Sheldon Whitehouse Lurches Beyond the Democratic Mainstream
Carroll Andrew Morse
According to his television ads, Rhode Island Senate candidate Sheldon Whitehouse wants American troops to leave Iraq "by the end this year".
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate rejected a measure sponsored by Senator John Kerry that would have required most American troops to leave Iraq by mid-2007 by a vote of 13-86.
The overwhelming margin of defeat of the amendment shows how far outside of the mainstream Sheldon Whitehouse is. His ideas on Iraq lie outside not just the national mainstream, but far to the left of the conensus of the national Democratic party. Is a candidate who promotes the foreign policy ideas of the radical fringe really a suitable representative of the citizens of Rhode Island?
12:23 PM
"Does a candidate who promotes the foreign policy of the radical fringe really represent the citizens of Rhode Island?"
Well, he represents the LIBERAL citizens. I think he's trying to run to the left of Mr. Billboard.
I think of the problem in relation to RI's Senior Senator.
Consider the subject of who you would trust to represent your views on foreign and defense issues...
1. Start with Jack Reed.
2. Now, remove the Senator Reed's perceived "responsibility" and "seriousness" and replace it with a willingess to pander to the Moveon.org activist crowd.
Are you left with candidate worth supporting?
I hesitate to set a hard and fast deadline for pulling out of Iraq (Kerry), but if wanting to gradually turn the war over to the Iraqi forces and bring our men and women is pandering, I'm guilty as charged.
Our military has accomplished every goal it was tasked with when it was sent over. Why does the Bush administration have to keep inventing goals simply to justify keeping them there?
Rhody,
Whitehouse, according to his TV ads, wants a deadline for pulling out of Iraq that's earlier than the deadline Kerry proposed.
So if you don't support Kerry's policy, and you don't, I assume, support Whitehouse's even more reckless policy, you're not pandering.
(BTW Rhody, technically, you can't pander, i.e. say things that sound good in an ad that will never become policy in order to gain support, because you're not running for office.)
Also, do you really believe that the Bush administration they really invented new goals, or has achieving the existing goals been a lot harder than they thought it would be?
The thing that I find funny about the Whitehouse ad is this implied notion that he can do something about bringing the troops home BEFORE he would even be sworn in as a Senator next January!!
And also, only the President has the authority to bring the troops home. The only influence Whitehouse would have as a US Senator would be to vote to cut off their funding.
Casablanca represents Vernon Robinson's Twilight Zone.
For him its all about being a liberal democrat. Its not about what's best for the taxpayers of RI.
J Mahn
We went to Iraq with the stated goals of deposing Saddam, setting up a constitution and holding elections.
Check, check, check. Mission accomplished, leave with your head held high. I don't consider the mission a failure, like many Democrats do, but after you do the job, it's time to go.
I guess I come up short as a patriot LOL.
Any Democrat has to run to the left of the Republican, and when you're running against a "Republican" like Lincoln Chafee you have to veer pretty far left ...
Sheldon Whitehouse - yet another trust fund baby pursuing politics in order to provide a purpose for his existence. See also: Chafee, Lincoln; Kennedy, Patrick; Brown, Matt.
Trust fund babies get re-elected when the only alternative is a thug.
Sheldon Whitehouse has a primary and his numbers are not nearly as strong as reported. There are a dozen Democratic primaries in Providence ward seats with most having Latino challengers.
Citizen latinos and minorities account for 17% of the state population and are concentrated in the city and surrounding areas.
Sheldon does not poll well with minorities.
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"Does a candidate who promotes the foreign policy of the radical fringe really represent the citizens of Rhode Island?"
Well, he represents the LIBERAL citizens. I think he's trying to run to the left of Mr. Billboard.
Posted by: Greg at June 23, 2006 12:34 PMI think of the problem in relation to RI's Senior Senator.
Consider the subject of who you would trust to represent your views on foreign and defense issues...
1. Start with Jack Reed.
2. Now, remove the Senator Reed's perceived "responsibility" and "seriousness" and replace it with a willingess to pander to the Moveon.org activist crowd.
Are you left with candidate worth supporting?
Posted by: Andrew at June 23, 2006 12:40 PMI hesitate to set a hard and fast deadline for pulling out of Iraq (Kerry), but if wanting to gradually turn the war over to the Iraqi forces and bring our men and women is pandering, I'm guilty as charged.
Posted by: Rhody at June 23, 2006 1:23 PMOur military has accomplished every goal it was tasked with when it was sent over. Why does the Bush administration have to keep inventing goals simply to justify keeping them there?
Rhody,
Whitehouse, according to his TV ads, wants a deadline for pulling out of Iraq that's earlier than the deadline Kerry proposed.
So if you don't support Kerry's policy, and you don't, I assume, support Whitehouse's even more reckless policy, you're not pandering.
(BTW Rhody, technically, you can't pander, i.e. say things that sound good in an ad that will never become policy in order to gain support, because you're not running for office.)
Also, do you really believe that the Bush administration they really invented new goals, or has achieving the existing goals been a lot harder than they thought it would be?
Posted by: Andrew at June 23, 2006 1:35 PMThe thing that I find funny about the Whitehouse ad is this implied notion that he can do something about bringing the troops home BEFORE he would even be sworn in as a Senator next January!!
And also, only the President has the authority to bring the troops home. The only influence Whitehouse would have as a US Senator would be to vote to cut off their funding.
Posted by: Leon Berg at June 23, 2006 2:47 PMCasablanca represents Vernon Robinson's Twilight Zone.
For him its all about being a liberal democrat. Its not about what's best for the taxpayers of RI.
J Mahn
Posted by: Joe Mahn at June 23, 2006 4:18 PMWe went to Iraq with the stated goals of deposing Saddam, setting up a constitution and holding elections.
Posted by: rhody at June 23, 2006 6:57 PMCheck, check, check. Mission accomplished, leave with your head held high. I don't consider the mission a failure, like many Democrats do, but after you do the job, it's time to go.
I guess I come up short as a patriot LOL.
Any Democrat has to run to the left of the Republican, and when you're running against a "Republican" like Lincoln Chafee you have to veer pretty far left ...
Sheldon Whitehouse - yet another trust fund baby pursuing politics in order to provide a purpose for his existence. See also: Chafee, Lincoln; Kennedy, Patrick; Brown, Matt.
Posted by: Tom W at June 24, 2006 12:20 AMTrust fund babies get re-elected when the only alternative is a thug.
Posted by: Rhody at June 25, 2006 1:09 AMSheldon Whitehouse has a primary and his numbers are not nearly as strong as reported. There are a dozen Democratic primaries in Providence ward seats with most having Latino challengers.
Citizen latinos and minorities account for 17% of the state population and are concentrated in the city and surrounding areas.
Sheldon does not poll well with minorities.
Posted by: Carl Sheeler at July 20, 2006 4:38 AM