August 26, 2004
[BO]TOXIC POLITICS:
Pelosi visits LV to support Gallagher: Both Democrats question Kerry's stance on Iraq (PAUL HARASIM, 8/26/04, Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Calling President Bush's invasion of Iraq "a grotesque mistake," Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, said in Las Vegas Wednesday that she can't understand why John Kerry has said he still would have "voted to give the president the authority to go to war" even had he known there were no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, Bush's original justification for war.Labeling Bush an "incompetent" who didn't have the judgment, experience or knowledge to risk American lives in Iraq, the House Minority Leader then said she "can't answer" why Kerry continues to support a position that seemingly gives Americans little choice between the presidential candidates when it comes to the war in Iraq.
Asked why Kerry holds that position on Iraq, Pelosi answered "I don't know"...
Who's got the wobbly base? Posted by Orrin Judd at August 26, 2004 10:21 AM
If the Democrats don't replace Pelosi after the election, they will be wobbling even more in 2006. She is becoming Norma Desmond before our very eyes.
Posted by: jim hamlen at August 26, 2004 10:23 AM"Who's got the wobbly base?"
I guess I miss the import of the question. Nothing Wobbly about Pelosi or Democrats in general. Hence why should Pelosi be replaced?
Yes, one could say Kerry has a wobbly base, but I think it would be more accurate to say Kerry himself is the only thing wobblying, his base is rock solid.
Posted by: h-man at August 26, 2004 10:43 AMh:
Some retiring Republican who noone's ever heard of wrote a letter to a constiuent questioning his own support for the war and it was front page news. Here's the second ranking Democrat in the country questioning their nominee and it won't make anything but a local paper.
Posted by: oj at August 26, 2004 10:50 AMI am waiting for the "You bet I might have" commercial.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at August 26, 2004 11:11 AMTheir problem stems from the fact that in historical comparison the war has been an unprecedented success. Sure mistakes have been made and the planning not perfect. Has it ever been so in wartime? Plans fall apart at the first shot, historically. She/They just can't reconcile it within her/their perfect world of the mind. She's just acknowledging that she's a know nothing with credentials.
Posted by: Genecis at August 26, 2004 1:05 PMKerry's ongoing implosion will just keep feeding on itself, as those people who don't agree with him on anything but want "Anybody But Bush" will just not vote or vote Nader, who is far closer to their own feelings.
Posted by: brian at August 26, 2004 3:37 PMBrian: There's at least one person I know on another message board I frequent who's just as you describe, and who's very nearly at that point. He's been saying for weeks that he's going to have to wear a clothespin on his nose when he goes to vote for Kerry, and more recently he's been saying outright that if Kerry (in his view) keeps tacking rightward (yeah, I know, but that's how _he_ sees it) he _is_ going to switch to Nader. Either that or go to MOPP level 4 when he steps into the ballot booth.
Posted by: Joe at August 26, 2004 7:52 PMKerry's problem is his base being only about 40%, even if they are solid. He wobbles because he's like the guy with one foot on a dock and the other in an unmoored (Swift) boat. He can't let the boat float away but is so stretched between the two he can't jump in the boat either.
Posted by: at August 26, 2004 9:16 PM