Liberal Values Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

The Washington Post reports on the latest attempts of the Bush Administration to spin their failed policies on Iraq. Typically Republicans promote their positions by lying about the positions of the opposition, and then refute the straw men they have created rather than addressing the actual views of their opponents. In the past the media has generally quoted the Republican distortions as “news” without evaluation of their claims. Today the Washington Post exposes the dishonesty in Bush’s rhetoric:

Bush suggested last week that Democrats are promising voters to block additional money for continuing the war. Vice President Cheney this week said critics “claim retreat from Iraq would satisfy the appetite of the terrorists and get them to leave us alone.” And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, citing passivity toward Nazi Germany before World War II, said that “many have still not learned history’s lessons” and “believe that somehow vicious extremists can be appeased.”

Pressed to support these allegations, the White House yesterday could cite no major Democrat who has proposed cutting off funds or suggested that withdrawing from Iraq would persuade terrorists to leave Americans alone. But White House and Republican officials said those are logical interpretations of the most common Democratic position favoring a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

The Washington Post also notes that many Republicans are no longer going along with the White House:

The White House strategy of equating Democratic dissent with defeatism worked during the 2002 and 2004 elections, but it could prove more difficult this time. Some Republicans, such as Rep. Christopher Shays (Conn.), line up with Democrats in seeking a timetable for a withdrawal from Iraq. When Bush and his allies accuse those favoring such a timetable of “self-defeating pessimism,” as Cheney put it this week, they risk spraying friendly fire on some of their own candidates.

In an interview yesterday, Shays said the charges by Cheney and Rumsfeld are “over the top” and unhelpful. “The president should be trying to bring the country together and not trying to divide us,” he said. Shays, a longtime supporter of the war who just returned from his 14th trip to Iraq and faces a tough reelection battle, said he plans to outline next month a deadline for replacing U.S. troops doing police-style patrols with Iraqi forces. But he fears the Bush administration might not be supportive.

Other GOP incumbents, such as Reps. Gil Gutknecht (Minn.) and Michael G. Fitzpatrick (Pa.), are also raising serious concerns about Bush’s Iraq policy.