RNC Attacks President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, and Gen. Richard Myers

[Richard Tafoya]

THink Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/04/rnc-attack-on-bush/

A new research document (http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2007/04/a_rosie_odonnel.html) put out by the RNC Research Department proclaims:
NO JOKE! DEMS TAKE ROSIE VIEW
House Dems Take Policy Advice From Rosie O’Donnell And Ban Use Of “War On Terror”
The document comes in response to a Military Times article (http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2007/04/military_gwot_democrats_070403w/) which reports that the House Armed Services Committee has said (http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/HASC_Memo.pdf) it will stop using the phrase “global war on terror” in an effort to “avoid using colloquialisms” and instead focus its language on military operations.

Rosie O’Donnell’s views are irrelevant to the decision by the House Armed Services Committee. The Bush administration has itself tried but failed (http://thinkprogress.org/2005/08/04/the-global-struggle-against-a-consistent-message/) to rename the “global war on terror” as “a global struggle against violent extremism.” In scrapping use of the GWOT phrase, the Committee has taken action long promoted by President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers:

President Bush:
“We actually misnamed the war on terror, it ought to be the struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world.” [Link (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6375-2004Aug16.html)]
Donald Rumsfeld:
“I don’t think I would have called it the war on terror. … Why do I say that? Because the word ‘war’ conjures up World War II more than it does the Cold War. It creates a level of expectation of victory and an ending within 30 or 60 minutes of a soap opera. It isn’t going to happen that way. Furthermore, it is not a ‘war on terror.’ Terror is a weapon of choice for extremists who are trying to destabilize regimes and (through) a small group of clerics, impose their dark vision on all the people they can control. So ‘war on terror’ is a problem for me.” [Link (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/12/rumsfeld-iraq-terror/)]
Former Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers:
“General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Press Club on Monday that he had ‘objected to the use of the term war on terrorism before, because if you call it a war, then you think of people in uniform as being the solution.’ He said the threat instead should be defined as violent extremism, with the recognition that ‘terror is the method they use.’” [Link (http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/07/26/news/terror.php)]
Apparently, the RNC pays more attention to Rosie O’Donnell than it does to President Bush.


UPDATE: The National Review’s Kathryn Jean Lopez calls the RNC attack “smooth (http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWVkMTM4Yjc2YWZmNzhmMDQxMmFlMGJmMzViMGI4OTg=%22).”

UPDATE II: Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) issues the following statement (http://massdiscussion.blogspot.com/2007/04/via-email-congressman-john-boehner-r.html): “The attempt by Democrats to erase the words ‘global’ and ‘terror’ from our current war is an absurd effort to deny the fact that America is battling terrorism on a global scale.”

[*Katy*]

The phrase war on terror doesnt even make sense anyways....I just dont get why rosie odonalds opinions are automatically linked to democrat's views and why people even care what she thinks....shes on a talk show .......?

[Richard Tafoya]

Yeah, it's like the war on drugs. Just a foggy, unqualified bumper sticker phrase that doesn't actually translate into strategy or action.

[Regis Philbin]

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/04/military_gwot_democrats_070403w/

No more GWOT, House committee decrees

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Apr 4, 2007 16:11:56 EDT

The House Armed Services Committee is banishing the global war on terror from the 2008 defense budget.

This is not because the war has been won, lost or even called off, but because the committee’s Democratic leadership doesn’t like the phrase.

A memo for the committee staff, circulated March 27, says the 2008 bill and its accompanying explanatory report that will set defense policy should be specific about military operations and “avoid using colloquialisms.”

The “global war on terror,” a phrase first used by President Bush shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., should not be used, according to the memo. Also banned is the phrase the “long war,” which military officials began using last year as a way of acknowledging that military operations against terrorist states and organizations would not be wrapped up in a few years.

Committee staff members are told in the memo to use specific references to specific operations instead of the Bush administration’s catch phrases. The memo, written by Staff Director Erin Conaton, provides examples of acceptable phrases, such as “the war in Iraq,” the “war in Afghanistan, “operations in the Horn of Africa” or “ongoing military operations throughout the world.”

“There was no political intent in doing this,” said a Democratic aide who asked not to be identified. “We were just trying to avoid catch phrases.”

Josh Holly, a spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, the committee’s former chairman and now its senior Republican, said Republicans “were not consulted” about the change.

Committee aides, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said dropping or reducing references to the global war on terror could have many purposes, including an effort to be more precise about military operations, but also has a political element involving a disagreement over whether the war in Iraq is part of the effort to combat terrorism or is actually a distraction from fighting terrorists.

House Democratic leaders who have been pushing for an Iraq withdrawal timetable have talked about the need to get combat troops out of Iraq so they can be deployed against terrorists in other parts of the world, while Republicans have said that Iraq is part of the front line in the war on terror. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., the armed services committee chairman, has been among those who have complained that having the military tied up with Iraq operations has reduced its capacity to respond to more pressing problems, like tracking down al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

[pinky]

Maybe they just want to see how long it will take Bush to learn how to say new words.

That could keep him busy enought to avoid any more bungled wars for the duration of his term.