The Mounting Insurgency to George W. Bush (from within)

The mounting insurgency and dissent to Bush doctrines and "job performance" isn't coming from Democrats, Libertarians, Ralph Nader, cheese eating foreigners or even the enemy this time... it's building from within his own party of outspoken Republicans, insiders and experts.

Several critical analyses and quotes are compiled at DU.com, but no democratic blog can hold them all. It's really okay to critique the Commander in Chief these days no matter what Zell Miller says. In fact it's more patriotic than a thousand blind eyes covered in band aids chanting "flip flop" for no apparent reason whatsoever.

More and more Republicans deeply concerned with country over mere partisanship are coming out. Are they really the "with us or against us" insurgents some would have us believe?

Insurgents rising against Bush include life long Republicans:

Republicans such as Hilary Cleveland, the elder Bush's close personal friend and widow of 10 term Republican Congressman James Cleveland: ''I know the president would say that he is 'liberating' Iraq but I don't think that Iraqis who don't have running water, electricity, a job, or safety on their streets would agree with him. It's fair to say he has disappointed me." Cleveland is now president of the GOP Women for Kerry Steering Committee.
www.commondreams.org...

Republicans such as John Eisenhower, son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, former Ambassador and noted military author: "As son of a Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, it is automatically expected by many that I am a Republican. For 50 years, through the election of 2000, I was. With the current administration�s decision to invade Iraq unilaterally, however, I changed my voter registration to independent, and barring some utterly unforeseen development, I intend to vote for the Democratic Presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry."
www.theunionleader.com...

Former Bush backers such as his home town Crawford newspaper, The Lone Star Iconoclast reversing endorsements with reason: "Four items trouble us the most about the Bush administration: his initiatives to disable the Social Security system, the deteriorating state of the American economy, a dangerous shift away from the basic freedoms established by our founding fathers, and his continuous mistakes regarding terrorism and Iraq."
news.iconoclast-texas.com...

Critical dissenting voices are also mounting from within the very GOP machine:

Republicans such as senator Chuck Hagel, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: "No, I don't think we're winning," Hagel told a CBS interviewer. "We're in trouble, we're in deep trouble in Iraq."
www.iht.com...

Republican senator Richard Lugar, Foreign Relations Committee chairman, was asked on ABC why only $1 billion of the $18 billion appropriated last year for Iraqi reconstruction had been spent: "Well, this is the incompetence in the administration."
www.iht.com...

Republican senator John McCain - who, like Hagel and Lugar, has often criticized administration planning on Iraq - said a key error had been allowing insurgents to keep control of the city of Falluja, after vowing to oust them: "I would never have allowed the sanctuaries to start with," McCain said on Fox. "And allowing those sanctuaries has contributed significantly to the difficulties that we're facing, which are very, very significant."
www.iht.com...

Republican Rep. Doug Bereuter, a senior member of the House International Relations Committee and vice chairman of the House Intelligence Committee: "I've reached the conclusion, retrospectively, now that the inadequate intelligence and faulty conclusions are being revealed, that all things being considered, it was a mistake to launch that military action."

Rep. Bereuter continued: "Knowing now what I know about the reliance on the tenuous or insufficiently corroborated intelligence used to conclude that Saddam maintained a substantial WMD (weapons of mass destruction) arsenal, I believe that launching the pre-emptive military action was not justified."

Sounding very much like Senator Kerry he said as a result of the war "our country's reputation around the world has never been lower and our alliances are weakened."

And sounding very much like an ATS conspiracy theorist he added "Left unresolved for now is whether intelligence was intentionally misconstrued to justify military action."
www.journalstar.com...

Rep. Doug Bereuter, please join ATS to receive your Way Above Top Secret award.

Also Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee says he might not vote for President Bush: "There is no secret that on some very important issues I have difference with the current administration" Chafee said, listing abortion rights, the environment and war in Iraq.
www.freerepublic.com...

So what about all this GOP dissent? Are Republicans that don't agree with Bush's Iraqi-Disney Fantasy Land assessments TRAITORS?

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Chafee's dissent: "What I like about him is that he can be a Republican senator and at the same time say he is unsure about a Republican president," Graham said. "He is a breath of fresh air in politics."
www.freerepublic.com...

I guess not.

Additional analyses of Republican uprising in the following articles:

Top Republicans Break with Bush on Iraq Strategy: Leading Republicans from Congress, the State Department and past administrations have begun to break ranks with President Bush over his administration's high-profile planning for war with Iraq, saying the administration has neither adequately prepared for military action nor made the case that it is needed.
www.globalpolicy.org...

Republicans Who Voted Against Iraq Resolution Tell Why:
www.newsmax.com...

Republican Dissent on Iraq (full page ad in Wall Street Journal by major GOP contributors): "Mr. President, �The candidate we supported in 2000 promised a more humble nation in our dealings with the world. We gave him our votes and our campaign contributions. That candidate was you. We feel betrayed. We want our money back. We want our country back�. A Billion Bitter enemies will rise out of this war."
- Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2003
talkleft.com...

Retired Envoys, Commanders Assail Bush Administration as Unable to Handle 'Global Leadership' (27-Member Group Asserts):
www.washingtonpost.com...

Growing GOP Dissent On Iraq: Republican Party ranks are beginning to break and the White House is worried. Longtime GOP critics on Iraq are growing progressively more vocal in their condemnation.
www.cbsnews.com...

Okay, so a bunch of Republican politicians also think Bush is screwing up in Iraq. But what do they know? Most of them are flip floppers that voted for the Presidential authorization anyway.

How about what these guys know...?

Former insiders and experts that "knew then" and "know now" just how off course Bush has taken us:

Former insiders like Roger Cressey, the former director for Transnational Threats in Bush's National Security Council: "We have a stronger jihadi presence in Iraq today than in March 2003� at a briefing at the libertarian Cato Institute earlier this week.
www.commondreams.org...

Retired general William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency: "Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin Laden's ends�. I've never seen it so bad between the office of the secretary of defense and the military. There's a significant majority believing this is a disaster. The two parties whose interests have been advanced have been the Iranians and al-Qaeda. Bin Laden could argue with some cogency that our going into Iraq was the equivalent of the Germans in Stalingrad. They defeated themselves by pouring more in there. Tragic."
www.truthout.org...

Retired General Joseph Hoare, the former marine commandant and head of US Central Command: "The idea that this is going to go the way these guys planned is ludicrous. There are no good options. We're conducting a campaign as though it were being conducted in Iowa, no sense of the realities on the ground. It's so unrealistic for anyone who knows that part of the world. The priorities are just all wrong."
www.truthout.org...


Brent Scowcroft, one of the Republican Party�s most respected foreign policy advisors, and national security adviser under President Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush: "Our pre-eminent security priority--underscored repeatedly by the president--is the war on terrorism. An attack on Iraq at this time would seriously jeopardize, if not destroy, the global counterterrorist campaign we have undertaken."
abcnews.go.com...

Norman Schwarzkopf - Four Star General: The general who commanded U.S. forces in the 1991 Gulf War says he hasn't seen enough evidence to convince him that his old comrades Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Paul Wolfowitz are correct in moving toward a new war now. He thinks U.N. inspections are still the proper course to follow. He's worried about the cockiness of the U.S. war plan, and even more by the potential human and financial costs of occupying Iraq�.(And don't get him started on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld)
www.washingtonpost.com...

Col. Mike Turner (ret), Schwarzkopf's personal briefing officer during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm: �The uniformed Joint Staff in the Pentagon strongly opposed this plan early on...The uniformed Joint Staff was overridden, yet in so many horrifying ways this operation resembles Somalia, not Desert Storm...Perhaps we can pull this off, but here's a far worse scenario that's at least as likely...Photos of American soldiers amid landscapes of Iraqi civilian bodies blanket the world press which aligns unanimously against the US. The US is condemned by NATO and the UN...The war ends within a few weeks, but the crisis deepens...�
www.npr.org...

Col. David Hackworth (ret), America's most highly decorated soldier: "Should the president decide to stay the war course, hopefully at least a few of our serving top-uniformed leaders - those who are now covertly leaking that war with Iraq will be an unparalleled disaster - will do what many Vietnam-era generals wish they would have done: stand tall and publicly tell the America people the truth about another bad war that could well lead to another died-in-vain black wall. Or even worse."
www.worldnetdaily.com...

James Webb, former Sec. of Navy under Ronald Reagan, Decorated Marine Veteran: "Do we really want to occupy Iraq for the next 30 years? �In Japan, American occupation forces quickly became 50,000 friends. In Iraq, they would quickly become 50,000 terrorist targets�. Nations such as China can only view the prospect of an American military consumed for the next generation by the turmoil of the Middle East as a glorious windfall."
www.sftt.org...

Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, former Head of Central Command for U.S.: "It's pretty interesting that all the generals see it the same way, and all the others who have never fired a shot, and are hot to go to war, see it another�We are about to do something that will ignite a fuse in this region that we will rue the day we ever started."

Hawks in the Bush administration may be making deadly miscalculations on Iraq, says Gen. Anthony Zinni, Bush's Middle East envoy: "I'm not sure which planet they live on."
www.salon.com...

US Air Force General, Tony McPeak, a four-star general who headed the U.S. Air Force during Operation Desert Storm: McPeak believes that President Bush should publicly admit personal failure. He claims Bush has botched the crucial process of coalition-building, has not enlisted the United Nations, and has failed to rebuild Afghanistan as a model of reconstruction.
news.statesmanjournal.com...://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=57303%20

And they say Kerry/Edwards are too critical? How about right in line with a growing number of Republicans, GOP leaders, former insiders and military experts.

Insurgents to Bush doctrines indeed abound. It seems Bush brings them out of the woodwork emboldened more and more to disagree with his Misleadership, Misdirection and Wrong Track for America.

Except one insurgent, of course, that must think Bush is doing a wonderful job...



[edit on 29-9-2004 by RANT]

Pictures always help that's what George says

THis thread will be dicombobulated and detached form the whole mess of threads soon enough!

You Polecats can't go around throwing your Liberal factoids out there like they are, well, facts no matter what!

Besides looky at Sauron's pertty picture. W is ahead!@

Nyaaa nyaa nya nyaaa nyaa!!!!!!

m...



[edit on 9-29-2004 by Springer]

What's got into you Springer?

And can I have some?

The Mounting Insurgency to George W. Bush (from within)

Well as the title of this thread states i.e. (Mounting,) and the graph does show a 40% drop in support for his Lordship


[edit on 29/9/2004 by Sauron]

RANT, you will be tag a bush hater and a traitor, anti-american and you will be told to leave the country

Good post We needed something like this.

Originally posted by RANT

What's got into you Springer?

And can I have some?

A good dram of Maker's Mark Whisky and REALITY... heh heh...
m...

WOW Rant....nice thread - you really put some effort and research into this!

If I had to pick one quote as may fav...

Originally posted by RANT

Norman Schwarzkopf - Four Star General: The general who commanded U.S. forces in the 1991 Gulf War says he hasn't seen enough evidence to convince him that his old comrades Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Paul Wolfowitz are correct in moving toward a new war now. He thinks U.N. inspections are still the proper course to follow. He's worried about the cockiness of the U.S. war plan, and even more by the potential human and financial costs of occupying Iraq�.(And don't get him started on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld)

That says a lot right there...

Awesomely Awesome post!!!

I dont have the time to rant at the moment but i'll do it tomorrow.

Bring on the debates.

Rant!

Did I mention I was a fan?

and Nice graph!

Too bad ATS can't publish that in... oh...say... the New York Times!

Have you mailed this to editors?

I would.

But compiling the evidence isn't as hard as mainstream corporate news would have us believe. Like I said most of these resources are compiled on underground blogs like Democratic Underground. And even those that still refuse to see, hear or comment know the truth in reality. A reality they conspire to deny.

The truth is out there. Not in any rational, reasoned, compressed resources you'd hope to get from the nightly news, and it certainly won't be revealed in the ridiculously orchestrated Presidential debates. No, the truth is out there as obscured little Reality Nuggets drowning in seas of meaningless mainstream commentary on tans and botox forwarded in the chain mail regurgitation of ignorance that has become American politics.

I don't do this for fun. It's not a game. The future of America isn't a halloween party where one shows off his best "flip flop" costume or photoshops the John Kerry/ Herman Munster connection.

But this administration makes it a game because the truth is their enemy. Oh, they know the truth. And knew it when they lied to our face about being greeted as liberators.

seattlepi.nwsource.com...

The words of our future vice president -- defending the decision to end Gulf War I without occupying Iraq -- eerily foretell today's morass. Here is what Cheney said in '92:

"I would guess if we had gone in there, I would still have forces in Baghdad today. We'd be running the country. We would not have been able to get everybody out and bring everybody home.

"And the final point that I think needs to be made is this question of casualties. I don't think you could have done all of that without significant additional U.S. casualties. And while everybody was tremendously impressed with the low cost of the (1991) conflict, for the 146 Americans who were killed in action and for their families, it wasn't a cheap war.

"And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the answer is not that damned many. So, I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the president made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq."

You know what?

FU DICK CHENEY!

You knew then it wasn't worth it you sack of lying corporate evil. Now the critics that say you were right are emboldening the terrorists? They're behaving shamefully? No. You are you disgusting lying, flip flopping, multinational corporate-enabler that would trade lives for access to "where the business is."

"The good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratically elected regimes friendly to the United States. Occasionally we have to operate in places where, all things considered, one would not normally choose to go. But, we go where the business is." Speech, Cato Institute.

I hope the American blood that greased your access was worth it now TRAITOR.

Bush and his boss will be trying to derail Kerry/Edwards criticisms and right track solutions tomorrow night as somehow wrong. Anti-American. Defeatist. :shk:

Don't let these festering fundamentalist failures get away with it. They may occupy the White House, Afghanistan, Iraq and the pockets of every anti-American corporation you can shake a stick at but they don't occupy reality.

If you good people don't get off your cans and stop them, then you deserve them.

Talk about THE NEWS. THE ISSUES. THE LIES. Write letters to the editors of print and broadcast media to tell them when they're wrong. Tell your friends when they're wrong. INFORM.

And most importantly VOTE.

[edit on 29-9-2004 by RANT]

Sorry to interupt the joining of hands and yet another rendition of Kumbyah, but while I agree that there has been alot of critisim from within the party, that hardly qualifies as an insurgency. I posed a news story a few weeks back that outlined the statements that several Republicans including John mcCain had made that were critical of the president. Note that has not stopped McCain from campaigning for Bush this year. Rail or rant all you want about being a party tool, but McCain is really his own man (much like a Goldwater) and would not kowtow to the party if he did not agree with things. If he is unhappy with something he will let us know.

So prominant Republicans have taken issue with president on a variety of topics. What does this prove? As Arnold said at the convention, we do not always have to agree to be in the the Republican party. Contrast that to Teddy's clear distaste for Kerry on the platform at the DNC. But he played the part expected of him. And no, I will not go on about Zell Miller who has his own issues. Are the Democrats saying bad things about Kerry? I really dont know. Perhaps I should pay attention eh? I did a quick seach 5-10 minutes. You know what other than a few dems for Bush blogs, there was not alot to be found. What does that lead me to conclude?

1) The Dems have been programed by thier party line that there is NO disagreement. If there is your out. There is room for disention. Look at how quickly you all ostrasized Miller? Do you hear the rally cry to throw out the Senators that have been critical about Bush's performance in Iraq? AH the sounds of silence

OR

2) None of you are being honest with yourselves about Kerry's flaws as your entire focus is on what you do not like about Bush. This I have heard from alot of people both here and eleswhere. Yet, Kerry has his own issues from crediability to the flip flopping to the his vision on foreign policy. He changes so often who are you voting for?

A percentage of the population will simply vote for a Republican or Democrat without a care of who or what the candidate is. This clearly explains Teddy Kennedy and Orin Hatch IMHO. WHile a few of the critics you posted above have indicated that they will not vote for Bush, how many will? Quite a few I am sure. As far a Eisenhower is concerned, really does anybody care? Im not being flip, but is it really releveant? Everybody is entitled to thier own opinions. As I recall, his father was accussed by a prominant Democrat (LBJ) or mismanaging the Cold War and the "missile" gap. Time proved LBJ wrong. Time will prove the Bush critics wrong as well IMHO.

Wow, people finally realize their country's been hijacked by facists? Takes awhile to wake up from a nightmare sometimes I guess.

Originally posted by FredT
So prominant Republicans have taken issue with president on a variety of topics. What does this prove?

That when numbnuts like Cheney say Kerry criticising Bush policy emboldens terrorists he should get a damn clue.

And your conclusions:

1) The Dems have been programed by thier party line that there is NO disagreement. If there is your out. There is room for disention. Look at how quickly you all ostrasized Miller? Do you hear the rally cry to throw out the Senators that have been critical about Bush's performance in Iraq? AH the sounds of silence

You know, you have a real solid Bush sucks but I just hate Democrats more for some reason thing going that almost defies your own efforts to spin Republican criticism of Bush as a good thing. But I'll have a go anyway.

The Democrats fielded a full ten candidates as different as night and day. And continue to debate many a line item and best course for America as the party remains home to all facets of ideologies from frothing liberals to states rights and fiscal conservatives. But none doubt that Bush is wrong on every front in every situation and John Kerry or frankly any number of experienced leaders either Democrat or Republican would do better.

As for Miller? Who cares. Seriously, who freaking cares? Ostracized? From what his retirement party or welcome party to the staff of Phillip Morris? You're kidding me right? Pitting his planned farewell performance and much deserved laughter against bi-partisan applause for free thinking Republicans is supposed to mean something here? Ok.

OR

2) None of you are being honest with yourselves about Kerry's flaws as your entire focus is on what you do not like about Bush. This I have heard from alot of people both here and eleswhere. Yet, Kerry has his own issues from crediability to the flip flopping to the his vision on foreign policy. He changes so often who are you voting for?

I'm voting for John Kerry and his flaws. Some real, some perceived, some completely invented and spoon fed by real failures like Bush/Cheney.

When Bush has clearly done things wrong, you continue to criticise Kerry for saying some things wrong, or propagandized as such for partisan gain. :shk: Kerry has flaws. Some are downright annoying. So what?

Were I picking a roommate, it'd be Bush hands down. As he seems like he'd be a hell of a guy to split a beer with or watch sports.

But for ANYTHING ELSE, not the least of which is President and Commander in Chief, I'd pick Kerry.

I mean those are the only viable choices here. And frankly Bush isn't even viable anymore.

Your obvious problem with Democrats not withstanding FredT, others are getting it and voting outside the lines. I mean we'll just have to see won't we. Not just how things turn out in the election but over the next four years. If Bush pulls it out, he'll probably WISH he lost and I suspect many of his supporters will too just like some from 2000 are reversing now.

If he even gets near any Supreme Court Justice appointments, not to mention another 4 years as Commander in Chief... watch out.

I'm confident saying you won't like the result. And I'm more confident with Kerry.

Whoa........Just wait when Grady and the others get their hands on this post

I can not wait to see their answers.

The thing is, even when presented with overwhelming evidence, even when presented with opinions from people who are respected in the Republican community, and even when things in their own lives are going terribly off-kilter due to Bush policies--people just don't get it. There are warning signals all over the place that this guy is off the reservation, but it just doesn't sink in.

Instead, they make claims that Kerry is an orange-tinted, flip-flopper who urinated on a burning flag (perhaps he was trying to put it out!), ignoring the fact that this image was created by his opponents. When asked to explain what they think about his policies, I haven't gotten a valid response other than "he is going to do the same as Bush", "the country is safer with Bush", "he can't make up his mind", or "it's all just promises." When you challenge them to the point that they are backed into a corner, they retort with "Well, he speaks FRENCH for chrissakes! and you're a TRAITOR! NYAH!" And his wife has a potty mouth and Laura Bush makes better cookies. Allrighty then.

Imgnyc,

You are so right the insults are just hilarious, and to tell the turth I have this nagging feeling and I hope is just nothing that our president is not well in the head.

When people interivew him like in the O'Rally program he just talks like a Robot, I wonder if he is actually human after all.

just a joke

I hope the debates are interesting today. I'm definitely going to watch them. Did you know that they did'nt want Bush to seem shorter than Kerry? They made Bush's speaker platform taller. lol. It seems that the republicans did'nt want Kerry haveing a "height advantage."

I have an activity to go tonight Elaine so I will be watching the "comedy central" at 11:00 and get a review about the debates and laught about it at the same time.

Originally posted by marg6043
I have an activity to go tonight Elaine so I will be watching the "comedy central" at 11:00 and get a review about the debates and laught about it at the same time.

Me too. Once the "debates" are over. Turn the blow hard corporate pundits OFF.

Switch to Comedy Central for the only people on TV not afraid to poke holes in Kerry AND BUSH.

All the educated people are turning off Fox News and turning on the Daily Show.

[edit on 30-9-2004 by RANT]