Darcy Burner has an op-ed in the Seattle Times today on our disastrous five-year occupation of Iraq, and her Responsible Plan to end it: “Five years is long enough.” My understanding is that the Times offered Burner the opportunity to write an op-ed, unprompted, which suggests to me a possible shift in attitude from the powers that be at a paper that once attacked her in perhaps the most viciously one-sided, mean-spirited and dishonest editorial endorsement I have ever had the misfortune of reading. We’ll see.
One of the most persistent attacks on Burner has always been her supposed lack of experience, as epitomized in Reichert’s mockingly sexist (and apparently effective) job interview ad. (How a two-year AA degree and a police career prepares one to be an effective legislator, I’ll never know.) But Burner’s leadership in developing and promoting the Responsible Plan puts that canard to rest:
Over the past six months, I have worked with military and national-security experts such as retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who was a predecessor of Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq, to create a clear path forward for our country. […] The response has been phenomenal. More than 30 House and Senate candidates from across the country have signed on — including both Democratic U.S. Senate challengers in Oregon — and the list is growing. Some of the leading minds in the national-security establishment have reviewed and endorsed the plan, including Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense under President Reagan, and Rand Beers, a counterterrorism expert who served on the National Security Council under Presidents Reagan, Clinton and both Bushes.
What Burner has demonstrated as a mere candidate is exactly the kind of legislative leadership, initiative and effectiveness we have never seen from Reichert — who GOP Beltway insider Robert Novak describes as having “not distinguished himself during three years in Congress.” She consulted closely with national security experts, drafted a proposal, sought additional input from fellow candidates and other interested parties, and ultimately built consensus around a comprehensive Plan so credible that it has already earned the endorsement of 37 Democratic challengers, only one week since its introduction. That is effective leadership. That is exactly the process by which one successfully crafts and passes legislation. And that is also exactly the kind of job Burner was trained to do as a high-level manager at Microsoft.
Anybody who has worked in the product development cycle can recognize in Burner’s efforts creating and promoting the Responsible Plan, the skill set necessary to successfully bring a product to market on time and on budget. As a longtime Macintosh partisan it pains me to suggest this… but couldn’t we use a little bit of that Microsoft culture in the House of Representatives? Perhaps Darcy’s high-tech experience is at least as applicable to the job of representing the interests of the 8th Congressional District as Reichert’s 18-year investigation of the Green River Killer?
And if our editorial boards are going to place such an emphasis on experience, perhaps it is time to ask Dave Reichert what he has to show for his three years in Congress?
When talking about Reichert’s “experience” in handling the Green River Killer…shouldn’t we talk about an 18-year period during which he let a suspected killer go about his business? Reichert had the GRK on his radar pretty early on, and just let him walk around a free man, against the advice of his fellow investigators, for nearly that entire 18 years.
Hey- you can thank Darcy when the next American GI gets killed. According to a Harvard study…
Insurgents in Iraq get a boost from coverage in the news media that shows support for troop withdrawals from the war torn country, according to a study.
Two Harvard University economists found that insurgent groups are responsive to “antiresolve” statements in the media.
“It shows that the various insurgent groups do respond to incentives and shows that a successful counter insurgency strategy should take that reality into account,” Jonathan Monten, a co-author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, told US News and World Report.
Insurgent attacks increased between 7 and 10 percent immediately after a spike in “antiresolve” statements in the media, according to the findings.
The study was published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Baghdad was excluded from the study and it did not review overall cost and public debate.
Guess the “huge” success of the surge is…well, falling apart as predicted. The Sadr militia is taking on the Iraqi government in a sectarian squable (actually an internal shia squabble) and we will be caught in the middle of an ineffective puppet government that has not resolved the major political issues.
Looks like those promised troop withdrawals are on hold again and the “situtation”, which has been getting worse again (who knew?), will be punted to the next president.
McCain is still talking like things are going great. Bush still thinks that the economy is “in a rough patch” according to Cheney.
The economy, McCain’s huge mistake on Iran and the imminent demise of the Clinton campaign (tour de force de Tuzla) will change the landscape in the next 4-5 weeks – time for Clinton to drop out and for democrats to focus on McCain.
A responsible plan to get out of Iraq starts sounding better and better. For the economy, for the troops and for the Iraqis. The big argument has been that we will give up all the progress – WHAT progress? and there will be a bloodbath – what is starting to happen now?
@2
Two Harvard University economists found that insurgent groups are responsive to “antiresolve” statements in the media.
This is a fantastic example of why economists should probably stick to studying the economy.
Hye John:
You can shut up – you know nothing and add nothing. American troops are being killed because we invaded a country that was no threat to US (after we were lied to about it) – and then Bush enabled the insurgents with no plan for the occupation.
You can thank GWB and Dick Cheney – chickenhawks who never served in war – directly for the deaths of our soldiers.
It is a totally false analogy to attribute ANY deaths to people who want to get our troops out of a bad situation we should NOT have been in – in the first place.
Idiot!
“It was not possible, from the data available, to determine whether insurgent groups increased the overall number of attacks against American and Iraqi targets in the wake of public dissent and debate or simply changed the timing of those attacks. ”
Ummm- this was a pretty stupid survey by economists and came up with…almost nothing, and it excluded baghdad.
So much for fallacious conclusions.
Experience ….
the same sort of question ought to be asked in the Presidential race.
Hillary Clinton’s claims to experience seem rather siomilar to Reichert’s .. more baout longevity than achievement. Here are a few facts:
1. Legislation: Both BHO and HRC can claim to be a principle sponsor of two pieces of successful legislation …. he after two years in the Senate, she after six.
2. White House Career: An oddity is the LOW level of involvement. She never was even given a security clearance so we (hopefully) know she did not have access to the materials she now claims to have used. The only episodes she has claimed to be involved in have been debunked by others, including claimed toles in family legislation during the Clinton years.
3. Civic action. BHO was a community activist and organizer up unti he became a State senator. He was, by all aocounts very successful. HRO worked ONE YEAR as a legal aide ot Marion Wright Edelman.
None of this, or Goldy’s argument, diminishes the value of their life experiences.
Reichert certainly is older and more experienced in many things than Darcy. As to whether rising to the lofty title of Sheriff is a bigger deal than being a middle manager at Msoft, I will leave that to others.
Hillary IS older than Obama and has met huge number of smart people. It is hard to argue that there is no value in that. Since both are US Senators, the life time achievement issue .. seems to this point to be moot. Her major acheivement before this is her unique marriage, and that ought to be big plus. His is the oddysey of an very unuauls life story and set of experiences that few can match.
Bottom lines:
Darcy vs Reichert is a race between two very different kinds of people. Darcy is ambitious, bright, but with little track record. Reichert is more of a talking head, an anchorman type who is comfortable in his job but unlikley to break new ground. If CHANGE is this year’s mantra, he loses.
Hillary vs. Obama is also a race between two very different kinds of people. Obama is ambitious, bright, and charismatic. He has little track record of leadership outside of local politics and running an awesome campaign. Hillary is not comparable to Reichert, She is obvuiously ambitious and anything but the anchorman type who is comfortable in his job. Unfortunately for the voters, in re credentials, it seems to this is a bit of a tossup. Her biggest asset is her huspoabd, HE is experienced, but HE is not running. Her bgigest deficit is an ambition that sems to drive her to use poor judgement whether that is in health care or phony claims about her role as first Lady.
@7: Beg to disagree with Seattle Jew.
Clinton’s biggest problem is lack of judgement and lack of leadership NOT lack of experience.
Lack of judgement on Iraq – voting FOR the AUMF in IRAQ.
Lack of judgement in how to run a campaign and then how to contrast herself with Obama once she got behind.
Lack of judgement and leadership in her own campaign – starting with a huge advantage in name and money she has run a poor campaign – hiring an inexperienced sycophant as her campaign manager – then firing her. Hiring Mark Penn – a republican pollster with little real credibility. Instead of surrounding herself with talent and ideas – she chose poorly and has paid for it. At one point the clinton camapign claimed that Hillary was not responsible for the poor performance because whe was not running the campaign – exactly! Who was running the campaign and why was Hillary NOT running her own campaign? Autopilot doesn’t work to be president.
@8 CNR
We are not disagreeing.
All I wanted to do for both races is level oout the horse dshit claims.
Reichert does have a claim tom more experience, but not much evidence of leadership. BR promises the latter.
HRC, in contrast, CLAIMS a lot of experience BUT the facts are not so impressive. Obama has MORE legislative experience than she does and far more experience in civic action.
The judgment issues are more subjective. IMHO her judgment on Iraq WAS reasonable. I am not convinced SENATOR Obama would have voted differently. Her decisions on health care, family legislation, and esp the cmapign are nearly disastrous. In a debate McCain will lose to BHO but eat her alive.
2 Uh….wrong-ola, Einstein. Not a single American service man or woman would die in in the Iraq fiasco if they’d never been sent there.
The entire blame for “the next GI’s death” falls at the feet of the craven fucks that sent him or her into harm’s way, and upon the fools who support them.
Let’s see–that would be you, wouldn’t it? Now either go apologize to the parents or spouse or children of that dead GI, or shut the fuck up.
correctnotright says:
“Guess the “huge” success of the surge is…well, falling apart as predicted.”
I have noticed a sick kind of “glee” from the LEFTIST PINHEADED KLOWNS…like they are happy with each & every terrorist attack. Deep down, their hate for Conservatives and love of Socialism/Marxism requires them to root for the bad guys.
Anyone else notice this sick trend???
…and tomorrow they’ll feature some nut’s opinion from the Discovery Institute and act as if all opinions are equal, regardless of the source.
re 11: Democratic leadership from the very start of the Iraq War advised that troop strength should be , at the very least, 400,000. So, you can take your pathetic whining and fingerpointing and shove it up your well-used and capacious ass.
“Sheriff Dave” needs a break right now. And he’s going to get one. There’s a new “made for TV” movie out about his book, with Tom Cavanagh portraying “Sheriff Dave”.
The movie won’t be shown on ABC, NBC, or CBS, or even HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, or even TBN, Spke TV, or A&E. But it will be shown this Sunday night on Lifetime Television For Women.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....irl25.html
But this will give “Sheriff Dave” lots of opportunities to get local interviews which remind voters that he was the guy who “captured the Green River Killer”, and that he’s now their local Congressman.
Reichart might as well play that card for all it’s worth, because it might be the last break he gets in this election campaign.
Funny thing. The IMDB profile lists it as a mini-series, not a movie as the Times article noted. Also, there are prominent cast positions portraying Reichart’s family, but none for Gary Ridgeway, the convicted killer? But there is a cast role for – Ted Bundy?????
The executive producer is listed as Stanley M. Brooks, who’s production credits include such cinema classics as “Sordid Lives: the Series (in filming); “Confessions of a Social Climber (2005); “Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleis (2004); “The Unauthorized Story of ‘Three’s Company’” (20003); and “Jailbait” (2000), among others.
I wonder who’s financing this film? I’m guessing Reichart got a significant fee as the “author” of the book.
You know what shitheads…we’re fucked.
Al Sadr called the cease-fire off. THAT’s what’s been keeping things quiet there. Now they’re “being told to fight the Americans.”
Nice.
Okay, let’s try it again….
“Sheriff Dave” needs a break right now. And he’s going to get one. There’s a new “made for TV” movie out about his book, with Tom Cavanagh portraying “Sheriff Dave”.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1100911/
The movie won’t be shown on ABC, NBC, or CBS, or even HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, or even TBN, Spke TV, or A&E. But it will be shown this Sunday night on Lifetime Television For Women.
But this will give “Sheriff Dave” lots of opportunities to get local interviews which remind voters that he was the guy who “captured the Green River Killer”, and that he’s now their local Congressman.
Reichart might as well play that card for all it’s worth, because it might be the last break he gets in this election campaign.
Funny thing. The IMDB profile lists it as a mini-series, not a movie as the Times article noted. Also, there are prominent cast positions portraying Reichart’s family, but none for Gary Ridgeway, the convicted killer? But there is a cast role for – Ted Bundy?????
The executive producer is listed as Stanley M. Brooks, who’s production credits include such cinema classics as “Sordid Lives: the Series (in filming); “Confessions of a Social Climber (2005); “Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleis (2004); “The Unauthorized Story of ‘Three’s Company’” (20003); and “Jailbait” (2000), among others.
I wonder who’s financing this film? I’m guessing Reichart got a significant fee as the “author” of the book.
@11
I have noticed a sick kind of “glee” from the LEFTIST PINHEADED KLOWNS…like they are happy with each & every terrorist attack. Deep down, their hate for Conservatives and love of Socialism/Marxism requires them to root for the bad guys
Saying that the surge hasn’t achieved its goals is not rooting for the bad guys, it’s dealing with reality. No one has been helping the bad guys (the Iranian mullahs, Al Qaeda, Hizbullah, etc) more than the Bush Administration.
Here you go you bloodthirsty bastards:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....93332.html
@11: Mr. cynical
I have noticed a sick lack of reality among republicans: who started a war for no reason, declared mission accomplished as we have watched 4,000 american soldiers die, over 30,000 wounded, over 500,000 Iraqis die and 2-4 million refugees for….what? No wmd’s, no democracy and just a smug asying…well the surge is working….well the surge isn’t working (as Petreus said it woudn’t without political progress) and it won’t and that is reality.
If recognizing reality is unamerican – than so be it. I prefer to think that I am being patriotic by trying to help my country out of a quagmire of death and decay.
Not to mention the 13 billion/month wasted on this fiasco.
So bring it on Cynical idiot – and tell me how it is patriotic to be in Iraq for the wrong reasons and accomplishing nothing? Why didn’t we go after bin Laden in Afghanistan? Why doesn’t al qaeda matter?
You got nothin’ to back up your pathetic so-called patriotism – typical weak republican mind and body. wimps!
Mr Cynical:
While I’m also not terribly surprised that the “surge” isn’t working, I assure you that this assessment is not accompanied by anything that remotely resembles “glee”. Horror, disgust and sorrow, yes. Glee, no.
Unlike the Vice President, I am not of the impression that just because they volunteered for the military, it’s somehow ok to get them killed just to bring up the administration’s poll numbers.
And, not surprisingly, I notice that the uptick in violence comes just after the Vice President assured the Iraqi people that we weren’t going to be leaving any time soon. It seems possible that the Iraqis might not realize that the Vice President isn’t going to have anything to say about the matter.
Or, perhaps they remember the last Presidential election, where nobody believed that President Bush would be reelected. I guess they figure that regardless of how the people vote, there are still a lot of Republicans in charge of vote counting.
The Times asked Dave Reichert to submit a guest editorial as well, but they had to reject is because their editoral policy does not allow submissions in crayon.
@18 Might one inquire from where your count of Iraqi dead came? Not trying to minimize any deaths, but 500K? I very sincerely doubt it.
That works out to, what, roughly 125k/year, or ~300+/day. I don’t think so. However many have actually died, is tragic. But you cheapen their deaths with senseless hyperbole, imo.
Rujax, don’t you watch the news???
Man, Bush said the drop in violence is because the “surge” is working!
Do you get that? The S-U-R-G-E is working.
Geeeeez, do you think the president would lie to the American public???????
“Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way.”
~ George W. Bush, April 2004
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news.....420-2.html
OK, you can take the tin-foil hat off now.
See? Now watch the gold watch as it swings back and forth. You are feeling sleepy and relaxed. You are in a deep, deep sleep. Your mind is now ready to accept new ideas. When you awake you will forget this ever happened and you will forget your anus hurts.
Now, repeat after me:
Bush doesn’t lie. Bush doesn’t lie. Bush doesn’t lie.
@21:
What is cheap is that there is NO accurate count of Iraqi deaths – the estimates range from about 85K to over 1 million – I took the conservative midrange.
The only “cheap” thing about this whole Iraqi war debacle is the people who claim:
a. that the surge is working
b. that political progress has been made
c. that it has in any way been worth the lives or the money
Remember – it was supposed to pay for itself with oil revenues(NO). Sadaam was a threat (NO). There were wmds (NO). We were bringing democracy to the mideast (the worst fib of all!).
The point is that many have died and even more have left – there are entire areas that are now “ethnically cleansed” of sunni or shia.
There is very little respect or authority in the government
We are propping up a puppet state with our money and lives.
Well, Goldy, it occurs to me that Steve Jobs took a company that was on its last legs, revived it, and increased its market share….maybe he should run for President? Because the USA is sounding increasingly like Apple Inc circa 1996.
Beernotwar: Have you been paying attention to the Reichert commentary? This has been covered over and over and over… At Pusloverdyke got it right. I see history is no lesson for you!
“Darcy Burner shows off her experience” Ya right, dip stick in action.
Gosh Jorge, I didn…d…dn’t. She has a dipstick??!
‘Darcy Burner shows off her experience’
Typo Goldstein? Should be “in-experience”. God save the poor saps that vote for this tremendously unqualified candidate.
This whole war is a crock, and so is almost all of the “war on terra'”.
So at this point, what is the “mission”, huh? What’s the definition of “victory”?
Is it getting to the point where we can walk away and leave a completely independent, democratic government? Not likely–holy cow! They might turn out to be rather hostile to us, after we’ve spent the last five years thrashing around turning their homeland into a shitpile.
Is it being able to step back and not expect the Shia and Sunnis to keep right on fighting each other like the Martins and the ‘Coys? Good luck, because they’ve been doing that for a long, long time. Maybe not quite so much under Saddam, but well, he’s dead…and besides, we didn’t like him. Except when we did. (Cut to photo of a smiling Donny Boy Rumsfeld shaking the dude’s hand. Probably after dropping off some high explosives and poison gas.)
Is it getting to where we’re enjoying the tremendous benefit of free-flowing Iraqi oil leading to plenty of cheap gas to fill our beloved flivvers with? That seems not to be going very well, does it? Seems that among the things those nasty folks who aren’t happy about us occupying their country keep doing is blowing up oil wells and pipelines. Meanwhile….am I getting really senile or do I remember when we were all bitching about having to pay a buck a gallon for regular?
Is it the total “pacification” of the land, where the “enemy” no longer opposes us? Do we even know for sure who the “enemy” is any more? (Sure sounds like John McCain’s a trifle confused about that. I don’t blame him.) Seems to me if we’re not sure, the only way we can say we’ve “won” is to slaughter all the men, women, children, dogs, ducks, geese and grasshoppers so there’s not a trace of resistance. Then we’d better keep our guns cocked and our eyes peeled to make sure nobody else sneaks in, from all those other places in that part of the world where people don’t seem to like us much.
Yanno….this is starting to remind me of that nasty hot jungle place in Southeast Asia where we were mucking around about 35 years ago. Boy, that was fun.
The folks running the show now have plenty of “experience”–at fucking up.
@28: You mean George W. Bush don’t you?
The man who has single-handedly broken the US economy, lost all internatinal respect for the US and whose administration has given us FEMA (Katrina), the US Attorneys general scandal and the Abramoff K street project.
Hillary Quotes
We were shot at on the tarmac by those snipers – While I was bravely signing autographs,
Even enduring those nasty snipers in Bosnia, I am so brave I had to run for quickly for the photo opp.
I really really had to run for my life. There were snipers just everywhere.
And of course
I spoke out against Don Imus and hate speech is hate speech!
I can’t speak out against Imus, and back up Obama’s racist bastard preacher for 20 years, no I won’t do that.
Great choices – Habitual liar Bitch or a Racist Black Panther bastard
I hope you have Al Gore in the wings, you’ll need him soon
So you’ll be kicked back, assurded enough in november that, you don’t even need to vote then?
Latest figures from pennsylvania 4 million registered D’s,3.2 or.4 R’s. I think a hamster with bad breath could win this year as a democratic contender.
There is usually an economic rise during the election year. I’ll be honestly surprised to see one this time. Though the NW seems to be in relativly good shape right now.
31 Ah…but while the terr’ists are still gonna kill us all any minute, our esteemed Justice Department is busy as hell busting Wall Street hookers. Especially if they’re smoking Democrat pole.
33 Depends on which votes get counted. If any.
Maybe we’ll dispense with all the waste and confusion this fall and just have the Supreme Court pick the next President from the get-go. Smirky would like that–even he knows how to count up to nine.
33: “I think a hamster with bad breath could win this year as a democratic contender”
Well if it were up to me, a Hamster with bad breath would be a better pick than the two you have battling each other. The Dreeeeeaaaam team is lost, in fact buried by themselves, and two damn stupid and pompus to even realize it.
But I did not expected anything brighter from the Clinton Camp.
She is a complete Bitch spoiler of even your prime candidate, who has recently unfortunately confirmed his place in society as no more than a raving Black racist Bastard, after twenty years of upbringing in that United States hating Church.
Neither of them deserve more than a place in the dustbin of history.
Maybe Dave Reichert can tell us the story of how he risked his life to capture the Green River Killer, and even had to brave sniper fire in the process?
Dear squeaky (sorry thats the nickname for Goldy with a voice made for pre “talky” movies)
I couldnt help but notice you demoted Darcy from an “executive” at microsoft as she used to claim, to a “high level manager”.. seems embellishment runs in the political blood of many candidates. Burner probably has a shot here in Washington, where the childish “I want it now” mentality trumps gained experience and working your way up through public service at less grandiose levels. “endorsement of 37 Democratic Challengers”….I could get that by proposing any one of the 10 planks of the communist manifesto
@39: You mean like free public education or a graduated income tax?
Reichert is supporting a President who has:
1. Broken the budget – creating the largest budget deficits in history (in his proposed budgets to congress), spending money we don’t have.
2. Spied on american illegally
3. Used torture illegally
4. Opposed state’s rights (California CAFE standards, Oregon death with dignity)
5. Approved corporate welfare to prop up unethical companies (Bear Stearns)
6. Created huge trade deficits
7. Caused a recession
8. Invaded a country that was not any threat to us – the first since the Spanish American War (at least that was mostly in our hemisphere). Then let an insurrection happen under our noses (after mission accomplished) and denied it was happening.
9. Lost all international respect for the US
10. Failed to protect us from bin Laden and failed to go after bin Laden when we had him trapped in Afghanistan.
11. Been the most corrupt and incompetent administration and party EVER! The list of resigned, indicted and convicted is too ong to detail. The US attoney scandal, the FEMA (Brownie) fiasco, the K street project with Abramoff, the Alaska crooks, the EPA, the FDA, the FEC, Agriculture – all crooks and liars.
This failed presidency is the worst EVER! Worst on foreign policy, worst on corruption, worst on the economy and worst on protecting and defending the constitution.
Republicans like Reichert have gone merrily along with the incompetence and destruction of America. It is time to throw these traitors out – they are traitors to the ideals of this country.
Where are the republicans crowing about:
the mission accomplished in Iraq?
capturing Sadaam?
we will stand down as they stand up?
the surge is working?
democracy in the Middle East
bin Laden (do they even mention him?)
WMDs?
fiscal conservatism?
tax cuts for the rich? – oh that is the only one they are crowing about…how telling.
@40 “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need!” eh. That never really worked out so well did it? oh well, at least our “free” education system is the envy of the world…
But your assesment of the condition of our country cant really be faulted. Just don’t fall into the trap that only one political party is to blame, and seeing our choice for congressional representatives from both parties makes me feel disenfranchised…