Iraq Speech Liveblog

Posted by Seth Kramer on Wednesday, January 10th 2007 at 8:31pm



This is the staging area for my liveblog of President Bush's Iraq speech.

From what I hear, he's not going to be speaking from the Oval Office, the traditional location for such addresses. I wonder from which room of the White House he'll be speaking.

[1.10.2007 20:53:34] 8 minutes. That countdown on MSNBC is creeping me out. It's like War New Year. I think Dick Clark is going to come out and have a stroke all over the news channels.

[1.10.2007 21:00:11] I've been listening to Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann for all of 20 minutes and I'm officially glad I've been drinking.

[1.10.2007 21:01:34] It's pretty much taken as a given he's going to call for a troop increase despite the opposition of the JCS (Joint Chiefs of Staff). So much for listening to the generals.

[1.10.2007 21:01:44] haha audio failure. Wow

[1.10.2007 21:03:53] Calm assessment of the situation.

[1.10.2007 21:04:10] "Where mistakes have been made (cop out), the responsibility lies with me."

[1.10.2007 21:04:28] What's the deal with the audio problem?

[1.10.2007 21:05:03] Jesus tag it ("September the 11th, 2001") at 3 minutes.

[1.10.2007 21:06:37] "18 Iraqi brigades" (so like 2 useful guys, and 300 others with guns.

[1.10.2007 21:07:29] 20,000 more troops.

[1.10.2007 21:08:13] Here's the differences: We cleared the area, and then they came back. This time we'll clear the area, and hold it. Why didn't we do that before again? Oh, not enough troops. Thanks General Shinseki

[1.10.2007 21:08:56] "If the Iraqi government does not follow through on it's promises, it will loose the support of the American people." Too late.

[1.10.2007 21:09:37] Over time everything will be fixed. It's magic.

[1.10.2007 21:10:39] By November they're going to be in charge of all of the states. God help them.

[1.10.2007 21:10:58] He's so wooden when he speaks. And he blinks way too much.

[1.10.2007 21:11:43] We're going to accellerate the training of Iraqi security forces, because that's worked so far.

[1.10.2007 21:13:27] He's waxing optimistic about the current state of Iraq now. Is he really this detached?

[1.10.2007 21:14:20] WOW he just accused publicly Iran of funding attacks against American troops. That kind of statement is kind of rare.

[1.10.2007 21:15:40] Yay! Secretary Rice will leave! Yay! ...oh, for the region.

[1.10.2007 21:18:17] "The terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are without conscience...even if our strategy works exactly as plan...(lots of death)...victory will not look like our fathers and grand-fathers..." (so it'll look like a bloody endless war?)

[1.10.2007 21:19:07] "To step back now, would force a collapse of the Iraqi government." Um, is there a functional government in Iraq?

[1.10.2007 21:19:52] "It is fair to hold our views up to scrutiny" (You terrorists, you)

[1.10.2007 21:20:08] Oh god, he just brought up Lieberman. The only Senator everybody hates.

[1.10.2007 21:21:23] "They have watched their comrades give their lives to ensure our liberty" and they will watch lots more too.

[1.10.2007 21:23:02] Dick Durbin (D-IL) is giving the response.

[1.10.2007 21:25:52] Durbin: Ugly, ugly tie. Is that brown or grey?

[1.10.2007 21:26:21] Durbin is characterizing it as "escalation", which I think is perhaps a bit much. In effect however it is a double down.

[1.10.2007 21:26:38] Ouch, Durbin laid down the "civil war" line.

[1.10.2007 21:28:36] "They alone can lead their nation to freedom." Very true. In fact, from what I'm reading online they don't want more troops. Either it's because they think it'll be occupiers, or because they think they'll get in the way of their civil war.

[1.10.2007 21:29:00] Durbin's speech was short. He's taking questions...wow!

[1.10.2007 21:29:32] "I don't think that many people dispute the fact that this is a civil war...one rooted in 14 centuries of strife."

[1.10.2007 21:29:51] There is no Saddam Hussein, there are no weapons of mass destruction.

[1.10.2007 21:30:51] MSNBC just cut off Durbin so they could get the insightful commentary of Olbermann and Matthews. Christ. I'd rather listen to a windbag know-nothing Senator than a know-nothing windbag talk show host.

[1.10.2007 21:31:31] They're promising Obama. Who's got way, way, way too much media exposure.

[1.10.2007 21:38:12] So lets look at the GOP Senators defecting from this idea. (Snowe and Collins of Maine, Smith from Oregon, Lugar from Indiana, Coleman of Minnesota, Voinvitch of Ohio, Brownback of Kansas, Hagel of Nebraska is probably in opposition) that's 8 right there. If the Dems can muster all 50 of their boys and girls (I'm not counting Lieberman), all they need is 2 more for cloture on a symbolic vote of no-confidence. Possibly those weak Republicans mentioned in the last blog, particularly Sununu (he's kind of practical and Northeastern Republicans are going the way of the buffalo.) Only time will tell.

[1.10.2007 21:39:19] Barack's on. He believes that we have done everything imaginable. "I am going to actively oppose the President's proposal." And thus the campaigning begins.

[1.10.2007 21:45:57] In short the answer from both sides is unsurprising: There's no way out.

[1.10.2007 21:46:31] Oh shit, John McCain is on CNN. Does he have acorns squirrelled away in his jowls or is it just me?

[1.10.2007 21:51:8] Tim Russert is praising Bush's candor about mistakes. You have got to be kidding me "to the extent that mistakes were made..." What the hell is that? If I get arrested for drunk driving can I say "If there was indeed drunk driving occurring my car with me in the drivers seat, that could possibly be interpreted to be my fault, maybe.

[1.10.2007 21:54:31] Everybody is saying "this is his last chance." But as far as I'm concerned I'm tired of giving him chances. I remember sitting at the dinner table last year saying to myself "I'll give you 6 months for the situation to improve." That was one of the bloodiest months in the war. It's been a year, and it hasn't. I can't honestly believe that we didn't try to hold these areas before. It sounds like the same old thing. I hate saying it, but I think it's time for us to go and Bush is just trying to save face. If the American people are willing to trust him I won't kick and scream that much. But I don't think I'm alone in my disbelief that this will do anything more than provide more American men and women at which to shoot.

[1.10.2007 21:55:55] Okay, I can no longer watch this. Signing off.

I'm feeling skeptical
I'm spinning Bush's Speech