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June 17, 2006

Hot Story: Seizing the Day on Iraq

Beltway Boys

FRED BARNES, "WEEKLY STANDARD": Coming up on "The Beltway Boys": twin offensives in Baghdad and here in Washington. We'll tell you how the politics surrounding the Iraq war may be changing.

MORT KONDRACKE, "ROLL CALL": Democrats say they don't need to be unified on Iraq to win in November. We'll give you our take.

BARNES: The special prosecutor in the CIA leak case lets Karl Rove off the hook. So why can't Democrats?

KONDRACKE: And immigration reform looks all but dead this year in Congress. We'll tell you what's changed.

BARNES: "The Beltway Boys" are next, right after the headlines.

(NEWSBREAK)

BARNES: I'm Fred Barnes.

KONDRACKE: And I'm Mort Kondracke. We're "The Beltway Boys."

BARNES: And the "Hot Story," Mort, is seize the day. Seize the day in Iraq; seize the day in the - on the Iraq issue. This is what Republicans are trying to do.

On this, I think the paramount issue of our time: Iraq - militarily and politically. Starting with Zarqawi's death, the terrorist leader in Iraq, followed by this new offensive by Iraqi and American troops called Operation Together Forward - which is a little awkward name for it. They ought to come up with a better one.

But in any case, it's already going on in Iraq, ordered by the new permanent government in Iraq, which seems better than the ones we've had before, the temporary governments. But in any case, an offensive to clear Baghdad of insurgents. You have to - you have to clear them out of your capital. You can't function as a stable democracy if insurgents are running wild all over your capital. OK, that's first.

Secondly, the president's trip to Iraq - which I think was to show the commitment of America to Iraq to not pulling out troops, for staying the course, for being there, for actually winning a victory over the insurgents.

Then we get to the - the politic part. And we certainly saw it at the president's press conference a couple days ago in which he took I guess about the last third of the press conference to lambaste Democrats for being - for wanting to cut and run from Iraq.

Watch this byte from the press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's an interesting debate in the Democrat Party about how quick to pull out of Iraq. To pull them out of Iraq before we accomplish the mission will make the world a more dangerous place. It's bad policy. I know it may sound good politically. It'll endanger our country to pull out of Iraq before we accomplish the mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNES: And then the offensive to seize the day on Iraq and on the Iraq issue moves to Capitol Hill - and moved to Capitol Hill. First to the Senate where I - I kind of loved where Republicans - it was Mitch McConnell of Kentucky - mischievously brought up John Kerry's amendment to pull all the American troops out by the end of this year. And they had a vote on it. Kerry wasn't ready for a vote on this. In any case, it - it - the Kerry idea of a pullout was rejected 93-6.

Then in the House, there was a pro-war resolution that Republicans brought up. And it passed - I'd have to look at the number here; something like 256 to 153, with 42 Democrats voting for it.

Listen to Hastert for a second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DENNIS HASTER (R-IL), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The clarity with which our men and women in uniform understand the reason they are in Iraq is a stark contrast to some here at home who talk about this war as a war of choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNES: So I would say Bush and Republican are seizing the day on Iraq politically. Militarily in Iraq, we'll see.

KONDRACKE: Yes.

Well whether or not this was a war of choice at the beginning - and Bush obviously thought it wasn't, because he thought there were weapons of mass destruction there. But regardless of all that, it is now absolutely essential that - that we win. I mean, if we lose in Iraq, it will be a strategic defeat of catastrophic proportions, and I'm not exaggerating. The - the - the jihadists would win; there would be chaos and civil war in Iraq; our friends would all get killed probably; their - the - the United States would be humiliated around the world; and the - the victor in all this probably would end up being a nuclear-armed Iran, which would dominate the reason - region.

Now the Democrats, either out of Bush hatred in some cases, or out of defeatism or Vietnam syndrome or whatever you call it, are - are nearly unified - not quite unified fortunately - around the idea that we can't get - we can't win, so let's get out immediately, or - or at least soon.

Here's a little collage of the leaders, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha and John Kerry. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: This is a war that is a grotesque mistake. The administration insists on continuing to dig a world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: They're fighting with each other and our troops are caught in between. And I say it's time to re-deploy and be ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I was wrong to vote for that Iraqi war resolution. I am convinced that the only way the Iraqis have moved at any time thus far is with a deadline, and I believe we need a hard and fast deadline, not an open-ended commitment of U.S. forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KONDRACKE: That was Kerry speaking at the - at the Take Back America convention this weekend in Washington, which is a left-wing - left-wing group.

Now I don't think the Democrats do have to have a united position. I mean, that - the Republicans evidently were trying to say, Ha, the Democrats aren't united. And it's good that they're not united around that kind of stance.

One of the people who was a dissenter from the "Bug Out Brigade" was Hillary Rodham Clinton, the - the front-runner. She also spoke at this - at this convention. Watch what happened to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I do not think it is a smart strategy either for the president to continue with his open-ended commitment, which I think does not put enough pressure on the new Iraqi government. Nor do I think it is smart strategy to set a date certain. I do not agree that that is in the best interest of our troops or our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KONDRACKE: I was there, and the booing was scattered. But I think the booing was scattered only because before she came on to speak, one of the organizers of the convention addressed the crowd and said, Now let's be polite to our speakers.

The problem with - with Hillary Clinton was that she had no alternative to offer. And a presidential candidate needs a strategy for Iraq.

BARNES: Mort, she wasn't exactly pelted with vegetables.

(CROSSTALK)

BARNES: She might have been. I don't know. That said, looked pretty scattered to me.

The - I'm always amused to see Democrats now, like they did with the nuclear free - remember that two decades ago? Running around to say, I was fired; I endorsed it first. Now they're saying, I was for a pullout first. And I think Russ Feingold's right; he probably was.

But now you have John Kerry. And let me - let me just talk about John Kerry for a minute. You know, he complains that - that if you're against the war, people call you unpatriotic and so on. I haven't heard anybody call him unpatriotic. But here we - we see a pattern.

You know, John Kerry has - in Vietnam and now in Iraq, has been in favor of a war while it's popular. And when it becomes less popular, he's for getting out of that war; he's for pulling out. Now I - I don't think that's a matter of patriotism. But I do think it raises questions about his character. That's the problem here, the character.

KONDRACKE: Yes.

Look, I - I think that - that the Bush policy, as you pointed out earlier, has had some successes lately. But what I think the American - the American public, judging by the polls, is not all that impressed with it. I mean, Bush's popularity - overall job-approval rating is at 40 percent, which is up five points since last month. But his approval rating on Iraq is at 37 percent, and that's down three points since the beginning of the year.

And - and if - and in some other results from our - from our poll, things like the - the killing of Zarqawi were represented by - or believed by the public to be only a minor victory. I think that's wrong; I think it was much a bigger - bigger deal than that. But - but I think what the public is waiting for is sustained success, real results. And I think the Bush administration would achieve a lot if this Operation Forward Together actually did clear Baghdad of - of violent insurgents.

BARNES: Well let me ask you a final question: do you think the Democrats really want that offensive to succeed if it means that Bush's poll ratings will go up, and - and they'll lose their chance of winning the House on November 7.

KONDRACKE: Look - look, I - look, there are Democrats who - who would - who are invested in U.S. defeat. But I don't think all of them, fortunately.

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