Ahh, ye olde cut and run which besides sounding like a bad case of diarrhea is ye olde republican trick of defining what liberal democrats are. They have been doing this for as long as I can remember. Of course one rather suspects that when one side resorts to name calling it is because they know they cannot win the argument because they don’t have any ammunition to win said argument hence cut and run. Now what did they call the Europeans who kept telling us invading Iraq was a bad idea, oh yes, I have it, cheese eating surrender monkeys was the phrase used. That was a nice touch.

Of course the Europeans turned out to be correct in this case. Anyone for freedom fries?

Maybe it was those freedom fries that caused the cut and runs.

But why blame the democrats? The republicans hold the Whitehouse, congress and the Supreme Court in their hot little hands. It has been their policies all the way down the line. The democrats have been reduced to an opposition party with little or no power. Every policy implemented by the Bush administration has been an abject failure and predictably so. Do you think maybe this entire name calling is just using the democrats as a scapegoat for Bush failures of which there is no shortage? Like I said when you got no ammunition you start with the name calling

I just mentioned this over on TPM but I need to say it here.  That Democrats ‘cut and run’ thing is a bunch of crock:  Eisenhower basically cut and ran in Korea; Ford cut and ran in Vietnam; Even the sainted Reagan cut and ran in Lebanon; GeorgeI cut and ran in Desert Storm.  Isn’t there one brave Democrat politician out there who will stand up and stop this ‘cut and run’ crap? Because if there isn’t we’re going to hear this bull all the way to November.

Better than cut & run,  members of our armed forces in Iraq should meet with their counterparts in the Iraqi resistance for the purpose of declaring a truce between the two sides,  with the understanding that, after signing the truce,  our troops will return home ASAP.  This, together with the refusal of our troops here in the states to go to Iraq (as per Army Lt. Ehren Wadada, Sgt. Kevin Benderman and Pfc. Suzanne Swift)  would end the war quickly in a sort of push-pull operation;  saving the lives. thereby,  of many American soldiers, sailors and marines as well as Iraqi resisters and civilians.  And by setting a precedent that those of us who are asked to go off to war have the right of refusal we would be putting an end, not only to empire-USA, but to war itself.  Won’t that be nice!

There may be one thing worse then the Republican attacks and that is the inability of dummycrats to counter. They should right away have asked are saying your heros, Nixon who ran fom VN and Reagan who ran after attack on emmbasy - cut and runners? Is Dick Cheney who cut and ran from VN but armed Saddam & Osama a cut an runner?

I heard Rush Limbaugh was on his way to a rendezvous with Ann Coulter when busted with Viagra.I guess it takes the better part of a bottle if your partner,in the throes of organsm, screams out the names of Republican Presidents.

Molly

Cut and run, now it looks like that matra against the democrats might now work, now what are they going to come up with?

Margaret Currey, Portland Oregon

Americans don’t forget.  We are simply not consulted.  They should automate their voting machines so that they automatically cast a vote and the public would not even have to show up on election day.

I wonder what planet these BushCo. people are from, because they certainly aren’t human. Humans have hearts…don’t they? What is really sickening is it looks like Bush got a bit of a poll uptick with the Cut ‘n Run Orwellian language. How sad it is the greatest country ever also has so many stupid, gullible citizens, and with memories about as long as a termite fart.

Just to add a bit of information to my ‘Lone cry in the wilderness’ (Actually I’m not really alone; besides my 19 year old Maine Coon cat believing I have the facts, my head screwed on right, and value truth, the majority of Americans agree with my beliefs also.), did you realize there are 1,800 pounds of termites for every person on earth, and they are the largest source of methane gas in this world? Imagine that, a protien source that can feed the hungry of the world AND we could probably power all our vehicles with their waste by-product at the same time. The quandry I’ve had for quite some time is how does someone hold a termite down to measure the volume of gas erupting from its anus? Hey folks this is a valuable service performed, not unlike that of a proctologist…you know, useful. This is in complete contrast to members of BushCo, who for the most part are useless as far as middle-class America is concerned. Please keep telling it like it is, Molly, because America needs you.
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Another great article, Molly.  Thanks.

Personally I’ve always thought that George W. Bush’s motive for pre-emptively attacking Iraq was to move the military bases in Saudi Arabia into Iraq, permanently.  After all, why did he tell the Saudi prince/ambassador/good buddy and financiar to his oil business blunder that he was attacking Iraq before he told his OWN secretary of State?  It’s pretty evident that the Saudi royal family told Bush to move the bases because they were causing “problems” for them.

In Bush’s deranged mind, he figured that he had conquered Iraq(Yeah, right!) and he could set up the military bases there.  He told Seymour Hersch that “Great presidents win wars”. So in his mind, he’s won and can do what he wants.  As he said his 1st year as president,“Dictators are great as one as I’m the dictator.”

I also believe that he has major emotional problems with his father. He’s got his mother’s personality and seems to think that he has to show up his “dad” for not attacking Bagdad.  With someone as sick as he is, why has it been so long for people to question this war?  I think that we are seeing the corporations at work in taking over our form of government.

dick cheney knows where of he speaks concerning americans being perceived as not having the stomach for the u.s. imposed debacle in iraq. every critical member of his regime has been assiduous life long in avoiding, deferring any military combat service. america’s collective memory is perforce as feeble as it’s collective brain. i appreciate molly ivins immensely. it is surely a daunting task to try to point out this regime’s lies and inconsistencies (also known as the obvious) to poor, unfortunate, cerebrally deficient collective america. too stupid to tease are the willfully ignorant who support this disastrous miscue. too contemptible are those responsible for it.

#12471, right on.  The elephant in the room no one wants to talk about.  The nude emperor, the nudity of whom no one dare acknowledge.  Deep Throat said it - follow the money, in these cases follow the oil. The surprise is that in article after article on Iraq, the subject of oil is absent.  As for Mr. Bush - he’s a member of the crimally insane.

“GUT AND RUN”

Prithee dear sir, why art thou proposing Constitutional amendments that promote hate and bigotry?

Why? Because the cloying scent of these red meat amendments doth inflame the plebeian viscera and serves to swell our voting ranks.

I see. By pushing certain constitutionally derogatory amendments you deliberately inflame certain segments of the population to gain advantage in upcoming elections? 

This is correct.

Is there a policy name for this plan to defame the Constitution for political gain?

We call it “Gut and Run.”

A Constitutional Amendment to protect a flag that is being made in Chinese slave labor camps? How absurd is that?

Some day, when these clowns are out of office, the books will start being written by the people who don’t dare speak up now.  That’s when we’re going to find out that this administration is 100 times more dysfunctional (and corrupt) than we could ever imagine.  In the meantime, to paraphrase Bette Davis, “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy 2+ years.”  At least we know we can always count on Republicans to CUT whenever a program that helps Americans comes up for a vote and then RUN into the arms of the nearest lobbyist.

Some of us ordinary bloggers are trying to make it clear to our readers.

Ah, but it all makes so much sense when you consider the one thing that no one wants to talk about . . . .

OIL.

Molly won’t say oil when she tells you how to make vinaigrette, out of fear her publishers will abandon her like happened to Bob Scheer at the LA Times, but if you insist on making sense out of what the Bushitter gang of thugs do, you have to know that it’s about oil and nothing else.

No oil, no Iraq. No oil from the Caspian, no Afghanistan. No oil, no argument with Venezuela. No oil, no involvement in Sudan. No oil, no war with North Korea. No oil, no involvement with Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. No oil, who CARES what Iran does or doesn’t do?

It all makes perfect sense when you consider two verities: (1) it’s about oil, and (2) Bush is a moron.

We’ll see how this cut’n'run plays out the next few weeks. Casually looking through Google’s news search indicates that the press is saying, well, everything. “US lays out plans for Iraq pullback”, “Bush suggests Iraq withdrawal plan optional”, “Bush Dismisses Complaints About Troop Level Decisions”, “Bush Downplays Iraq Troop Pullout Reports”, “White House confirms Iraq troop-cut option”. Sheesh!

But, do you think that Axis of Idiots (Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld) really do not talk directly to the Commanders in Iraq? Does the right hand not know what each finger is doing?

How could Rumsfeld allow Casey to talk of pulling troops out during the time that the Commander in Chief has been so vociferous about keeping troops in?

Perhaps the inner circle of the eight to ten people (even less) running this country really do not communicate outside of said circle?

I don’t know enough. But I do know the the less the number of leaders a country has, the closer that country moves toward facism or dictatorship.

As always Ms. Ivins, you’ve hit the nail on the head.  Is Rove that cynical to think that Americans won’t remember the silly Congressional debate on withdrawal of the U.S. occupation troops?  Particularly when poll after poll shows the Iraq quagmire as the number one issue for Americans and Iraqis.  Further, most Americans support withdrawal from Iraq with a timeline.  Did Congress represent the will of its people?  No, Gen. Casey did.  Yikes.

I still think accountability should ride high in importance.  These lies and mistakes cannot be forgotten.  Democratic strategists speak of looking forward.  Yes.  But the loss of civil rights and human lives has proven that we must also look back and understand how we could be so misled.

I think this fits:

From “The Theatre of the Absurd”, wikipedia.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theater_of_the_absurd

“The Theatre of the Absurd departs from realistic characters, situations and all of the associated theatrical conventions. Time, place and identity are ambiguous and fluid, and even basic causality frequently breaks down. Meaningless plots, repetitive or nonsensical dialogue and dramatic non-sequiturs are often used to create dream-like, or even nightmare-like moods.”