I agree...it was touching for me to see them raise their ink stained fingers with pride and courage.

You are a breath of fresh air in the Democrat circle. Before we are Dems or Republicans we are Americans. The vote in Iraq is History in the making. We all should be proud of them and how they got there.

I'm with you here, Steve. We should all be proud as Americans. Even those of us who fully support what we are doing in Iraq hope that this means our brave troops will start coming home sooner. I don't want them in harm's way any longer than necessary to secure the objectives. I'm cautiously optimistic that the Iraqis will soon be able to deal with the Zarqawis & other thugs without our backup. May be another 6-12 months, but I'm very encouraged, and some troop drawdowns might begin even sooner if we're lucky.

And I don't think anyone here has ever considered you meanspirited.

Cheers,
Daiwa

Reply #3 By: Daiwa - 2/2/2005 2:19:08 PM I'm with you here, Steve. We should all be proud as Americans. Even those of us who fully support what we are doing in Iraq hope that this means our brave troops will start coming home sooner. I don't want them in harm's way any longer than necessary to secure the objectives. I'm cautiously optimistic that the Iraqis will soon be able to deal with the Zarqawis & other thugs without our backup. May be another 6-12 months, but I'm very encouraged, and some troop drawdowns might begin even sooner if we're lucky. And I don't think anyone here has ever considered you meanspirited. Cheers, Daiwa

Misinformed from time to time, but NOT mean-spirited.

Misinformed from time to time

Aren't we all, but thanks just the same.

And I don't think anyone here has ever considered you meanspirited.

Thank you--just "ignorant", eh?

raise their ink stained fingers with pride and courage

How sweet it is!

You are a breath of fresh air!

Thanks.

Reply #5 By: stevendedalus - 2/3/2005 12:51:48 AM Misinformed from time to time Aren't we all, but thanks just the same.And I don't think anyone here has ever considered you meanspirited. Thank you--just "ignorant", eh?raise their ink stained fingers with pride and courage How sweet it is!You are a breath of fresh air! Thanks.

misinformed is not ignorant.

Steve -

I think you said that ("just 'ignorant', eh?") tongue-in-cheek, but just in case & FTR: You are anything but ignorant. You are knowledgeable, paying attention and making good arguments.

But being wrong is not the same as being ignorant.

Cheers,
Daiwa

Not all of them, I guess...

To me, the mean-spirited part comes in when Dems in "power" use these circumstances simply as rungs in the political ladder. We have no way of knowing what most of the Dems in the last election REALLY thought about Iraq, they were too busy saying what the pollsters told them to say.

Granted, there's no shortage of that on either side, but it really hits home when something they differed with so bitterly actually works out. It's hard for me to watch these Mugwumps all teary-eyed and happy about Democracy in Iraq when they fought like hell to prevent the attempt.

That's one thing I never understood about Kerry. How could people forget that he was willing to just leave Hussein in Kuwait? When your decision ignores the plight of millions, and is based just on political expediency, that to me is mean spirited.

Granted, you don't always have to agree with the means to agree with the ends, but still. I think a "no thanks to you" is well deserved when some of these Democratic notables are grandstanding about Democracy in Iraq.

Mugwumps all teary-eyed and happy about Democracy in Iraq when they fought like hell to prevent the attempt.

Baker, the mean-spirited part come when you comment!--just kidding--however, I believe you are saying that I don't have the right to praise the Iraqi people and Bush even though I was vehemently against the manner in which the war was conducted. I've said repeatedly that for twelve years we had continually been at war with Iraq. Neither the first Bush, nor Clinton were relentless enough. Bush W. also ignored Saddam for two years.

I think you said that ("just 'ignorant', eh?") tongue-in-cheek,

Yes, it was tongue-in-cheekand with reference to one of your comments on an earlier blog.

misinformed is not ignorant.

I wasn't referring to your comment.