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Cut-and-Run Liberal, and Proud of It

By Stephen Pizzo, News for Real. Posted June 21, 2006.


Karl Rove is right when he calls us 'cut-and-run liberals.' As you will see, the list of things we want to cut and run from is a long one.

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I want to be perfectly clear about this. We liberals really do want to cut and run.

I admit it. We are cut-and-run liberals, just as Karl Rove alleges. More than that, I am proud of it and encourage more Americans to join us.

We are liberals/progressives and, damn it, we want to cut and run.

We want to cut and run from the borrow and spend, borrow and spend economics of the GOP that have piled an additional $4 trillion in debt onto our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

We want to cut and run from the unholy alliance between the GOP and energy companies that has left us at the mercy of a bunch of medieval Islamic tribal leaders who run their own countries like feudal states and treat their own people -- especially their women -- worse than Americans treat farm animals.

We want to cut and run from a national health care system designed by and for giant health care and pharmaceutical interests, that enriches a few while leaving 45 million Americans without affordable health insurance.

We want to cut and run from a government that, over the past six years, has become not only increasingly closed to public scrutiny and accountability, but overtly hostile and suspicious of citizens who insist on either.

We want to cut and run from a style of governance that not only plays on fear and petty prejudices, but cultivates and exploits them for cheap political gain. From the cynical, dishonest, purposeful pitting of majority populations against minority groups on the grounds that they don't share "American values," and later denying responsibility for the entirely predictable destructive consequences of those tactics.

We want to cut and run from policies that view science and scientists as adversaries whose findings must sometimes be suppressed, while embracing, even endorsing, religious dogmas that have no basis in fact whatsoever.

We want to cut and run from GOP economic polices that have handed the already wealthy a couple of trillion dollars in tax cuts while leaving working Americans' payroll tax virtually untouched.

We want to cut and run from GOP economics that argue -- with a straight face -- that the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour should not be raised to a still unlivable $7.25 an hour because doing so would "hurt low-wage workers."

We want to cut and run from policies that scoff at mandating substantially higher fuel mileage standards, even as the fossil fuels run out and the effects of global warming become more apparent with each passing day.

We want to cut and run from policies that justify turning "the land of the free and home of the brave" into a place where none of us can any longer feel sure that the government isn't listening to our private phone calls, reading our emails or keeping an eye on us from a pole-mounted camera on the corner.

We want to cut and run from an administration that wraps inconvenient truths in the opaque blanket of national security while justifying selective disclosure of classified information for purely political reasons -- such as the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame and the now discredited disclosures that Iraq tried to buy uranium ore from Niger.

We want to cut and run from policies that allow religious extremists to determine what medical procedures or family planning medications women will be allowed access to.

We want to cut and run from policies that allow our government to decide which American citizens will be allowed to enter into legally recognized, committed relationships, and which will be banned by law from doing so.

We want to cut and run from policies that encourage counseling and treatment for Americans suffering from alcohol addiction, but incarceration for those suffering drug addiction.

We want to cut and run from cynically selective policies that treat some dictators as friends of America and others as enemies requiring a deadly dose of regime change.

We want to cut and run from policies that are increasingly militarizing entirely domestic matters, such as internal terrorist threats, border control and domestic law enforcement, particularly the gathering of intelligence on political groups and movements.

We want to cut and run from policies that allow industries government is supposed to regulate for the public good to write the very rules under which they will be regulated.

Do we want to cut and run from Iraq? I wish the hell we could. But that fat is already in the fire. Liberals understand we can't cut and run from Iraq. But whose fault is it that we're stuck there now? Not ours, that's for sure. We would like to see U.S. troops leave Iraq as soon as possible -- but not in a way that would make matters worse for ordinary Iraqis than our invasion already has.

In the meantime, we are not about to let the very neocons who got us into that mess shift the blame onto liberals who oppose the war. You guys started it, and that dead chicken is hanging around your necks, not ours. So, Karl, stop the blame-shifting and wear it like a man.

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Stephen Pizzo is the author of numerous books, including "Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans," which was nominated for a Pulitzer.

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Right on!
Posted by: vilo on Jun 21, 2006 12:18 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Very well put.

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» Mr. Pizza Posted by: derfb1
» RE: Mr. Pizza Posted by: Shehova
» RE: Mr. Pizza Posted by: mrcentrist
» RE: Mr. Pizza Posted by: Shehova
» RE: Mr. Pizza Posted by: mrcentrist
This Can´t Be Repeated Enough...
Posted by: ZPaul on Jun 21, 2006 1:11 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"We want to cut and run from cynically selective policies that treat some dictators as friends of America and others as enemies requiring a deadly dose of regime change."

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: This Can´t Be Repeated Enough... Posted by: ConnecttheDots
CUT AND RUN sounds good
Posted by: LMNOP on Jun 21, 2006 2:42 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Once again, Mr. Pizzo is largely on the mark, although I think that he can add cut and run from Iraq to his list as I really doubt that whatever fate awaits the Iraqi people following the U.S.’s pullout will be improved by anything that the troops and mercenaries might accomplish during a deliberate delay of that withdrawal. Remember, the Bushistas have no interest in anything but perpetuating war, and they will ALWAYS have another reason why it would be wrong to withdraw from Iraq. Does anyone doubt that we would not still be fighting in Vietnam (assuming that we still had an enemy there) if the military-industrial complex had been able to maintain public consent from the general population with its anti-Communist fear mongering?

But he brings me back to a frequent soapbox of mine: the call for liberals to “cut and run” from America in as large a number as possible. Some would characterize abandoning this mess in a negative light, but I for one am not interested in waiting for the American people to wise up, and then dealing with the crisis that ensues from such a mass dereliction of the civic duty to be informed and vigilant. We have been aware of a serious problem in government for all of this decade already, and we were ready to act years ago when the problem was more manageable. I do not feel any obligation to wait to see how bad this country can become while fighting our formerly fellow Americans and then trying to clean up that mess.

Incidentally, by formerly fellow Americans, I’m referring to all of those who continue to support this regime and the party with their votes and contributions even at this late date. Such people have put their loyalty to their preferred party or preferred church ahead of the Constitution and American tradition. That is why, it does not matter to such people that you are a fellow American if you are also a secularist or a liberal. There is no national bond any longer, ironic given the hysterical nationalism of the regime with its cheap form of car magnet patriotism.

So, we owe such people nothing. We certainly don’t owe them our futures. They don’t like us and they despise liberalism. The call to emigrate combines the desire to escape any future hard times here that my result from political or economic collapse where your property and freedom are threatened with the desire to deprive the conservatives of the benefits of liberalism as they wish and as their masters will gladly do for them. I would love to see them lose their freedoms and their social safety net.

As you start stripping away the layers of liberal progress, the first stop is Victorian capitalism a la Dickens Oliver Twist or David Copperfield with children in coalmines 6.5 days a week from 7AM to 7PM. The next stop is the early Middle Ages with prison towers, edicts (but no elections), habeas corpus or courts. That should make them happy.

Nor should they have scientists or the benefits of science since they despise that too.

It may be time to rethink what the word America means and what its value and threats to you are. And if leaving is of interest, it might be wise to think about being as liquid as possible. For example, should you own your home or sell it and rent in anticipation of a possible recession or the declaration of martial law and the desire to flee quickly?

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» IRAQ IS LOST Posted by: Steven Wanzell
Cut and run from Iraq, too.
Posted by: stargazer on Jun 21, 2006 3:22 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We need to add cut and run from Iraq, too. This ill-starred war should never have been fought. The nightmare predictions of the anti-war protestors have all come true. The best thing we can do is pack out bags and come home.
As for Karl Rove and his fellow chicken hawks I will tell them this, "If you like this war so much, why don't you go and fight it?"

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» RE: Cut and run from Iraq, too. Posted by: willymack
WHAT'S IN A PHRASE?
Posted by: Roverton on Jun 21, 2006 3:42 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We might want to consider cutting and running from any terminology like "Cut and run", thrown at us by Carl Rove.

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» right back atcha Posted by: repo
» RE: right back atcha Posted by: Wacre
» RE: right back atcha Posted by: LMNOP
» RE: right back atcha Posted by: Wacre
Count me in...
Posted by: adp3d on Jun 21, 2006 3:48 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...we are living in such a bizzaro world right now. Even if these crooks and liars are turned out, how long will it take before we get back on the track that the Clinton administration left us? The rottedness of the Republican party is just so prevasive. I'm truely not suggesting that all Republicans are rotten, I'm sure that many are honest hard working citizens. However the party has been hijacked by these crooks in such numbers that is is diffcult at least for for me to differentiate. From top to bottom the administration, the agencies, the legislature, and even the military is just so infected that it may take years to clean them out and thats not even saying they will stay out of some sort of power.

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» RE: Count me in... Posted by: Roverton
» RE: Clinton Admin?? Posted by: FauxPorteno
» RE: Count me in... Posted by: albiegf13
Anything but a Repugnant
Posted by: Abushite on Jun 21, 2006 3:54 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I am so happy to have any appellation rather than that awful one of "republican". Imagine having to hide from your fellow kind?

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Cut and run all the way
Posted by: Democritus on Jun 21, 2006 4:19 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Mr. Pizzo gets it exactly right until the end. Yes, we can "cut and run" in Iraq, and by so doing we will let the Iraqis have a real choice in the government they wish to have. We do them no favors by our occupation, nor do we help ourselves. The only ones helped are the oil and engineering corporations that will enrich themselves at Iraq's expense. Here's what to say to those in Congress who say we can't "cut and run." Come November, we're going to cut you free from your job and run you out of town.

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Lost Souls
Posted by: shangrilalad on Jun 21, 2006 5:14 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Lost Souls

Even if Republican sociopaths fail to rig all future elections illegally, don’t discount their ability to sway the masses with irrational, lowdown, underhanded pandering and hatemongering to inspire racism, intolerance, selfishness, greed and fear.

The use of fundamentalist fanaticism as a weapon has enabled them to convince millions of Americans that abortion and homosexuality are far worse than imperialism, militarism, war profiteering, torture and genocide. Sociopaths have transformed vice into virtue in the minds of millions of our countrymen

Republicans preach Christian values but practice economic and social cannibalism.

The battle for the soul of America is all but lost.

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» RE: Lost Souls Posted by: mdruss42
» RE: Lost Souls Posted by: ConnecttheDots
» RE: Lost Souls Posted by: babs
The Bush/Rovians cut and run from Afghanistan
Posted by: maxpayne on Jun 21, 2006 5:48 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Funny how silent they are on that one but with the Taliban having recovered most of the country already, no wonder they're silent about their failure !

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Dems Need to Turn the Tables on the GOP
Posted by: 3reddogs on Jun 21, 2006 6:06 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why don't the Democrats start declaring that it's the REPUBLICANS that "cut and run" every chance they get?? They sure as hell cut and ran last August when Katrina was headed towards our Gulf Coast, they cut and ran when seniors needed a comprehensive prescription drug program that included negotiating lower prices, they cut and ran when it came to properly equipping our troops with armored vehicles and protective body armor, they cut and ran when they let American banks re-write our bankruptcy laws, and they cut and ran when they let George Bush ignore North Korea and Iran in favor of a pre-emptive attack on a country that posed no immediate threat. In fact, Republicans will cut whenever a "liberal" program designed to help Americans comes up for a vote in Congress (and run right into the arms of the nearest lobbyist or big business campaign contributor!)

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THANK YOU ROVERTON
Posted by: VZEQICVA on Jun 21, 2006 7:02 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Everyone please stop saying and writing 'CUT AND RUN'. Let's please bring things to a level higher than a crap game. Our government is already run like a speakeasy. We need a touch of class. Our leaders are failing us miserably while they rake in big bucks for them selves. We should not be reduced to cute catch phrases. We should expect more of the people we pay to run the country. Thank you, ANNA

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Cut and Run?
Posted by: judithkrain on Jun 21, 2006 7:11 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If what you say is accurate, then why haven't Democrats/Progressives taken a stand on any of those issues in Congress?

Why haven't we heard any scathing comments about corruption and wrongdoing from the floor of Congress?

Why haven't we heard any eloquence from the floor of the House or the Senate other than from Robert Byrd?

Where the hell is the outrage?

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» RE: Cut and Run? Posted by: pizzo
» RE: Cut and Run? Posted by: albiegf13
Good God Almighty - You People Just Don't Get It . .
Posted by: FauxPorteno on Jun 21, 2006 7:15 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"Yes Democrats are the answer ladies and gentlemen - step right up and elect yourself a nice blue/red chameleon for president!! Observe how docile and friendly he appears to you the common man but just wait until he sets foot in the White House and all those lobbies get their claws into him. The dramatic change is truly something to behold folks. Yes a Democrat is truly the magic elixir for all that ails you "

Sure the Dems love gays, blacks, Latinos, poor whites and hehe "small" business in the run up to the election but once in office they immediately start turning a peculiar shade of RED. Strangely they also turn on their "faithful" constituency in favor of more influential friends like BIG RX, BIG HMO and BIG MILITARY.

Like Clinton before them they will cave in on universal healthcare and continue to allow a steady stream of immigrants to pour into the country because we all know you can't build SUPER OVERPRICED yet cheaply constructed homes without virtual slave labor . . . Those strawberries aren't going to pick themselves for $5 an hour now are they? They will not reduce "defense" (can hardly keep from laughing when I write that as our mission is hardly "defense" these days) spending lest they upset God Halliburton and his sidekick Lockheed Martin. We might not be in Iraq if we had elected Al Gore but you can bet your sweet ass Big Biz would have long since put the pressure on to pick a fight somewhere - probably Venezuela or North Korea. Wake the fuck up!! Dems and Repubs are fucking losers!!! The world laughs when they look at our 2 PARTY SYSTEM!! Is this some kind of sick joke? 3rd largest country in the world and we are represented by 2 fucking parties - both criminal???? We had a shot with Ralph Nader but America quickly showed their contempt for him now didn't they?? God help us!!

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Cut and Run in Football
Posted by: DennisDalrymple on Jun 21, 2006 7:37 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Back in high school football, there was a Cut and Run series of plays: Cut Right and Run; Cut left and Run, in which you ran out turned left or right and ran for the goal post for a touchdown. Then it was used by LBJ in the Vietnam War as a term for cowardice when the antiwar movement wanted withdrawal. Ironically, former U. of Michigan football star and later unelected US President, Republican Gerald Ford (who LBJ once said: "He's played a little too much football without a helmet") was the one that finally cut and ran the troops right out of Vietnam. Karl Rovians that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

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Don't cut and run, stay and transform.
Posted by: Jamboree on Jun 21, 2006 7:57 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I know it will be a challange but hey, it you hung around this long , you might as well "stay the course". Besides, we can make a positive influence on this country. Let's face it. Our country is in a crisis and when this president is gone, it's going to need our help rebuiding the mess he and his co-horts have made.
So this a crisis. Don't waste it. Know what you want to change (for me it's election reform, then greater understanding of our Constitutional government and renewed appreciation for ethics). People just don't seem to understand what right and wrong is anymore. There are rationalizations for every kind of behavior--from gay bashing to stealing elections (my Repubican friend responded wtih "Well the Democrats have been doing it for years".) As if that was an excuse!!!
There are so many good issues to support-renewed energy, real tax reform, education reform, healthcare reform. Pick an area and stick with it.

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lzel1122
Posted by: lzel1122 on Jun 21, 2006 8:09 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I agree withyou 100%, however why is it that diplomacy is never the option. If we went to world leaders, possibly thru the U.N. if we didn't have such idiots in charge, and asked the rest of world for honest help in Iraq perhaps we could solve some of the problems. But we can't because of greed, money, power and stupidity. When do we start thinking of a world view and what is best for humanity instead of the narrowminded view that american patriotism brings.

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» RE: lzel1122 Posted by: mdruss42
» RE: lzel1122 Posted by: knocko
gah-- don't give into rover
Posted by: Iconoclast421 on Jun 21, 2006 8:36 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
speaking rovish

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Moderates for cut and run also
Posted by: lamar on Jun 21, 2006 8:35 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
One doesn't have to be a liberal to be in favor of cutting and running from this administrations failed policies. I see our presence in Iraq as Welfare for the Iraqi police force, and we need to get them off the US teat. Surely that'll get me into some trouble here. But we agree on the result, we agree that, at least, Murtha has truth+balls, that war is too grave to be taken as lightly as this administration takes it, and that financial responsibility means either tax-and-spend, or cut-taxes-and-don't-spend (depending on your view of gov't) but never never never cut-taxes-while-spending-crazy.

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FIGHT ROVE WITH ROVE
Posted by: pubradiocat on Jun 21, 2006 8:56 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Every time Karl Rove dredges up some lame-ass language to describe Democrats, we should embrace it and make it sound just as absurd as Rove's schoolyard taunts.

Thanks, Steven---keep it up.

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» RE: FIGHT ROVE WITH ROVE Posted by: ALANHESTER
Even though he is right....
Posted by: natch on Jun 21, 2006 9:29 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I dont care for embracing one of the focus-group created and derogatory phrases the right uses against the left. Even though this writer is correct we shouldnt embrace cut and run because the "run" part intentionally infers cowardice. Its more like cut and retreat slowly ready to face all questions and challenges to our point of view. Dont fall into their traps.

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stop talking like hilary.
Posted by: Annapurna1 on Jun 21, 2006 9:52 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Do we want to cut and run from Iraq? I wish the hell we could. But that fat is already in the fire. Liberals understand we can't cut and run from Iraq. But whose fault is it that we're stuck there now? Not ours, that's for sure. We would like to see U.S. troops leave Iraq as soon as possible -- but not in a way that would make matters worse for ordinary Iraqis than our invasion already has.

thats the most rediculous thing i ever heard of. the only way we can possible make things better for ordinary iraqis is to cut and run. there is only one reason for us to continue to occupy iraq, and thats the interests of big oil. to cut and run from govt of big oil, by big oil, and for big oil necessarily means to cut and run from iraq. otherwise, there will always be an iraqi insurgency which will continue the war, to the detriment of both countries and the benefit of haliburton and its ilk.

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Pizzo's "News For Real"
Posted by: pelle_in_goal on Jun 21, 2006 10:21 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Stephen Pizzo "The Raconteur at Large" is not from News For Real. He IS "News For Real." It's a rantsite of one man's opinion.

So I take a little exception to his use of the word "we." He must be thinking of the turd in his pocket when he uses his favorite pronoun.

pl

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Lance Wrightman
Posted by: figuremechanic on Jun 21, 2006 11:49 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's a good thing that our military has finally seen the light in the treatment of the terrorist dead, when they followed in the footsteps of the British in dealing with Zarqawi.

When Britain dealt with terrorists in the early part of the last century, they buried the Islamic extremists in pig's skin, because they can't get into heaven when polluted by the essence of pig.

Our soldiers were right to inject Zarqawi with pig's blood as they did. He'll never have his virgins and must forever walk the walk of impertinence now.

Kudos for the soldiers to be engaging in this, as pig's blood has become a major commodity on the black market to ensure that the terrorists are not rewarded in any way at any time...especially in death.

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» RE: Lance Wrightman Posted by: albiegf13
» RE: Lance Wrightman Posted by: babs
» RE: Lance Wrightman Posted by: figuremechanic
» RE: Lance Wrightman Posted by: ALANHESTER
» RE: Lance Wrightman Posted by: figuremechanic
Stay in Iraq?
Posted by: axolotl_helix on Jun 21, 2006 12:22 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
>...Liberal...

You misspelled "Democrat."

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Put our troops on the next plane outta there....
Posted by: NonnyO on Jun 21, 2006 12:57 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Or would you rather our troops "stay the course and DIE for the LIES...."

Not to mention the excessive profits for Halliburton and their subsidiaries and the robber oil barons supporting the stay the course crap so US military troops can preserve, protect, and defend the oil wells there....

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Mission accomplished
Posted by: hobber on Jun 21, 2006 3:05 PM   
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How could one "Cut and Run" when they clearly posted for the world to see in live coverage "Mission Accomplished"?

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it's about time...
Posted by: kryptx on Jun 21, 2006 3:43 PM   
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You are what you are, and you believe what you believe. If someone else doesn't like it, well, that's tough for them. Karl Rove can throw words around all day and if more than half of americans DO want to cut and run, they should be openly acknowledge it so that they can more easily see through Rove's smear scheme.

I had more to say, but I left my flame retardant suit at home, so I'll leave it at that.

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Ms. Lynn Walker
Posted by: Bellona on Jun 21, 2006 3:59 PM   
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Well said! We need to mail a copy of this to Rove, Mr Dubya, and every Republican, and the Democrats who vote with them!

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Idiotmatick American English
Posted by: Ian MacLeod on Jun 21, 2006 5:41 PM   
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Batchelors, carreer, filmaker, tittilating, condessention, remmember, pidgeons, recyclabe, underated, alumminum, stuped, blanttant, leary, Pharmacetical, enourmous, expecialy. sorethroat, systumwide, traditinaly, impossing. Decrepant, begining, Illigals, emengery, phoney, reimbercement, suprize, squalking, conciders, shineest, have knowed (supposedly from an R.N.!), unecescarily, dialate, idealogues, apalled, specialtiey, expecialy, their, rottedness, prevasive, truely, challange, co-horts, narrowminded, rediculous, rantsite,

Mah felo Amerkuns – did NONE of you graduate from high school other than in “peer group advancements”? No, I take that back: at least ten percent of you do spell fairly well. So – have you ever considered writing your comments in a word processor, using the spellchecker, then cutting and pasting?

Pretty please?

itd realy bee niec of youd trie too spel halfweigh desently and maybee trie too use he ritewords in thr riteplaces sew i don’t halfta spent haff my tiem fixing the mess sew i can reed it.

Ya know?

I decided recently that the comments sections are as valuable to read as the articles themselves. The trouble is, they’re so DAMNED misspelled, grammatically skewed, screwed and otherwise FUBAR, some of them are next to impossible to just read. I have to run them through the spellcheck first (to save time), then go over them myself to correct usage that the checker missed. Not being able to think (I’m tempted to add “either” here), a spellcheck will allow “he” when you meant “the”, or “a” instead of “as”, or even a few really comic substitutions I’ll leave out. Oh, and please learn the difference between “effect” and “affect”. If you change a thing you “affect” it; the change is the “effect”, and is a result of being “affected”. And there's "bare"and "bear", "their" and "there", "to", "too" and "two" - they are NOT interchangeable!

My point is – and here let me say first that for you who use English as other than a milk-tongue, none of this applies to you; you’re doing better than I am with another language if you can make yourselves understood – I spelled better than that garbage at the top of the page in third grade! That’s no exaggeration either. And incidentally, that garbage up there is all taken from comments – three sets, actually, no more – and (mostly) each word was spelled that way more than once, so it wasn’t just fumble-fingered typing. Those of you who think – no, wrong word – say “believe”, that George Bush is the neatest thing since Kleenex aside, people from all over the world are reading these comments and blogs, and a great many no doubt think they are beginning to understand how we got into this mess, even if they CAN’T understand anything else about what you wrote.

Then there’s this other thing: we seem to be following a German example in more ways than one. I am seeing words run together as though they were one word, or hyphens added between words where obviously a phrase separation was intended. We don’t DO that in English. There is no such thing as a corporatelobbyist – it’s “corporate lobbyist”. It isn’t “wrongheaded”, it’s “wrong headed” or “wrong-headed”. People aren’t “narrowminded”, they’re either “narrow-minded” or “narrow minded’. And when you write, “he didn’t
know-really he didn’t”, you are making a single, hyphenated word of “know” and “really”, and there ain’t no such critter! You’re trying for “…know – really…”. Notice the little spaces in there? They make a difference – really!

Continued on next rant

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Idiotmatic American English, Part II
Posted by: Ian MacLeod on Jun 21, 2006 5:43 PM   
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As for the crack about Germany, I will not apologize. First, I am part German, with dear friends there, and I do speak the language somewhat. I do not hold Hitler against them – more and more lately, I understand how it could have happened. Still, it DID happen, and they may never live it down. For their comfort though, I offer this: America is catching up fast on sheer numbers innocent people murdered, added to by civilian-killing (especially women and children) sanctions, and the US’s blocking of real help in favor of fantasy help (prayer, but no condoms) and so on, add people tortured to death or ‘disappeared’, on experiments on unwitting or unwilling subjects, and laws that allow the government and it’s representatives to practice horror upon it’s own citizens and those of other countries. We will no doubt be hearing references to our own evil acts for at least as long as Germany will be identified with the horrible acts of Adolph Hitler and his followers. And damn it anyway, we both earned it. I will hope, pray, and work to see that it doesn’t again cost the world what it did that time to get rid of a sociopathic dictator.

Another problem is this cutesy, e.e. cummings-like ignoring of capitalizing conventions, adding in for good measure and bad reading the dropping of all punctuation. I saw stuff like this in notes from some girlfriends in early high school (mostly the ones I didn’t call back), but lately it’s all over the place. Combine them all and you get all the readability of the second grade special ed group. As soon as you people start dropping the spaces between words, I quit. I never did like word puzzles.

From the concepts being handled, I KNOW many, perhaps most, of you are smarter than that. I really hope you start writing like it soon. It costs me a lot of time, a lot of added pain – of which I have sufficient as it is, thank you – to spend the time I do on the computer. FYI, I have nerve damage and pain because of it (and because it was ignored for over a decade, then wrongly treated, then there were a few screwed-up operations, then more wrong treatment, and so on) that I can expect to keep forever. If I’m going to read these articles at all, I have to copy them, then transfer them onto floppy disk, then over to a computer here in front of me that I can lie down to work on – yes, I’m typing while lying down – alter the fonts and so on so I can see them, then respond if I need to, then copy that to disk and transfer it back to the computer that functions on the Internet (the old one here only works as a word processor; it was hit with 220 volts once) – get the idea? I’d really appreciate it if you wannabe famous writers would quit wasting what time I have. Or maybe you could wait until you’re a little older than fifteen and still trying to show your individuality by making what you write unreadable equivalents of abstract art. I don’t like abstract art either, even when it’s intended to be that way and isn’t simply a manifestation of incompetence. It still looks that way to me, and so does this.

The written language is, like the spoken, for communicating ideas and feelings between otherwise isolated minds. It is what allows those of us separated by time, or even by death itself, to speak and be heard by others. It allows us to preserve more than just the memories of a single fallible human mind so that knowledge can be added to from generation to generation, making it the foundation of the technology and other lessons learned that can give each generation a slightly better life than the one before it had; it separates us from Neolithic savages. Of all the treasures given us by America, it is one of the greatest. Exactly what are you trying to communicate with this deliberate or careless mangling of it?

Last part to follow

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Idiotmatic American English, fin
Posted by: Ian MacLeod on Jun 21, 2006 5:44 PM   
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I’ve heard other people bitching about this, so I KNOW I’m not the only one. Get it together a little, okay folks? Some of you write really interesting stuff once I get it translated into readability, and I’d like to have the time to read more of it. Normally, I read at about 1,800 words per minute with 80% retention. Until recently, the only thing that slowed me down this much was advanced math, but at least I had fun slogging through that.

I’d also like to address that idiot, unthinking crack about “pig’s blood”, too. Again, what did you hope to accomplish with it? What do you suppose would happen if such a rumor got started amongst radical Islam? Do you suppose it could do anything at all besides cause an hysterical bloodbath in the name of vengeance? Are you TRYING to set up our troops, who have already been lied to and set up for needless death and failure anyway? The military does not choose it’s own missions – they go where they are sent, and most of these joined believing they were defending America and other lands, and helping Iraq. Theirs was a generous and courageous choice, and what’s really happening there is not their fault. They and the other innocents sure to be caught up in such a reaction certainly don’t deserve to be set up for more death and torture by a vindictive, short-sighted fool like you!

Sincerely,

Ian MacLeod
Oregon
June 21, 2006

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HE FIGHTS AND RUNS AWAY...........
Posted by: ALANHESTER on Jun 21, 2006 6:55 PM   
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Mr. Pizzo, I do believe you have formed a new strategy! I will use this to decide who to vote for in the next election. Hopefully, this will be picked up by Democrats who are not afraid of being bullied by Right-Wingers.

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Cut and run liberal
Posted by: darquiel on Jun 22, 2006 12:34 AM   
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I fully agree!

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cut and run or better yet change timeless
Posted by: timeless on Jun 22, 2006 6:06 AM   
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the way to merge with the so called statis quo is to see it in a different view. talk to two who might talk to two on and on so that something will..........be done before time has passed into extinction of the human.

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cut and run or better yet change timeless
Posted by: timeless on Jun 22, 2006 6:20 AM   
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the way to merge with the so called statis quo is to see it in a different view. talk to two who might talk to two on and on so that something will..........be done before time has passed into extinction of the human. ......................all credit, attention, guilt, blame amid whole spirit aho.

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locoadele
Posted by: locoadele on Jun 22, 2006 7:24 AM   
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This is a letter I sent to several newspapers in April.

"Cut and run” is one of President Bush’s favorites in a large collection of inane phrases and platitudes. It is as accurate as his pronunciation of the word ‟nuclear.”

He has conveniently edited a viable military option to make it sound as if advocates of orderly withdrawal from the costly mess in Iraq are cowards. In fact, they are advising a historically prudent tactic. The complete phrase is "Cut your losses and run.”

No general ever won a war by remaining on a battlefield until his troops had all been killed or captured. Retreat from a losing battle is a correct and sensible option. Our commander-in-chief would have us stay on the Iraqi battlefield until our military might is destroyed and our country is bankrupt.

Cut our losses? Stop the terrible toll of Americans killed and maimed? Dam the flood of American dollars into a virtually bottomless pit?

You bet!

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» RE: locoadele Posted by: deaudonnee
locoadele
Posted by: locoadele on Jun 22, 2006 7:24 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This is a letter I sent to several newspapers in April.

"Cut and run” is one of President Bush’s favorites in a large collection of inane phrases and platitudes. It is as accurate as his pronunciation of the word ‟nuclear.”

He has conveniently edited a viable military option to make it sound as if advocates of orderly withdrawal from the costly mess in Iraq are cowards. In fact, they are advising a historically prudent tactic. The complete phrase is "Cut your losses and run.”

No general ever won a war by remaining on a battlefield until his troops had all been killed or captured. Retreat from a losing battle is a correct and sensible option. Our commander-in-chief would have us stay on the Iraqi battlefield until our military might is destroyed and our country is bankrupt.

Cut our losses? Stop the terrible toll of Americans killed and maimed? Dam the flood of American dollars into a virtually bottomless pit?

You bet!

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locoadele
Posted by: locoadele on Jun 22, 2006 7:24 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This is a letter I sent to several newspapers in April.

"Cut and run” is one of President Bush’s favorites in a large collection of inane phrases and platitudes. It is as accurate as his pronunciation of the word ‟nuclear.”

He has conveniently edited a viable military option to make it sound as if advocates of orderly withdrawal from the costly mess in Iraq are cowards. In fact, they are advising a historically prudent tactic. The complete phrase is "Cut your losses and run.”

No general ever won a war by remaining on a battlefield until his troops had all been killed or captured. Retreat from a losing battle is a correct and sensible option. Our commander-in-chief would have us stay on the Iraqi battlefield until our military might is destroyed and our country is bankrupt.

Cut our losses? Stop the terrible toll of Americans killed and maimed? Dam the flood of American dollars into a virtually bottomless pit?

You bet!

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Cut...Run
Posted by: hangman on Jun 28, 2006 12:38 PM   
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Glad to hear so many getting the message out there. this whole war is like some really bad movie, that just keeps getting worse.
and now our Prime Minister Mr. Harper(he's a joke and a half) ,here in Canada is spewing the same crap that Rove and Bush are spewing.

Here, Harper is cutting and running from his responsibility as a leader to the people so he can cater to Bush and his bandits of oil glutons and try to market the war and terror agenda of living in fear and paranoia. All for the sake of sell, sell, sell for those war manufacturers and their weapons of mass destruction for Invasions. (oh , yeah, I forgot .. its all about marketing Security...lol thats a load of crap.)
killing thousands of innocent lives in the process.
War is suicide for those that engage in it. True leadership does not require the need or use of weapons.

We too prefer to cut and run from the bullshit agenda of war and terror and apply our focuses on the real things like Health Care , Child Care, the Environment etc.

Can we connect as two countries dissatisfied with our leaders and work together on things that Will help others understand that we are not all a bunch a losers tied to the U.S. Bush and Harper agenda of greed and fear mongering.

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Sinking boat
Posted by: 1984NOW!!! on Jul 2, 2006 12:27 PM   
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Interesting at how many different ways “cut and run” can be interpreted.
Recently I found out that the expression is a nautical one. It is apparently used when
a boat is anchored and situations become dangerous and there is not enough time
to dislodge the anchor so that the rope has to be cut so that the boat can leave the
danger and people don’t drown. SO WHAT IS NEGATIVE ABOUT THAT? It seems to me a positive and smart thing to do, but of course we can’t expect this administration to do anything that is not stupid and self serving.

When the Repubs use this expression against us, we should realize that they know that
we know that OUR BOAT IS SINKING AND WE NEED TO CUT AND RUN from the many if not all of the suggested
items pointed out by Mr. Pizzo, including from Iraq with some qualifiers.

As far as considering going to other countries to live and all the suggestions posted,
that makes no sense to me. The expression that some have used toward dissenters of
government policies “America love it or leave it”, has always angered me and think that
the people that say it don’t seem to think that living under a dictatorship is a bad thing, that is why they continue to support the current administration. Those of us who honor the Constitution and fight and bitch to maintain the ideals and its guarantees, that made this country such a beacon of hope for so many, need to stay, not run and fix.

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