The very sad, unfortunate affliction suffered by Sen. Johnson has taken the breaths away from citizens hoping for change in Congress. As a voting, Oregon democrate I would like Smith to truly demonstrate his recent “enlightenment” by declaring his change in party affiliation to Democrat. Mr. Smith, if you sincerely do not wish us to “stay the course” in a war we cannot win, then it behooves you to not force your fellow Americans to “stay the course” with a Congress who makes losers of all but the wealthy.

The simulacrum of moral outrage: “If we’re going to fight jihadists, let’s win…” etc. etc…

I couldn’t tell from the clips of Smith’s speech shown on Countdown, but he’s really holding onto ALL his chips: he wants victory, he wants to kill militant Muslims…and he wants to appease the mass of disgruntled voters by holding the administration’s feet kind-of to the fire…Saying “criminal” is NOT the same as saying “impeachment”!

Was that a Republican “FLIP-FLOP” I just read. Just another political hack reacting to the latest opinion polls. Where was the courage needed to question and vote against the war from the beginning. The fact that he may not be reelected is what really concerns this man. His little speech will look good on his reelection advertising, nothing more. Play both sides against the middle and above all else stay in power must be in their oath of office.
I can’t wait to see who climbs up on the D.C. diving board next to execute a “FLIP-FLOP” of convenience.

Senator Smith is a hero.
When will the other senators follow suit?
Where are the so-called moralists?
Are they afraid to stand up and admit
they were no WMD and that they were all mislead.
Impeachment words are spreading.
Criminal Acts have been committed.

There is nothing wrong with changing one’s mind.
Especially when they’ve been giving the wrong
info.  As a matter of fact, we were all giving the
wrong made-up facts to suit this war.
Supena the War Contracts and the
Contractors War Machine that benefit from
the blood of our Armed Forces.
Let’s get back to Afganistan where the real problem
is. It’s no surprise that the present Admin disagrees
with the Iraq Report!  Let’s give the Senator from
Oregon some applause! He is ‘listening to the people’.

Headless:

What REALLY woke Sen. Smith up is 11/7 in 2008.  If we’re still doing the same thing in Iraq, he’s going to be boiled peas.

What’s really “criminal” is when Smith compares himself to former Republican Senator Mark Hatfield from Oregon, who opposed the Vietnam War in the mid-60s.

Smith doesn’t even rise to the moniker “Hatfield lite.”  He’s more of a Hatfield no-fat, no-meat, no backbone.

Too little too late.  His problem is not with the invasion in general (which he should have protested, but didn’t), but with the lack of a clear strategy for victory.  He is a poster-child for so many people in this country who went along with this folly from the start, but started having a “change of heart” once victory didn’t seem so guaranteed.  I find little to nothing admirable about his departure from the Bush camp.

An important subtext here is that Sen. Smith is up for re-election in 2008, in a state that just re-elected an unpopular Democratic govenor running against a pro-choice Republican by a wide margin, a state where the Democrats hold every state-wide office, except that of Sen. Smith, and a state where the Democrats control both houses of the state legislature.  Oregon is a blue state trending bluer, and Sen. Smith is the only remaining Republican Senator on the west coast.  He tows the party line much more than Hatfield or Packwood ever did, but we do see him rush to the center every six years or so.  Let’s hope Oregon voters see through it this time.

I think he’s right in feeling irate about Iraq.
The ‘war’ was over 3 years ago, but somehow our troops are still there, month after month, year after year, and people are starting to ask ‘why’.
The idea behind going to war is to win, if there’s nothing to win, there’s no purpose for the war. Well, I think it can be fairly argued
that our side ‘won’ pretty decisively, Hussein’s
bound for the hangman’s noose, and our military’s basically done what it can really do, in that regard. Now, the challenge is to let GO of Iraq,
and let the people there choose their own future.
I hope that Smith and others become more vocal in
their calls to get the troops out of Iraq, What’s won is won, what’s done is done, but the future of Iraq belongs to the people, there and ultimately they’re going to have to solve their own problems. The sooner our troops are gone, the sooner they can do that, I think…

Gordon, Gordon, so it took you six years to figure out what was going on?

I have a difficult time believing what you are saying. It is time for you to move on…

Let’s move on like you rips like to say…

Oh please.

This guy is as mindlessly inept as he ever was and is simply trying to playing the “I care” card. He’s either doing it for his constituency that’s growling about Iraq or setting himself into a light that gives him a slight edge with the incoming Democrats. But he’s as full of BS as ever.

Do not miss his examples of what he supported and “voted for”:

“toppling a chief terrorist and tyrant” ~ well one out of two is a better record than most Politicians right?

“ridding him of weapons of mass destruction” ~ ummm, what WMD’s would those be exactly? The ones the never found perhaps?

Yeah, in the end he admits to being FOR all the lies that got us INTO this mess but he must make it perfectly clear that he’s gone from “steamed to boiled” over us actually BEING in the mess. Kudos to you Sen. Gordon Smith. Thanks for your bravery in standing up like this…you are a true American hero…

Better late than never. But he says he voted for “toppling a chief terrorist and tyrant,...but not for being target practice in the middle of a sectarian strife…” What did he think was going to happen? This was a stupid move from Day One. We should have let the UN finish investigating Saddam, while we concentrated on “finishing the job” in Afganistan and fighting terrorism. I’m willing to give Gordon Smith some credit here, but not to let him off the hook entirely.

Mr. Smith,

Your voters are proud of you. We need more profiles of courage at the legislature branch.

So he ‘just woke up’ huh?!  yeah…perhaps the results of 11/7 is what really did it….

Headless