Breaking News
Oprah Quitting TV Show In 2011

About That Leadership Thing

John Edwards is doing it

In an echo of the can-do spirit that was characteristic of the post-World War II period, Mr. Edwards asserts that with the proper leadership, the United States can “restore the moral core and legitimacy that has been the foundation of our influence” abroad, while at the same time tackling tough issues here at home: poverty, the need for greater energy independence and a fairer shake for all Americans who have to work for a living, including “the forgotten middle class.”

In his draft of the speech (and in a telephone interview yesterday), Mr. Edwards said that at least 40,000 American troops should be brought home from Iraq immediately, and further reductions should continue steadily, “so that the Iraqis can take control over their own lives.”

He says, at the top of the speech, that “our military power is fortunately strong, and we must keep it that way.” But he also says, “I want to live in an America that has not sacrificed individual liberties in the name of freedom; where, in the fight to preserve the country we love, we do not sacrifice the country we love; where we don’t make excuses for violating civil rights, though we understand that the test of liberty is in the moments when such excesses almost sound reasonable.”

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Responses to “About That Leadership Thing”

  1. drpedro says:

    Leadership?

    Are you joking?

    The guy doesn’t even have a job, since he has stopped trying to run doctors out of their profession. He develops a random number of troops to retreat out of Iraq and you think that is leadership?

    And ke-rist! Retreating from Iraq is an “echo of the can-do spirit of post wwII”? Have you lost your mind john? The post war america population would have you strung up by your heels with piano wire before considering a retreat from Iraq “can-do spirit”!

  2. Roni says:

    drp, you are hilarious!!

  3. drpedro says:

    Ah roni, were that it was a hilarious subject we were discussing eh? Then we could all have a good laugh!

    but unfortunately, this ridiculous rhetoric comes from a man who could have endangered our entire country had he been elected….which makes it substantially less funny….

  4. Frank_D says:

    so that we can t respond adequately to real threats that crop up later
    As if liberals / democratics would ever conceive of anything besides the overturning of Roe v. Wade as a real threat.

  5. qkslvr_wolf says:

    You know what endangers our country, pedro? Throwing away and pinning down a significant portion of our forces in a pet “war”, so that we can’t respond adequately to real threats that crop up later (iran, north korea…)

    That endangers the country. Trying to stop the hemorraging we’re already doing in no way endangers the country.

  6. drpedro says:

    is that the new talking point? We aren’t ready if another war comes up?

    Couple of tips,

    we won’t be fighting a land war in North Korea.

    If Iran acts up, how much more prepared can we be than to have a supplied, prepared beachead with 150,000 troops sitting on their border?

    See wolfie, you were all worried for nothing!

  7. John M. Burt says:

    Yeah, let’s have more of that good Republican leadership, the kind that disarmed Saddam Hussein’s immense WMD infrastructure, captured Osama bin Laden and created the stable, democratic free-enterprise utopia that is modern Iraq.

  8. Roni says:

    drpedro, you’re hilarious because if this was a strategy of Bush and his band of idiots, your response would be a color coded, alphabetical list of reasons why the concept kicks ass.

  9. drpedro says:

    roni you become more and more unintelligible every day…

  10. Roni says:

    … like listening to The Decider talk without the aid of an earpiece …

    Given your unwavering respect and admiration for him, that’s a huge compliment, drpedro, thank you!