1 hour ago Bob Woodward says he was threatened by White House

[ChumpDumper]

Doubt it. I think, like the popular party normally does, the Liberal wing of the Dems are going to overplay their capital. Obama's at 50 percent popularity and probably will start getting lower. In about two months- I bet it'll around 39-42%. Just my opinion.

Historically, the blame goes to the President for this kind of stuff. I don't see it being different this time around.

The last time this happened, the blame rested squarely on the shoulders of a historian -- not the president.

[PublicOption]

taken from comment section on CNN

Wake up America! This is your new normal, and YOU ARE TO BLAME! You constantly bicker and fight amongst yourselves while the people inside the beltway steal everything that isn't tied down. You argue and complain about every manufactured crises the politicians come up with then wonder why nothing changes. Why? Because they are happy pocketing their 100+ thousand dollar a year salary for life to go with all of the free travel, free food, 188 day work YEAR, exceptional FREE healthcare program, and all the other elite benefits that come with political office. YOU ARE BEING FLEECED, and the sad thing is YOU ARE THE ONES WHO CONTINUALLY ELECT AND RE-ELECT PEOPLE YOU WOULDN'T LET WATCH YOUR CHILDREN. Wake up! Stop worrying about winning, and start asking what you can do to help our nation! This is the last chance our nation has. Abraham Lincoln said "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Stop being red and blue. Start being just an American.

[Th'Pusher]

taken from comment section on CNN

Wake up America! This is your new normal, and YOU ARE TO BLAME! You constantly bicker and fight amongst yourselves while the people inside the beltway steal everything that isn't tied down. You argue and complain about every manufactured crises the politicians come up with then wonder why nothing changes. Why? Because they are happy pocketing their 100+ thousand dollar a year salary for life to go with all of the free travel, free food, 188 day work YEAR, exceptional FREE healthcare program, and all the other elite benefits that come with political office. YOU ARE BEING FLEECED, and the sad thing is YOU ARE THE ONES WHO CONTINUALLY ELECT AND RE-ELECT PEOPLE YOU WOULDN'T LET WATCH YOUR CHILDREN. Wake up! Stop worrying about winning, and start asking what you can do to help our nation! This is the last chance our nation has. Abraham Lincoln said "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Stop being red and blue. Start being just an American.

Whoever wrote that really fancies him or herself some type of Braveaheart. I also think they're wrong. Politicians are not happy in their Cush jobs "stealing" their salaries. They've just become wildy polarized and ideological. The art of political deal making has become obsolete.

[spursncowboys]

No, it could have been much better much sooner.

How? I don't mean after the fact. I mean at the time. Who's strategy do you think would have worked better? COIN wasn't even developed yet. I also don't think it would have worked. The Surge wasn't just us having more soldiers to maintain the areas we had taken in Baghdad. For years the Baath party was trying to distant themselves from AQIZ. Bush and the Generals have given the demand that they publicly denounce AQIZ. It wasn't until a month prior to the Surge that they agreed and denounced Al Queda, which lead to us supporting the militias (which were the 1929 Rev Brigade[majority of Baath party and Sunni ex Iraq Army])

[Th'Pusher]

Shock and Awe was wildy successful.

[spursncowboys]

Shock and Awe was wildy successful.

?

How wasn't it?

[ChumpDumper]

How? I don't mean after the fact. I mean at the time. Who's strategy do you think would have worked better? COIN wasn't even developed yet. I also don't think it would have worked. The Surge wasn't just us having more soldiers to maintain the areas we had taken in Baghdad. For years the Baath party was trying to distant themselves from AQIZ. Bush and the Generals have given the demand that they publicly denounce AQIZ. It wasn't until a month prior to the Surge that they agreed and denounced Al Queda, which lead to us supporting the militias (which were the 1929 Rev Brigade[majority of Baath party and Sunni ex Iraq Army])

The original plan with many more boots on the ground, much more limited army disbandment and de-Baathification for starters.

[spursncowboys]

The original plan with many more boots on the ground, much more limited army disbandment and de-Baathification for starters.

Had we not done the light footprint, we would not have been able to fight the insurgency. We did do de-Baathification. And I agree with you on not disbanding the whole Army.

[Th'Pusher]

?

How wasn't it?

Like. Just said, it was. After that, not so much.

[spursncowboys]

Had we not done the light footprint, we would not have been able to fight the insurgency. We did do de-Baathification. And I agree with you on not disbanding the whole Army.

The disbanding the Army thing is complete monday morning quarterbacking.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Doubt it. I think, like the popular party normally does, the Liberal wing of the Dems are going to overplay their capital. Obama's at 50 percent popularity and probably will start getting lower. In about two months- I bet it'll around 39-42%. Just my opinion.

Historically, the blame goes to the President for this kind of stuff. I don't see it being different this time around.

Historically, there has not been a congress this unpopular since Hoover left office. FDR certainly did not get blame for that time period as things sank farther into the ter.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/145238/co...p-history.aspx

13% approval rating and the reputation of congress just got worse. You also should recall the recent election where the GOP failed pretty miserable to pin anything on Obama.

Perhaps if the GOP was not run by a bunch of out of touch fools they could maneuver but they cannot even act in tandem. The McConnell, Graham, McCain triumverate goes one way and the tea party types go another. Christie is an outcast, they turned on Hagel. The list goes on.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

The disbanding the Army thing is complete monday morning quarterbacking.

More like they should have read about Patton, Bradley and Ike. The military precedent is so well known as to be cliche

[ChumpDumper]

Had we not done the light footprint, we would not have been able to fight the insurgency. We did do de-Baathification. And I agree with you on not disbanding the whole Army.

Had those not happened and the occupying force been large enough in the first place, there well may have been no insurgency at all.

[ChumpDumper]

The disbanding the Army thing is complete monday morning quarterbacking.

No, there was a very strong debate about it at the time. A choice was made. A pretty bad one.