Shays: Surge Is "A Huge Success!"

Better yet... (0.00 / 0)

come to the meet and greet I'm holding on Sept 15th. Cheese! Wine!! Progressive people!!! Jim Himes!!!! Who could ask for more?!

For more details, e-mail me at sarahlittman at gmail dot com

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by: saramerica @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 13:04:37 PM CDT

WTF? (4.00 / 1)

"We're not going to be there forever in a military way" ... yet we're going to need permanent military bases in the area, maybe in Iraq?

It's amazing. Chris Shays talks in circles by sheer force of habit. Let's see if I can do it: "The sun is shining today except where it's cloudy."

Wow, I did it! I can be a Republican Congressman too. 

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by: CaptCT @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 13:35:53 PM CDT

Shays on Permanent Bases in Iraq (0.00 / 0)

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by: Scarce @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 18:28:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Permanent Bases: psychedelic version (4.00 / 1)

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by: Scarce @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 18:29:14 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Talking in Circles!!! (0.00 / 0)

This is hilarious...one of the best ever!

Brilliant!

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by: CaptCT @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 19:25:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Awesome! (4.00 / 1)

Nice spin on the situation.

Connecticut Bob

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by: Bob Adams @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 21:35:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

trippy! (0.00 / 0)

sweet.

I'd like to see the 'torture is sex' done in this manner..

.Adding Another Dimension of Vituperation Toxicity to Blogging since 1999!.

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by: nolopro @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 10:46:49 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hmmm, hard poll choice (0.00 / 0)

Shays, who can talk out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and say two conflicting things at once without his brain blowing up.

or

Bush, who is spending most of his time now thinking about how he can cash in after he leaves the WH and never once had a conflicting thought since that would require the ability to actually think.

I vote for chickenhawk Joe Lieberman who wants to blow the crap out of all the Arabs and let G-d sort them out, as long as neither he nor any family member ever has to go into harms way.

The question is not what you are, we already determined that, we are now negotiating price.
electrealdemocrats.com Online since 3/07 -- TimetogoJoe.com Online s

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by: Met00 @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 15:04:21 PM CDT

Shays: Surge Is "A Huge Success!" (0.00 / 0)

tparty's quote from above. Pictured is Jan Schakowsky.

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by: Scarce @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 18:25:24 PM CDT

More Lies From The Left Nuts (0.00 / 2)

Shays is 100% correct when he says that people who post on this site are not the press or journalists.  Journalism is not about taking quotes obtained by other actual reporters and then making your own twisted headlines to try and further your own personal partisan potical agenda.  That is NOT journalism.  Lets look closely at this post by "tparty" which is just a great example.  Shays never said that the Surge was a huge success as tparty's headline claims.  The, "It's a huge success" quote is clearly referring to his previous sentence where he talks about the major progress which has been made in Anbar province.  A year ago Anbar province was a bloodbath that had been written off, now the Sunni tribal leaders in that province are working to rid the area of the insurgents that had been streaming in from Syria and it is largely peaceful and stable.  That is a fact which I have not heard disputed.  As the largest province in Iraq, the securing of Anbar province can only be described as a major success by people who want to see the large scale civilian deaths in Iraq come to an end, and see a large scale draw down of our troops while leaving behind a stable Iraq.  If on the other hand, you like seeing civilians being blown to pieces and want to see the U.S. mission in Iraq fail, then I guess the progress made in Anbar would not be viewed as a success from your perspective.  The headline of this article can only be described as a blatant lie.  Shays never said the Surge was a huge success, I guess that is just "journalism" at it's best here on myleftnutmeg.

If you don't agree with Shays where he says the surge is working, fine, find facts that show it isn't working.  That is far more constructive than trying to spin what he says into something it isn't and instead allows for an actual exchange of ideas and information and is far more effective at shifting the opinions of educated people one direction or the other.

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by: Elephant In The Room @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 08:18:13 AM CDT

Journalists do NOT have to be "non-partisan" (0.00 / 0)

That's a complete myth - many recognized journalist are partisan We don't deny being partisan here at MLN - we even say it is for progressive Democrats.  But the National Reviw, the nation, the new Republic and so many more journals are also partisan, yet their reporters are recognized as journalists.

And OK, Shays said the surge is working, and the war is a "huge success" only in one place. So the headline was a little off. So what? The entire quote was given accurately.

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by: Jon Kantrowitz @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 08:41:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Facts... (4.00 / 1)

I wish you would demand the same kind of facts from Chris Shays that you're demanding here.

First of all, Chris Shays has been telling us for the past 4 years that we've been making progress in Iraq, all while the country has been spiraling into chaos.

Second, the GAO report clearly states that Iraq has met only 3 of 18 benchmarks set by the Iraqi government. Clearly, the surge hasn't worked. 

So whether Shays is talking about the surge being a huge success or the Anbar strategy being a huge success is irrelevant. (And how do you KNOW Shays is talking about the Anbar strategy and not the surge?) In any case, neither is leading to a diplomatic solution that will ultimately lead to peace.

So, since you're so concerned about the facts, write a letter to Chris Shays demanding the facts about Iraq - about the lack of electricity, the lack of water, the number of attacks on civilians, American casualties that are higher these past several months than they were these same months a year ago. You should be demanding these facts from your Republican Congressman, not peddling his lies.

Of course, he'll probably say the surge is working, except where it isn't.

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by: CaptCT @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 09:13:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Tagline (0.00 / 0)

"Chris Shays: consistently lowering Fairfield County's standards for Congressional representation since 1987"

–7.25 / –7.28

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 09:49:33 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

haiku (0.00 / 0)

Thousands of soldiers,
Billions of dollars, wasted.
Congressman Chris Shays.

–7.25 / –7.28

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 09:52:33 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

One more (0.00 / 0)

GOP fearful
of when reporters watch close
like highway patrol

–7.25 / –7.28

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 10:03:45 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

my take (0.00 / 0)

Chris Shays is kooky
warped view of reality
recall him now. NOW.

.Adding Another Dimension of Vituperation Toxicity to Blogging since 1999!.

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by: nolopro @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 10:45:39 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Wonderful...2posts at MLN ever (0.00 / 0)

..both defending the indefensible Chris Shays.

http://www.myleftnut...

Why do I get the distinct impression Shays and his supporters are so much more concerned about a groundswell of support for Jim Himes than they ever were for Dianne Farrell?

Palpable fear.

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by: Scarce @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 11:29:03 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Probably because they and we understand.. (0.00 / 0)

that Shays lied through his teeth last August when he said that he supported timelines for withdrawal and that most of our troops could be withdrawn in 2007.  His credibility is in shreds.

Shays and his supporters also probably quite rightly suspect that Himes won't run a clumsy campaign as did Diane last year.  They're up against someone tough, someone with a lot of brains, and they, on the other hand, are saddled with a blatantly dishonest incumbent.

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by: thomashooker @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 12:29:29 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

a clumsy campaign... (0.00 / 0)

I truly hope that Himes gets a much better campaign organization than Farrell had.

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by: chele @ Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 09:47:35 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Shays talked about the surge, not tparty (0.00 / 0)

You can always argue over the antecedent of a pronoun.  "It" in the sentence "It's a huge success!" could refer to Shays' claims about Sunni tribal leaders, progress in Anbar, or the whole surge.  But it's very clear from the entire context of "It's a huge success!", which tparty quoted at length, that Shays is cheerleading for the surge.  Tparty also included a link to the entire transcript so readers can judge for themselves the larger context of the quote.  Thanks to the magic of the tubez, we also have the video clip available in comments here for people to watch and judge for themselves. 

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by: Maura @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 12:01:33 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Watching the clip again,,, (0.00 / 0)

it is abundantly clear that Shays was talking about the surge and he most assuredly states that "it is a huge success."  Watch closely yourself and you will hear that Shays is discussing the surge, part of which is the supposed quelling of the insurgency in al Anbar Province.  So when Shays talks about "it," clearly he is discussing the surge.  It is clear that tparty got it right; you, on the otherhand, are trying to distort what Shays said.  Would you like to try again to smear bloggers?  By the way, who in the mainstream media even covered Shays' appearance last night?  It certainly came before the deadline for printing.

You ask rhetorically "if, on the other hand, you like seeing civilians being blown to pieces and want to see the U.S. mission in Iraq fail..."

I would like to suggest that you read the October 2006 study on Iraqi civilian casualties conducted by researchers at the Michael Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, this country's most prestigious school of public health, and published in Britain's prestigious medical journal The Lancet, which concluded that more than 650,000 Iraqi civilians had died as a result of this war.  You might also be interested to know that, although the Bush administration disavowed the study's findings, "Britain's Ministry of Defence's chief scientific adviser said the survey's methods were 'close to best practice' and the study design was 'robust'.  In other words, the civilian bloodbath has been going on for years.  And that 654,000 death estimate, when translated into America's population, would be equivalent to nearly 7 million dead.

Those are the facts, backed up with specific references.  If you would like to dispute them, I suggest that you come up with your own.  But you won't find a more independent or authoritative source than the Hopkins studies.  Your comments on bloggers not being factual have just been blown to smithereens. 

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by: thomashooker @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 12:26:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You Are Right! (0.00 / 0)

He was saying that the Surge is a Huge Success!

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by: Jon Kantrowitz @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 13:10:45 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I knew I saw this someplace (0.00 / 0)

other than Keith Obermann, 2 minutes ago.
Hi, Keith watchers!!!  A thank you to TParty for making the big time (again).

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by: Sue @ Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 19:46:48 PM CDT