Reader and commenter Apollo13 (who was invited to join our little party but has too many time constraints) forwarded me a piece he wrote on Georgia's Saxby Chambliss, a truly odious little man. It's good stuff and I hope time will permit him to join us soon. BG,RS
As a Georgia voter, I have been outraged for years at the forked-tongue of Repub Sen. Saxby Chambliss. As a congressman, he voted yes on a 1999 House amendment that allowed the Ten Commandments to to be posted in public schools and government buildings but he didn't take to heart one of the commandments that admonishes, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
During the 2002 election, Chambliss ran a despicable ad smearing Democrat Max Cleland that included Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein in a photo montage to imply that Cleland was weak on national security and a terrorist appeaser. Only a fool would trust Chambliss after his dirty-bomb politics maligning a war vet who lost two legs and an arm in service to his country. Saxby knows no shame. National security rhetoric dripping from the thin-lipped Moultrie grifter, a GOPbot stamped with a Bush Attaboy on his forehead, is nothing more than empty sloganeering uttered to win a Senate seat at any price. Bah!
This morning, I came across a prime example of Saxby's GOP-styled chicanery in the form of denials, blatant mendacity, and pandering to the Pat Robertson deadender clan. Watch this Jan. 17, 2006, Christian Broadcasting Network interview by David Brody, the CBN News Capitol Hill correspondent... or read my transcription from the video clip below. If you can stand a stinking pile of hypocrisy, lies, and pure partisan politics (emphasized in boldface), read on but hold your nose:
BRODY: ...This idea about capping troops, what is your sense about all of this idea?
CHAMBLISS: I don't think Congress has any business micro-managing the war. Uh, the, uh, battlefield commanders need to tell us what they need and we've consistently listened to 'em and responded to 'em and I don't think it's appropriate for us to try to tell the battlefield commanders, uh, how many troops they need.
BRODY: Think the, the, uh, Democrats need to kind of in a way put up or shut up regarding funding if they're really serious go ahead and try to cut off funding?
CHAMBLISS: Well, they've given no alternative to the president's plan and the president's had some very difficult decisions to make. Uh, anytime you're in the middle of a wartime scenario, the Commander-in-Chief has to step forward and provide leadership. He's done that, and frankly we've seen a lot of criticism from the other side but we've seen no constructive alternatives, and, and, um, you know, that's playing politics instead of being more concerned about national security.
BRODY: By the way, speaking of playing politics, what about this resolution that the Democrats are kind of concocting right about now... what is your sense about this non-binding resolution? If you think it's politics or do you think they're serious about it?
CHAMBLISS: No, I think, uh, [Saxby snickers and then continues]... We're in the middle of politics according to presidential politics [snickers again]. So, yeah, I think that's very clearly what it is. And, uh, the war hadn't been going well and they've seized on it during the course of the election leading up to '06 and they obviously think they've achieved some success based upon the situation in Iraq and I think they're continuing that.
As a member of the SASC, was Chambliss asleep when Abizaid and Casey testified that the solution to Iraq was not a military one? Both generals believed that the U.S. military presence in Iraq was fueling the insurgency and advocated a gradual drawdown of troops this year. So, no, Saxby Chambliss neither listened nor responded to battlefield commanders.
Sniveling Shameby also lied about Dems having offered no plan on Iraq. Count 'em... Democrats Jack Murtha, Dick Durbin, Barack Obama, John Kerry, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Jack Reed, Ted Kennedy, and Harry Reid, as Pale Rider explained, have had "more than enough detailed, thoughtful alternatives and suggestions to change the current policy.... There are ideas a-plenty."
And what president has demonstrated that he knows no bounds in exploiting national security for political purposes with the support of rubber stamps like Saxby Chambliss? What party has enriched its cronies and political contributors with subsidies and no-bid contracts, exempted them from the rule of law (Order 17) in Iraq, and rendered no oversight to ipso facto plunder the U.S. treasury and squander precious lives and limbs?
I don't know which is worse: that Chambliss has deluded himself into thinking that Bush has provided leadership or that the shithead from Georgia carries water for the WH regurgitating, that, uh, uh, the, uh, Democrats have offered no "constructive alternatives." Absent from the exchange between the Brody tool and Chambliss is any mention of the eight Repubs who oppose Bush's Iraq strategy:
"Republicans are scared to death of it politically," said Ed Rogers, a top GOP lobbyist with ties to the White House and Republican leaders on the Hill. "The fear is that it won't make any difference. There won't be a perception of turning the corner."
Maybe Chambliss wouldn't, uh, uh, uh, hesitate to articulate a position and thought of his own if he wasn't searching his mind to parse the WH talking point du jour while covering his cowardly political ass.
When Bush arrived at Ft. Benning, GA, last Thursday to begin selling his newly repackaged "stay the course" plan, missing from the podium was Sen. Chambliss. Why the sudden faint-heartedness over a photo op with Bush? Two words: gutless worm. Facing re-election in 2008, Shameby runs away.
--Apollo13
