam vet. Unlike McCain Hagel has not had his lips plastered to the presidential posterior. McCain has stood up to Bush when the cameras were rolling, Hagel just shoots from the hip. Hagel gives me hope that I will have cause to vote for a Republican again in my lifetime(sorry I am in a metaphorical mood- I know this comment has too many cliches in it.)

Sure. I you count ‘I wanna screw some Iranian diplomats today!’ as a plan…

The ‘plan’ worked, didn’t it?

See?

Sure. I you count ‘I wanna screw some Iranian diplomats today!’ as a plan…

Well, to be honest, I haven’t really counted all the slight corrections of course under Bush’s command, Michael. I just wanted to imply that imho Bush is an intellectual heavyweight when it comes to planning not unlike Ed Wood. But maybe this is unfair to the genius director…

Yes, not many people made as many plans as Bush has. He has experience in planning. That should count for something, shouldn’t it?

Well, to be honest, I haven’t really counted all the slight corrections of course under Bush’s command, Michael. I just wanted to imply that imho Bush is an intellectual heavyweight when it comes to planning not unlike Ed Wood. But maybe this is unfair to the genius director…

Ok, some critics of the Bush administration may say that the Iraq plans have been constantly altered in the face of desastrous results and that Bush now finally arrived at Plan 9 from outer space…

but in his defense: he always thought that the other 8 plans would succeed. If he would have accepted the possibility that they would not succeed, things would have been even worse in Iraq right now.

Or something.