Why Democrats don't talk about their plans

[Drocket]

The Democrats get accused a lot of the time for not having a plan to fix our nation's current problem. Another possibility is that they DO have plans, but choose not to publicly reveal them. Why would they do that?

The proposal on the Iraq war, from Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, and Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, would require the administration to provide extensive new quarterly reports to Congress on subjects like progress in bringing in other countries to help stabilize Iraq. The other appeals related to Iraq are nonbinding and express the position of the Senate.

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Mr. Warner said he decided to take the Democratic proposal and edit it to his satisfaction in an effort to find common ground between the parties on the issue. (http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/15/politics/15cong.html&OP=35042048Q2FQ7Dwp4Q7D5(Q2ATA((0-Q7D-ddiQ7DQ23Q23Q7DQ23iQ7DR(ZQ260Q26Q2ATQ7DQ23iQ2A(JXQ 2560PZ)

So the Republicans now have a plan for how to get us out of Iraq: all they had to do was wait around for a couple of years for the Democrats to reveal THEIR plan, then claim it was the Republican plan all along. Mmm-hmm. Yeah. This reminds me of a school kid before handing in a take-home test: "Tell me what you got for #4. No, I'm not going to tell you what my answer is: show me your paper first and I'll tell you if its right or not."

If the Democrats are the party of no ideas, what does this make the Republicans, when they're forced to steal the Democrat's (non)ideas?

[RBM]

"The plan stops short of a competing Democratic proposal that moves toward establishing dates for a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq. But it is built upon the Democratic approach and makes it clear that senators of both parties are increasingly eager for Iraqis to take control of their country in coming months and open the door to removing American troops.

Mr. Frist said an important reason for the Republican proposal was to offer an alternative to the Democratic call for a withdrawal timetable. "The real objective was to get out of this timeline of cutting and running that the Democrats have in their amendment," he said. Mr. Warner said he decided to take the Democratic proposal and edit it to his satisfaction in an effort to find common ground between the parties on the issue."
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I wouldn't really call it "stealing the Democrat's plan," so much as partially bowing to popular opinion and making concessions--which they probably would not have considered if things weren't going so poorly in Iraq--by adopting some of the naysayers' approaches.

It sounds like the only new and binding proposal concerns the active effort of "bringing in other countries to help stabilize Iraq," which they will require some proof of now (instead of just lip service in front of the cameras.) If I recall correctly, that has been voiced publically well before now (not the least of which during Kerry's campaign.) ....your original post was around 4 in the morning? Dang.

[Drocket]

Hey, I'm a night owl. Have a problem with that? :)

I'm really less upset about the fact that there are Republicans endorsing the idea that we need to get out of Iraq (a good plan is a good plan, wherever it comes from) and more about the way this has been reported on. Who here has seen or read a newstory from MSM about the Democrat's plan for Iraq? Anyone? Anyone? A CNN story? A newspaper headline? Anyone? No? Didn't think so.

Then the Republicans basically just photocopy the Democratic plan (whiting out all the 'unpleasant' sections where it demands actual responsibility-taking from our leaders) - its a top headline on CNN.com! The New York Times decides to write a front-page article about it! Yahoo decided it was a top newstory. MSNBC can't seem to stop talking about it. Not that the Republicans have so blatently stolen the Democrat's plan, but that the Republicans have a bold new plan to fix the Iraq mess.

Yet another nail in the 'liberal media' BS.

[E-Z-B]

And the media will continue to label the democrats as "the party without ideas".