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January 13, 2007

Hot Story: Bush's Tough Sell

Beltway Boys

FRED BARNES, "WEEKLY STANDARD": Coming up on "The Beltway Boys," President Bush's new strategy for Iraq sets the stage for a big-time confrontation with Congress.

MORT KONDRACKE, "ROLL CALL": We'll tell you what Democrats are doing to derail the president's plan, including threats to cut off the funding.

BARNES: We'll take a closer look at where the 2008 presidential hopefuls are coming down on all this.

KONDRACKE: And what about the Iraqis? They've talked the talk about getting tough on insurgents, but can they walk the walk?

BARNES: That's all coming up on "The Beltway Boys," right after the headlines.

(NEWSBREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's one thing to develop a plan. It's another thing to see it through. The prime minister and I have some - some plain talk. I have made it clear that the patience of the American people is not unlimited, and now is the time to act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNES: I'm Fred Barnes.

KONDRACKE: And I'm Mort Kondracke, and we're "The Beltway Boys."

Well, the "Hot Story" of the week is "Tough Sell." I'm talking about the president's new Iraq strategy. I would say it was met by an orgy of - of opposition.

This is - look, this is Bush's last chance for success in Iraq, and to avoid a calamitous defeat in the face of radical Islam around the world. I think he deserves a chance to play out his hand, and - and hope - and hope that - that he can succeed. And he can play out his hand, because the Democratic Congress is not so irresponsible as to be planning to cut off the funds for him - for him to prosecute the war.

But the - the Congress - Democrats are going to do every thing short of that they possibly can do, with hearings and with investigations and with resolutions and all that kind of stuff. And they're going to try to drive his numbers down. And the - the public polls show right now that - that he's on thin ice. There - there were no - there have no polls since he made his speech on Wednesday, but the - just before the - the - the speech, the latest Associated Press poll showed that 70 percent of the public was against more troops in Iraq.

Now, according to a Gallup poll the week before, 15 percent - and that's only 15 percent - said that we should withdraw all our troops right now. But 39 percent say that we should pull out within a year, and 31 percent say that we should stay for as long as needed. And only 12 percent said that the United States should - should send in more troops.

So the public is - going into this is pretty - pretty negative about it. And the - and the Democrats are going to try to make it even more negative.

Now when asked whether there would be a fund cut-off resolution, this is what Nancy Pelosi said. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you vote not to fund this increase in troops, or - or not to fund some portion of the Iraq campaign that is - is currently being funded?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Well, that may not be the - the issue is, Do you support the president's policy? That will be the vote. Democrats will always support our troops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KONDRACKE: So the first plan is to have no confidence votes in both the House and the Senate. But the anti-war ultras are on the march, and they - what they want is a fund-cutoff resolution. The question is, What will the Democrats do when Bush sends up his supplemental funding request for the war -- $100 billion, maybe $150 billion - in February?

BARNES: Well, when you say the - the anti-war ultras, are you referring to Teddy Kennedy, Russ Feingold, or just the sweetheart of the left, like Cindy Sheehan or - yes. I mean, who are you referring to?

KONDRACKE: All of the above.

BARNES: All right.

You know, clearly, Nancy Pelosi has not convinced Teddy Kennedy not to seek a fund cutoff.

Listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Our bill that will say that no additional troops can be sent, and no additional dollars can be sent on such an escalation unless and until Congress approves the president's plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNES: Well, that was pretty clear and - and - and emphatic.

And - and Mort, look how far Democrats have come in just a few days, and I don't know, maybe a couple of weeks. They're now - many of them, top people like Teddy Kennedy - he's not some backbencher - talking about a cutoff. This coming week, John Murtha in the House, a congressman from Pennsylvania, will be talking about not just a cutoff on - on funds for the surge of new troops, but a total cutoff for troops in the entire effort.

Now here's my biggest problem with Democrats, and they - and I say this as a supporter of the war. You know, President Bush has changed course in Iraq. That's what his new plan it is; it is a new course. He has a new commander. He has a new strategy - that - that's David Petraeus. A new strategy, that's counterinsurgency. A new objective, which is not merely training the Iraqi army, but is making Baghdad safe for the Iraqi people. In other words, protecting the Iraqi people. And a new role for American troops.

It - it's new. And yet, Steny Hoyer, the majority leader for Democrats in the House, said, Oh, I didn't hear any thing new in that speech. And other Democrats have echoed that.

Now, look, these are smart people. Certainly Steny Hoyer, and I can't believe he was so inattentive that he couldn't have picked up what the president was talking about. And yet - and yet, that's what - what he and others said. I say that it intellectually dishonest for them to - for them to - for them to say that.

If they don't like the policy, then criticize it, explain why they're against it. But to say it's not new is wrong.

Even Hillary Clinton went this route. And here's what she said: "The president has not gotten the message sent loudly and clearly by the American people that we desperately need a new course. The president has not offered a new direction. Instead, he will continue to take us down the wrong road, only faster."

Look, if she wants to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate, then intellectually take on the president's proposal. Don't pretend like there's nothing new there.

KONDRACKE: Well, what - what the Democrats mean by that is that his direction is further in, not out.

BARNES: Well why don't they say that?

KONDRACKE: All right.

BARNES: Don't pretend it's not.

KONDRACKE: Well, that's - that's what - that's what they mean.

Look, every thing here depends on whether the Iraqis will finally stand up to their - to their responsibilities, politically and militarily. Now the - the question is, will Iraqi forces fight in - in Baghdad? Will they - will Prime Minister Maliki take on Muqtada al-Sadr? Will he do the - the things that President Bush laid out on in his benchmarks of making reconciliatory moves toward the - toward the Sunnis?

All of that is yet to be determined. And if I were President Bush, on the basis of the past record, I would be planning Plan B or Plan C or whatever you want. And - and I - there is in the air some talk about plan - further plans down the line if - if the Iraqis won't stand up.

One is that this could be our exit strategy. In other words, blame the Iraqis and get out. The second one would have to be to replace Maliki and try to get a new government. And the third one, which some of the Democrats are - are afraid is what Bush has in his mind, is an escalation .

BARNES: Yes.

KONDRACKE: .into - into Iran and Syria. I don't think that that's in the cards, but that's what they're afraid of.

BARNES: Yes, that's Plan Z. It's - they're not going to - they're not going to get any where with that.

Look, every thing doesn't - every thing doesn't depend on the Iraqis. A lot does for sure, but a lot still depends on what Americans do there. And it's not enough for the American troops to be - to be devoted to what they have been devoted to, and that's merely training the Iraqi army, and then withdrawing American troops as soon as possible, as soon as the Iraqi army's up to speed. Who knows when that will be, Mort?

And - and by following that strategy, we have not been winning in Iraq. It's as simple as that. That's why the president has changed course.

Now one of the nice things about President Bush - I wrote a whole book about this, about President Bush - is he didn't fall for the advice that you would get from the Washington wise guys - the wise men of Washington. And - and that's the conventional wisdom, which you could sum up in two words: "accept defeat." He didn't buy that. And - and his strategy is one for winning.

And I'll have to say, he has few allies at the moment. John McCain's one, but there are not many. But he has one thing nobody else has: a plan for victory.

KONDRACKE: Yes.

Well, look, I hope that his plan for victory works. It has not worked up to now. And it has not worked largely because he was not willing to stand up to Don Rumsfeld and the generals in - in Iraq, and put in more troops the way John McCain said was - was necessary way back when. John McCain was not alone, but he was the leader in this.

Now, look - look, if this doesn't work, it - I think, you know, it's going to be Bush's fault. He's probably going to blame Maliki and he's going to blame the Iraqis, but it's going to be fundamentally Bush's fault, which is why it is so stupid for the Democrats to start pulling the rug out from under Bush, and give Bush the opportunity to say that they were responsible for our defeat in - in Iraq.

BARNES: Well, I think it would stupid. But then, they got away with it in Vietnam, when they were the large - and some Republicans, but largely Democrats, you know, pulled out the funding of the - of the Vietnamese army. Even after we'd gotten all the troops out there.

And look - and Democrats - and this can point to, in response to you for instance - point to a great number of Republicans who are actually opposing the president on this increase in surge. And not just people who have been against the war all - all along, like Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, but there are a lot of other nervous nellies, too.

Now the good news, I think, is that the president is prepared to proceed and go ahead with this without the screaming Democrats and without the nervous Republicans. And - and you know what it - it comes down to? Because he's that way, because he's a tough guy of character, that's why he's president and they're not.

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