Do the Dems have a plan?

[tamias6]

Do the Democrats have a plan to for Iraq?

[Charlotteman]

To straighten up this huge mess that our country is bogged down with in Iraq will take some of the best diplomacy and the very best smarts our country can muster. The current administration is hopelessly unqualified for such sophisticated dealings. Let's hope the Dems are up to the job. It won't be easy by any stretch of the imagination.

What about summoning some of the best minds in foreign policy for a major summit, to try and work out a pullout of American and British troops? Bring in James Baker, Zbigniew Brezenski, Colin Powell, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton........it will take some of the most brilliant thought in years to come up with a solution to this complicated mess.

[FromCityToRural]

Better yet, why don't we have a permanent think tank like that? That kind of brainpower would come in handy in a myriad of situations, no matter the administration or party in power.

[JDC]

I just hope their plan involves impeaching Bush. Man is that long overdue.

[Pillsbury]

I just hope their plan involves impeaching Bush. Man is that long overdue.

[Snowguy716]

The Democrats currently have no plans to impeach Bush, but I think it should be done.

They should do a lot of investigating first, though, to build evidence, and if they can get it, then go forward. But they should not even think about this for at least a few months after the session convenes so that they can get more important things done.. like raising the minimum wage, new rules for lobbyists, and then reforming a myriad of Republican programs that corporations have written. (Medicare Part D)...

Then they need to look at Social Security and take it off budget and make adjustments to the tax rate/benefits to ensure that everyone alive today will receive the full benefit. (This is quite possible without major changes, contrary to what alarmist Conservatives will tell you).

Then we need to look at No Child Left Behind and either fund it (The program has very good intentions.. but there needs to be less testing and more learning) or get rid of it.

Then the Democrats need to start looking at what to do about stem cell research and other things like global warming...

There's a LOT to do. No plan? The docket is a bit overwhelming, if you ask me!

[FromCityToRural]

Alright, I promised to quit gettin into politics here, but c'mon...y'all are awfully hateful of Bush. Want to know why Dems are having an image problem, why people don't absolutely flock to the Democratic party giving them landslide victories all over the nation? Because you spend all your time hating the opposition rather than convincing more people that you spend any time doing anything else, like actually thinking about policies. The tack of simply spewing hate at the opposition is child-like. I'm sure there isn't a person in this nation that agrees with everything any president has ever done, but y'all sure do know how to overdo it, and y'all are overdoing it as much as the Republicans did during Clinton's reign. I'm also sure there isn't a person in the nation that doesn't believe the Dems don't have a direction, that there isn't thought put into what they want to do on the issues, but the fact is that people are not hearing it and swing voters aren't really being wooed - it took the "luck" and fortuitous timing of the Foley scandal and October in Iraq to swing these miderms to the D. Want yet more votes? Lay out real, unified, thought-out, concrete ideas on the issues that intelligent voters can mull over. That's how government and elections are supposed to be run.

[Charlotteman]

^^^fromcitytorural, this is a good point. One of the things that confounded me about John Kerry's 2004 campaign was that he NEVER spoke about what he was gonna do. He just talked about how bad Bush was. A terrible way to run a campaign for the most important office in the world.

If John Kerry runs again, and heaven forbid gets the nomination, I'm moving to some other country...

[suburban george3]

I just hope their plan involves impeaching Bush. Man is that long overdue.

[monsoon]

I think the question should be, "Do the Republican's have a plan?" So far they haven't demonstrated they do.

[MZT]

Ross Perot squandered the opportunity to create a real third party. We were sick of the status quo in 1992 and the votes that threw the Republicans into power in 1994 I think were in large part, leftover frustration of how out of touch the incumbents in Congress had become. "Contract with America" was just the cloak of reform, for the GOP to take over.

I think he was a kook, but he put an awful lot of money into a worthwhile idea. It might have lasted if there had been more recruiting of local candidates instead of all the publicity on Perot himself in 1992 and 1996.

[runawayjim]

i don't think anyone has a real plan for iraq. the democrats might have something, but they'll have to agree on it and i imagine everyone has a somewhat different idea. the republicans plan is to just stay there with no real way to pull out.

i think bush should be impeached, but i don't think it'll happen. i saw a great bumper sticker this weekend... "no one died with clinton lied".

[cinco]

the democrats do not have a uniformed plan for iraq... they do have a number of different ideas that people are floating around. what the democrats will bring to the table regarding iraq... is debate. you guys remember that... we used to have them before the "decider" administration.

that is my beef with this republican regime on iraq. there seems to be no debate... bush and co. are stubborn asses that cannot concede to their mistakes. @ least with the dems we will get a dialogue going on how to exit the "liars war". hopefully from that we can get see action and get our service men/women back home.

rash, uncompromising decisions to leave would be a mistake... afterall, isn't it that type of decision making that got us into the mess we're in now? let's start the momentum on ending this thing... currently we are just bogged down... and people are dying.

[cityboi]

I think the question should be, "Do the Republican's have a plan?" So far they haven't demonstrated they do.

[Charlotte_native]

I have always found it interesting that the Democrats are supposed to have a plan. They didn't create this mess and have not been included in any of the procedures or current "plans" (I know, there aren't any). Not to mention the shroud of secrecy that this administration feels is necessary in every step of their foreign policy. Congress wasn't even informed, even the committee that should have been, about wire tapping of Americans. How are the Democrats supposed to have formulated a plan before having full access to all the information needed to create one?

From what I have seen, the plan, and this would make sense in a business, is to gain power, evaluate WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING ON THE GROUND minus spin and cheerleading of the administration - take that and create a plan. Saying you don't have enough info to create a plan and waiting until you gather than information is much more intelligent than running forward with a "course" that is based on what you HOPE will work or what your small circle thinks will occur.

Coming into this with open minds, direct lines to the military and taking their advice, and realistic goals is a viable plan. Turn to the people that the administration has spurned, retired generals, Colin Powell, others, is a great start.

[runawayjim]

I have always found it interesting that the Democrats are supposed to have a plan. They didn't create this mess and have not been included in any of the procedures or current "plans" (I know, there aren't any). Not to mention the shroud of secrecy that this administration feels is necessary in every step of their foreign policy. Congress wasn't even informed, even the committee that should have been, about wire tapping of Americans. How are the Democrats supposed to have formulated a plan before having full access to all the information needed to create one?

From what I have seen, the plan, and this would make sense in a business, is to gain power, evaluate WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING ON THE GROUND minus spin and cheerleading of the administration - take that and create a plan. Saying you don't have enough info to create a plan and waiting until you gather than information is much more intelligent than running forward with a "course" that is based on what you HOPE will work or what your small circle thinks will occur.

Coming into this with open minds, direct lines to the military and taking their advice, and realistic goals is a viable plan. Turn to the people that the administration has spurned, retired generals, Colin Powell, others, is a great start.

[michaelskis]

I think the question should be, "Do the Republican's have a plan?" So far they haven't demonstrated they do.

[runawayjim]

Nice try at a spin, but now the ball is in the Dem's court.

But no, if they had a plan they would have proposed it already. The Dem

[michaelskis]

why would bailing on iraq be a bad thing? it needs to be done, or at least a set plan to pull out all our troops within a year.

[cityboi]

Nice try at a spin, but now the ball is in the Dem's court.

But no, if they had a plan they would have proposed it already. The Dem

[Charlotte_native]

someone mentioned in another thread that he would like to see a third party of moderates step up... for the likes of lincoln chafee, joe leiberman, john mccain, etc. the republican party has swayed pretty far to the right and the democratic party to the left. a third party would make the whole system that much better and give us more choices.

[FromCityToRural]

someone mentioned in another thread that he would like to see a third party of moderates step up... for the likes of lincoln chafee, joe leiberman, john mccain, etc. the republican party has swayed pretty far to the right and the democratic party to the left. a third party would make the whole system that much better and give us more choices.

[monsoon]

Because it would leave an open door for Al Quida or Iran to walk in and take over. The troops need to be able provide for safety before we can leave. I agree that we need to come home, but just pulling will decrease safety and will been seen as an open door for Terrorists from around the world. .....

[michaelskis]

Nobody believes this nonsense anymore and I said that weeks ago. Even the GOP congressmen who were running for re-election even said this in the last desperate days to save their sorry asses. At least the voters were smart enough this time not to buy the rhetoric. Thank god "Stay the Course" if finally dead.

[Charlotte_native]

I think most people see the situation in Iraq as a localized civil war. There are plenty of "other" players interphering (the biggest being us), but overall if we weren't there eventually the Iraquis would form a goverment OF THEIR CHOICE and would likely not want known terrorists running it. I think they do wish to rebuild and have self-governance. Assuming they would be another Afganistan from 10 years ago forgets their national history, their potential income from oil (Afganistan was a perfect "camp" for terrorists since they had no income to speak of other than drug money -- same for Somalia), and the countries that surround them. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, and Syria don't want Al Quida either.