(no subject)
POTUS has spoken (President of the US... I love that abbreviation). And he has a plan to save Iraq and cut fuel consumption by 20%! Well no, no plan really, but a desire. I have desires too, and every once in a while they come true...
Webb was great. At first the rebuttal looked like one of those cheap TV ads, but I think he talked about the two things everyone really cares about (Iraq and spending power) and did it well.
I do have an issue with the Democratic position on Iraq. They keep talking about solving it without a troop surge... yeah right. It's fine to argue that we should give up and leave, but don't pretend that we can "win" without going on the offensive. The arguments in favor of leaving are that it's good for our troops, good for our spending ($1.2 trillion already!!), and once we're out of there peace will probably established by someone who's not afraid to massacre entire populations. Oh and the Iraqis would like us to leave. According to Newsweek 74% of them were happy to have us there just after Saddam was deposed, and now it's a number lower than Bush's approval rating - I can see why, because we've totally failed them.
The arguments against leaving are that we got them into the really big mess they're in, and it would be a shame to let things get even worse for the Iraqis. Do we owe them more of our lives? You could say that, I think.
And that 20% less fuel in 10 years thing... that'll be interesting to see. It's likely that we could achieve 20% fewer emissions, but 20% less fuel is hard. The Democrats count on Labor's backing a lot, and lately the focus has been on the loss of our manufacturing jobs, with the auto industry as the big symbol of its decline. The domestic car companies are losing money every year as it is, and the money they do make is from their pickups and large SUVs - they lose money on a lot of their cars and even more on the few hybrids they have (which they sell at a loss to meet certain regulations). So the government will probably tread carefully with fuel economy regulations so it doesn't kill them. No, there's very little reason to respect those companies, but their workers are one of the last bastions of American blue collar workers who are able to attain a high standard of living, something Webb made clear would be on the Democrats' minds.
McCain fell asleep, that was funny.
Webb was great. At first the rebuttal looked like one of those cheap TV ads, but I think he talked about the two things everyone really cares about (Iraq and spending power) and did it well.
I do have an issue with the Democratic position on Iraq. They keep talking about solving it without a troop surge... yeah right. It's fine to argue that we should give up and leave, but don't pretend that we can "win" without going on the offensive. The arguments in favor of leaving are that it's good for our troops, good for our spending ($1.2 trillion already!!), and once we're out of there peace will probably established by someone who's not afraid to massacre entire populations. Oh and the Iraqis would like us to leave. According to Newsweek 74% of them were happy to have us there just after Saddam was deposed, and now it's a number lower than Bush's approval rating - I can see why, because we've totally failed them.
The arguments against leaving are that we got them into the really big mess they're in, and it would be a shame to let things get even worse for the Iraqis. Do we owe them more of our lives? You could say that, I think.
And that 20% less fuel in 10 years thing... that'll be interesting to see. It's likely that we could achieve 20% fewer emissions, but 20% less fuel is hard. The Democrats count on Labor's backing a lot, and lately the focus has been on the loss of our manufacturing jobs, with the auto industry as the big symbol of its decline. The domestic car companies are losing money every year as it is, and the money they do make is from their pickups and large SUVs - they lose money on a lot of their cars and even more on the few hybrids they have (which they sell at a loss to meet certain regulations). So the government will probably tread carefully with fuel economy regulations so it doesn't kill them. No, there's very little reason to respect those companies, but their workers are one of the last bastions of American blue collar workers who are able to attain a high standard of living, something Webb made clear would be on the Democrats' minds.
McCain fell asleep, that was funny.