Why don't they do what they say .. say what they mean? One thing leads to another.
Posted by Carla Axtman on March 19, 2008
(With all due props to The Fixx)
It's a fascinating exercise to read the coverage of Gordon Smith's reliably cagey quotes when explaining himself to Oregonians. Given that his rhetoric rarely matches his votes, it's always fun to see what Smith and his spokesfolks will come up with.
Today's Smith spin is a doozy:
As for the incumbent, Smith spokesman R.C. Hammond said as he read through the “Responsible Plan” executive summary, it “read like Gordon Smith wrote it.”Smith supported the invasion and largely voted with the Bush administration and fellow Republican backers in Congress until he broke from his party and president in a December 2006 Senate floor speech. Since then, he has taken a number of positions that aligned with those of congressional Democrats. Smith has said he wants to bring home U.S. troops “safely, swiftly and with honor,” Hammond said. And he has supported timetables for withdrawal and called for a small U.S. military presence in Iraq to fight terrorists, but not to serve as a police force there as they have in the current “troop surge” mission.
“He is already advocating for a lot of things that are here,” said Hammond, adding that while Smith did not explicitly endorse it, “the plan is headed in the right direction.”
(emphasis--Carla)
If A Responsible Plan To End The War In Iraq reads like something that Gordon Smith wrote, according to Hammond....
Then why didn't Smith write it?
And since the Plan is "headed in the right direction", why isn't Smith endorsing it?
In fact, Gordon Smith has done nothing but jawbone about the war. His ineffectiveness and inaction on this issue are as consistent as his spin doctoring.
Since Smith's alleged epiphany on the Iraq War, he's voted over and over again to keep troops there. As U.S. Senator for Oregon, Smith has had five years to step up and lead against the Iraq War. And now as an ardent advocate for John McCain, Smith is supporting the candidate who says we could be in Iraq for the next 100 years.
Oregonians have had enough.
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Comments
Excellent questions, Carla. It seems to me that the answers boild down to, "some talk the talk and some walk the walk." Of course that applies equally to Jeff's esteemed opponent in the primary.
As for Smith's alleged ephiphany... he expects Oregonians to believe that with all of the detailed info available to any sitting Senator that it took him reading a published book to learn enough salient facts to change his mind? What a preposterous claim!
If we take him at face value then he's grossly imcompetent and unfit to be representing Oregonians anywhere, much less in the U.S. Senate.
If we connect the dots ourselves and come up with what seems the more realistic explanation, he's nothing more than a crass opportunist who sensed that the winds of public opinion weren't favoring him and he needed to have a faux conversion in time for the upcoming election.
Either way he's unworthy to be Oregon's Senator.
The reason Gordon Smith didn't write the responsible plan to get out of Iraq is that it would require taking a consistent position which is something that time and time again he has proven incapable of doing.
No, the reason Gordo didn't write the plan is because he didn't first read about it in a book. He doesn't seem to figure much of anything out without having read it in a book first.