Welcome to Texans for Obama

Chuck Hagel Smacksdown Dick Cheney

Sen. Chuck Hagel is a good man.  He's stood up to the fear and smear tactics employed by Rove/Cheney/Bush.  While Hagel is too conservative on economic issues, he has been a courageous critic of the Iraq quagmire.  If Iraq ever comes to an end, Hagel deserves some credit for bringing our troops home safely.

Republican Opposition to Iraq Plan Grows

The bad news only gets worse for President Bush.  Republicans are now taking the lead offensive against Bush's failed policies.

From the Associated Press:

Congressional Republicans pushed back Monday against President Bush's decision to increase troop strength in Iraq, some voicing opposition while others urged holding the administration and Iraqi government more accountable for the war effort.

"We've had four other surges since we first went into Iraq," said Sen. Susan Collins, referring to the administration's plan for an additional 21,500 troops. "None of them produced a long-lasting change in the situation on the ground.

"So I am very skeptical that this surge would produce the desired outcome," said the Maine Republican.

In the Senate, Collins joined two Republicans and one Democrat to unveil nonbinding legislation expressing disagreement with Bush's plan. The president should consider "all options and alternatives" involving a smaller force, the measure said.

Sen. John Warner of Virginia, former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, joined Collins and Norm Coleman of Minnesota in producing the legislation expressing disagreement with Bush's plan. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., joined them.

"I personally, speaking for myself, have great concern about the American G.I. being thrust into that situation, the origins of which sometimes go back over a thousand years," Warner said.

Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine have said they back the Democrats' resolution.

Lame duck Bush

It's going to be a long two years for President Bush.  He already lost Congress due to his disasterous policies, and now he's even losing his fellow Republicans. 

Grab your popcorn and enjoy the show.  The long Bush nightmare is finally coming to an end.

From the Washington Times:

President Bush's policies, including the Iraq war, have left the country in a "disastrous" state, according to several prominent conservatives.

The leaders, including current and former presidential candidates, outlined their objectives for a revival of conservatism during a panel discussion yesterday hosted by the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative Washington-based advocacy group. The leaders' recommendations, covering economic, military and social policy, would be largely different from those implemented by the Bush administration.

"We have a competition which is not free trade, it's not fair trade, it's rigged trade," Rep. Duncan Hunter said of the China's trade tariffs, which many critics argue have hurt American businesses.

"The state of the union is disastrous," said William Lind, president of the foundation's Center for Cultural Conservatism. "We are fighting and losing two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Using language that at times mirrored that of liberal critics of Mr. Bush's foreign policy, Mr. Lind said an interventionist U.S. foreign policy is creating, "a hostile relationship with the growing world."

Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer was critical of Mr. Bush for what he described as the president's failure to more deeply inspire Americans after September 11.

"The president made a colossal mistake after 9/11 by simply asking people to shop," said Mr. Bauer, president of the conservative group American Values.

Brownback breaks with Bush's Iraq policy

Sen. Sam Brownback is running for president.  Ironically, he's wooing conservatives in the Republican primary, but even Brownback thinks that Bush is wrong on Iraq.

From ABC News 49 in Kansas:

Sen. Sam Brownback, who just returned from a trip to the Middle East, says he opposes President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.

He believes the United States may "care more about a peaceful Iraq than Iraqis do. If that is the case, it is difficult to understand why more U.S. troops would make a difference," he said in a press release.

He says Iraq requires a political solution, not greater U.S. troop strength.

Brownback's stance is a departure from his past support of Bush's Iraq policy, and could hurt Bush's efforts to rally GOP lawmakers behind the plan.

Senate resolution to criticize Iraq plan

Bush's escalation plans took a "shot across the bow" with this Senate resolution supported by Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel.  Hagel deserves credit for his willingness to buck his party and challenge Bush's misguided policies.

From the Associated Press:

Senate Democrats working with a well-known Republican war critic are developing a resolution declaring that President Bush's troop build up in Iraq "is not in the national interest," said people familiar with the document.

 The resolution also would put the Senate on record as saying the U.S. commitment in Iraq "can only be sustained" with popular support among the American public and in Congress, according to officials who are knowledgeable about the draft.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican and potential 2008 presidential candidate, is helping Democrats with the wording of the anti-war resolution.

It is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Iraq, particularly by escalating U.S. troop presence in Iraq," it says.
The Senate leadership is expected by Thursday to propose the resolution, with debate planned around the same time that Bush delivers his State of the Union speech next Tuesday.

Hagel's agreement to help Democrats champion the resolution amounts to a setback to the administration and to Bush, who has argued vehemently that some 21,500 additional U.S. troops are needed to help the Iraqi government calm sectarian violence in Baghdad and Anbar province.

The resolutions in Congress seemed likely to be largely symbolic and they would not affect the Pentagon's war budget or challenge the president's authority over U.S. forces. Such votes, however, could be a shot across the bow to Bush.

The resolutions also would help Democrats measure GOP support for more aggressive legislative tactics, such as cutting off funds for the war.

Such a vote puts many Republicans in an uncomfortable position. They will have to decide whether to stay loyal to an unpopular GOP president and risk angering voters disillusioned by the war or buck the party line.