January 11, 2007
Hotline After Dark -- Dodd Gets In
On "Imus" this a.m., Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) announced he's filing WH '08 papers:
Dodd: "I'm going to file today papers of candidacy. ... I'm going to skip the exploratory stage" (MSNBC, 1/11).
And here's are some quick reax to Pres. Bush's speech. More to come in today's Hotline:
NBC's Russert: "There was an acknowledgment that his neck is on the line. ... The president hears the clock ticking. He knows the American people have lost patience with the war and with him" (MSNBC, 1/10).
FNC's Garrett: "Congressional Democratic leaders want to make sure the nation understands they oppose this surge in U.S. forces from the president. What they're going to do tonight and tomorrow is monitor public reaction. Then with a series of House and Senate hearings, will use their Democratic members to poke as many holes as possible in the president's plan" (1/10).
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL): "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse: I think it takes pressure off the Iraqis to arrive at the sort of political accommodation that every observer believes is the ultimate solution to the problems we face there" (MSNBC, 1/10).
More Obama: "I did not see anything in the speech or anything in the run- up to the speech that provides evidence that an additional 15,000 to 20,000 more U.S. troops is going to make a significant dent in the sectarian violence that's taking place there" ("LKL," CNN, 1/10).
Obama: "What I did not see from the President was any recognition that there is not a military solution to the problems that we face in Iraq right now. They're political. The problem we have is Shia and Sunni are unwilling to compromise and arrive at the sort of accommodations that would lead to stability. And in the absence of that, 20,000 troops is not gonna make a difference. A phased withdrawal is the only leverage we have to force that political accommodation" ("Nightline," ABC, 1/10).
Ex-Gov. Tom Vilsack (D-IA): "It's obvious that the president has only been listening to advisers that agree with him. And I strongly disagree with folks who say this is a change of strategy, this is a new strategy. This is simply the same old strategy with just 20,000 more lives at risk" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 1/10).
John Edwards: "What's happened is that the trust in the president has eroded. And America has to feel in their gut that whether he's right or wrong the president's telling the truth. And instead of all of the statistics and information that he had in his speech, he should have said, 'The situation is very bad in Iraq right now. We're doing the best we can with a difficult situation'" ("LKL," CNN, 1/10).
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): "I've been calling for the increases, but I believe that this can succeed. I really do. I believe that it's not just an increase in troops; it's a strange in strategy" (FNC, 1/10).
McCain, asked if Bush's speech will hurt him politically: "I don't know what's going to happen a year from now ... but I can tell you I would much rather lose a campaign than lose a war" ("LKL," CNN, 1/10).
Ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani: "You always have to make readjustments when you're at war, and we are at war. ... I think the president did the right thing tonight. And I think the important thing here -- the increase in troops, critical and important, but the most important thing is the change in strategy. ... It reminds me a little of the problem I faced in reducing crime in New York" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 1/10).
Ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR): "I think we have to give the commander-in-chief an opportunity to make this succeed. You said people have said he's stubborn. That's a good quality in an executive. You don't want someone who changes the course of a military every time there's a new opinion poll" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 1/10).
Ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich: "There was a humility in tonight's speech. A recognition that some of the things he most wanted had not happened. And that the plans were not working the way he'd hoped for. I thought this was a more contrite and more dedicated George W. Bush saying to the country this is hard problem but we have to get in it together. And I thought in that sense it was a strong speech" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 1/10).
Sen. John Thune (R-SD): "The president put a plan forward that gets Iraqis more into the fight" (PBS, 1/10). [EMILY GOODIN]
Posted at 08:03 AM
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