Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks interviewed Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA06) about what the Democratic majority in Congress is planning to do to get us out of Iraq.
Lynn Woolsey: I’ll tell you one of the things — and you’re just going to hate this — because I hate it. But, there’s this sense that we don’t have the votes to do what we need to do, the right things to do, so we’re not going to do anything, virtually. And what I say is, okay well if our troops, our wonderful troops over there say, “Well, you know, this is really hard and I don’t know we can win this battle, so I think I won’t do it.” I just think we are looking at this so wrong. And I think the people of this country…89 percent of Americans polled are saying that our economy is directly related to our involvement in Iraq. I mean, they get it. We shouldn’t be there in the first place. It’s bringing our country down and our economy down. So I would think that the reason they made us the majority party anyway was so that we would do something about it.
The entire interview is available here. I’m out of words to express my disgust. Hopefully, you aren’t and you can contact your congresscritter and remind them that even if they’re calculating on you not voting for another Republican majority, there is always a “write in the blank” option on the ballot. That includes all incumbent Republicans. There isn’t a safer action for Congress to make, given the polling of how Americans feel about the war and yet, they don’t feel they can get the votes. Unbelievable. How about this as a reason? We can’t afford this anymore.
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I like her analogy. She’s dead on (no pun intended).
First!
my life is now complete. I think I’ll go end it all now.
$170 billion more??????????????? You have to be pulling my freaking leg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CK @ 2:
‘Sorry, not just yet. lol
What can they do? How about impeachment hearings. Lets get all the dirty laundry out on a daily basis and see if that doesn’t change things a little.
…and I have given up on Democrats.
Time for a new Constitutional Convention. Our alleged “representative” government isn’t even trying anymore.
Time for a new Constitutional Convention.
Another politician that thinks; ‘their job is too hard….’
Boot ‘em all out!
we need more progressives and less democrats. i cant wait for the end of the byrds, liebermans, and clintons.
The ads are really getting out of hand here. Now we have infomercials?
democrats have given up being democrats.
psssssst…hey pelosi! don’t-schedule-the-appropriations-bill-for-a-house-floor-vote
This brings us back to …
RON PAUL .
There’s nothing you you can do about it, it’s a two party system.
Homer: “Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos.”
emphasa @ 14:
we have a ONE party system. It just APPEARS like two parties thru the magic of TV.
Nicole Belle points out that the Democrats “… don’t feel they can get the votes” to stop the war/occupation. Unfortunately, liberals and Democrats continue to propagate this myth. The Democrats do not need enough votes to overturn a veto, if this is what Ms. Belle is implying. Whenever Bush [or the next president, Democratic or Republican] says that he or she needs more money for the occupation, those in congress can end the occupation by simply not voting for the bill. If no bill comes before the president [liberals should not be fooled. If a Democrat is elected president, he or she may very well attempt to keep the occupation going] the president cannot then veto a bill which has not been placed before him or her. As Congressman Kucinich has attempted to point out, apparently to no avail, there are already enough funds available in the pipeline to provide for the welfare of the troops in Iraq.
Congress certainly has the power to end the occupation by not voting for a funding bill. But they apparently do not have the courage or common sense to do so. So much for believing that those in office actually believe in supporting the troops.
Reinstate the draft. Problem solved.
This is why the Democratic controlled congress has a low approval rating.
Impeachment is off the table-Pelosi and Harry Reid must go!
The spineless Dems only care about getting reelected.
Need term limits and a populist movement.
not to be rude, but i didn’t need rep woolsey to tell me the obvious.
casper46 @ 17:
… for warmongers only.
There’s plenty of money locked up in Rich Republican stowaway bank accounts and we shouldn’t waste it on stoopid skuuls and stoopid hellth kare when we can fit turrists over ther. It’s guns and butter now and always. Gotta say…tax cuts for the rich has kilt this gummit and economy.
“Rep. Woolsey Admits Democrats in Congress Are Giving Up On Iraq”
They gave up on the Constitution too.
They gave up on the Truth (JFK and beyond)
They gave up on the Rule of Law.
They gave up on the Bill of Rights.
They gave up on the Vote being sacred.
These effs gave up on everything except the importance of getting re-elected.
Chico Hussein @ 21:
Bullsh*t! Start the draft lottery for EVERYONE 18 to 35 and this quagmire would cease to be.
casper46 @ 17:
It occured to me after this comment that the ’60s slogan “never trust anyone over 30″ should have been “never trust anyone over the draft age”.
13 Chico Hussein Says:
yikes…
gimme kucinich
Stupid Republicans wouldn’t pay more taxes even if it kept their own kids safe at home.
casper46 @ 24:
The quagmire will cease when we LEAVE, not when we add more fuel to the fire.
It’s the SUPPORT for this war that will disappear instantly the minute the warmongers are forced to ’sacrifice’ . According to polls, there’s enough of them that we dont need everyone 18-35. This is Iraq remember, not WWII.
Samson- @ 26:
Yikes, perhaps. But this thread is about ending the war… period.
Ron Paul beats even Kucinich on that front.
The sad thing is she’s right.
Democrats are short about five anti-war votes in the Senate.
We may be in the majority but if the GOP fights really hard (and they do every time on Iraq) it’s not enough for us to get a bill by them.
Oh Godfather,what can I do? boo ho,sob,sniff? “You can act like a man”, bitch slap, bitchslap,bitchslap!!! Fucken bunch of toads, thats the last straw, damn if I’ll vote for a sitting dem who gives them a dime more! Go ahead and fuck around you yellow mucks we are keeping track and you will pay the piper and if the banks are still around you can take it to one of them.
McCain is going to win.
Demo’s had the Presidency handed to them and they will blew it.
Clinton’s goal is to win in 2012.
Chico Hussein @ 28:
Sorry if I came off as a hawk. (Wasn’t my intention). I’m just saying if everyone had to sacrifice equally for this occupation, the uproar would make it impossible to go on. And I also said “lottery”. I remember everybody of age watching the days come up in the 60’s. A lot of these congresspeople have kids of age. Think it would change many of their positions. I wish it was over yesterday, but this slaughter just keeps going on and on.
And other fun facts…
Fish can be found in the sea.
Dogs like bones.
Food can be tasty.
They gave up on everything. People say they don’t have enough votes… is this really the time to worry about bureaucracy? They should be voting with their feet walking out of the building every day that passes we live with criminals in power. They should be contacting the media every day and reiterating that the people are on THEIR side, not the side of corruption. There’s more to taking a stand than effing procedure! They lack spine, and Pelosi was a colossal mistake for a leader as she has proposed to ultimately be ineffective and do nothing. That’s not a Democracy it’s a bad joke.
While everyone waits around to see what is going to happen in Iraq, people keep getting killed. Obama is right, if we can’t get it right in seven years, why do we think it would be right in fourteen years?
The criminals are going to walk away next January and the invasion will continue. How many more are going to be killed while bush basically waits out the rest of his term?
Congress needs to shut off the money tap, that would be a beginning.
The democrats are destroying democracy.
The whole idea behind a democracy is that if the representatives in power don’t do what their constituents want them to do, then they get voted out of power.
By not holding votes because “they won’t win”, they are preventing the voters from knowing where their representatives stand on the issues. They are not holding the issues up for the people to see and consider, they are hiding them under the table in the hopes that the voters will somehow do the right thing in spite of themselves.
They are taking away the whole point of having a representative democracy in the first place, turning the whole thing into a shallow popularity contest of the sort used to select a high school prom king and queen.
harley @ 32:
Joe’s,
Yesterday Smokey, the apartment maintenance man next door, helped me haul a dead washing machine to the city dump. I asked him what he thought about the Obama thing.
“Huh?” he said.
He spoke for millions.
borrowing from john ‘we need to keep this torture stuff hush-hush’ ashcroft, history will not judge the democrats kindly for their spinelessness.
people like me, viscious independents, are less likely than ever to donate money, or what have you, to help further the party’s needs. snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the dem politicians have missed a great opportunity to remake the party into something that might inspire people to get involved.
Simply put, the Dems no longer want to pretend they don’t like the war. Why are all polititians such sons of bitches?
Geraldo @ 37:
This current Dem lineup truly stinks.
They are coming for YOUR children, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Kiss them goodbye, or you will be labeled an enemy combatant. If you are not with the U.S., you are against her. You, and your family will wind up in Gitmo, and your neighbors and family won’t know what happened to you, and why should they…they wouldn’t want to create problems for THEMSELVES would they, making inquiries into matters of national security.
L.A. Confidential @ 41:
They may as well just all be wearing Togas with the rest of the Repugs. Togas should be the Congressional Uniform.
I desperately wish our wonderful troops over there would say “I don’t know we can win this battle, so I think I won’t do it.” also “I’m done torturing and/or killing people who in the end are just like me.” The deepest dread of the exploiting class is that the segment of the oppressed class used as their enforcers might realized they are being used.
You’re witnessing the End of America right here folks.
We must get out of Iraq. Here is a Dem doing her job: see video: Sounding the Alarm: Stop the War President Now
We all know that U.S. strikes against Iran would be disastrous. Middle East experts generally agree that Iran would respond to a U.S. strike by attacking U.S. and Israeli interests throughout the region and possibly globally. These strikes would lead to a greater Middle East war, including greater loss of life, financial burden, over stretch of our military and worse.
37 Geraldo Says: The democrats are destroying democracy.
The whole idea behind a democracy is that if the representatives in power don’t do what their constituents want them to do, then they get voted out of power.
By not holding votes because “they won’t win”, they are preventing the voters from knowing where their representatives stand on the issues. They are not holding the issues up for the people to see and consider, they are hiding them under the table in the hopes that the voters will somehow do the right thing in spite of themselves.
They are taking away the whole point of having a representative democracy in the first place, turning the whole thing into a shallow popularity contest of the sort used to select a high school prom king and queen.
I guess that you havn’t heard that every bill the dems try to pass the repugnants block. Some fault lies with the dems but you people don’t ever want to blame those that are most responsible, repugnants.
Simple. On the bill to provide more funds for this war for oil, simply include a tax hike on the rich and corp interests (the ones that benifit) to pay for it and let Bush veto that and explain it.
I told you so and I told you so I told you so I told you so I told you so I told you so I told you so
I would like to see the argument surrounding Iraq framed in this way:
If we stay there six more months, at an average of two soldiers dying each day, 360 more soldiers will be DEAD who are now living. Should we try to count the wounded too? Never mind about Iraqis (most of the U.S. doesn’t give a hoot about those poor people). But if we started talking about how many of our own soldiers will be dead in six months–well, maybe then the Congress could wrap their damn thick heads around this? I get sick thinking about it, but they don’t seem to.
They’ll never get anywhere if they don’t try. Anybody who is sitting there making excuses needs to be booted out of office this November. What a bunch of gutless losers.
If you reinstate the draft I assure you the ratings for American Idol, Flavor of Love, and whatever other idiotic television show is popular will go down and marches all around the country will go up.
This is why it hasn’t happened.
Democrats, in general, want to protect their cushy positions and future earning potential.
What happened to checks and balances?
“Not having the votes?” I’m sick of this shit. When the repubs were the majority, they did whatever they wanted. The repubs are the minority, they still do whatever they want. Can we impeach Pelosi for gross dereliction of duty?