It's like pulling teeth with this guy to change his mind on anything:
RAY SUAREZ: One thing that's changed a great deal since the beginning of the year is the number of American troops that are dying in Iraq and the rate at which they're dying and being wounded.
The increase in the number of American troops in the theater, by many accounts, is having its desired effect, and the day-to-day violence in Iraq is in decline. Does that change your approach to Iraq? Does it force a change on your body, the Senate, in how you respond to calls to change direction now?
SEN. HARRY REID: Ray, you can't have it both ways. The president said, "Let's send some more troops over there, and that will give the Iraqis the time to take care of themselves." We sent other troops over there, and there are a lot of reasons the surge certainly hasn't hurt. It's helped. I recognize that.
So, you recognize that the surge has helped, but yet, just 8 months ago, you wanted to throw your hands up in the air and claim "the war in Iraq is lost".
You can't have it both ways yourself Reid. Either the surge in troop numbers has helped or it hasn't. There is irrefutable evidence that the levels of violence has gone down, but God forbid you actually publicly acknowledge it.
Face it, you were wrong and Bush was right. I know it's something that Democrats are very afraid of doing, but admitting when you are wrong shows strength and character.
For example, in a recent debate, a question was asked "Was Ross Perot right when he said NAFTA was bad for America"? To which Hillary replied, that NAFTA was bad, but she absolutely refused to acknowledge that Ross was right, even when asked point blank: Was Ross right?.
But let's talk about Reid telling Ray he "can't have it both ways". Alrighty, you want to push that character trait? Fine. But let's take a look at this statement in the same interview:
So it's time that the American people were given the benefit of the doubt and not have to spend all this borrowed money, start bringing our people home. When is enough enough?
How much longer are we going to be asked to spend $12 billion a month on this war, when we don't have money for health care? We tried to get 10,000 poor children health insurance. The president said there's not enough money to do that.
You can't have it both ways Reid. The war in Iraq is eventually going to end, but you want to spend, in your own words, "borrowed money" on healthcare for children. A noble cause by anyone's measurement, but you want to keep this program going on in perpetuity. Iraq will end, your programs will not. Sooner or later we're going to have to repay this debt. Your program will bankrupt us. If we keep putting money on the US credit card, regardless of where it is spent, we are going to have to pay it back.
Keeping the insurance program running forever simply won't work. You're trying to pull on the heartstrings of Americans to get your program pushed through. How about you work on trimming the fat from other government programs and work with the money that you already have?
Americans are sick and tired of paying through the nose for things. We're tired of watching GAO report after GAO report showing out and out fraud and misspent funds going towards extravagant things for government workers or being overcharged by private companies who think only about the bottom line.
You want insurance for these kids bad enough? Find a way to pay for it. Cut the fat and I guarantee that you'll get the American people to get behind it if it won't cost us an additional dime.
The one thing I will give Bill Clinton credit for was that he managed to have a surplus when he left office. Granted he cut things I would never cut such as the military budget, but if we manage to have a surplus every year, there's no limit to what we can do. We can own parts of foreign companies left and right. We can buyout the Middle East and their oil and infrastructure. We have the wealth, we just need to manage it better.
Even Robert Gates is criticizing Congress for their lack of planning for military expenditures. If they get on the ball in that area, you can bet they can cut the fat from other areas.
Travis
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