I don't diary or comment often - mostly just lurk. However, I didn't see this one coming and just had to comment. Rep. Doolittle, the Member of Congress voted most likely to win the Duke Cunningham Corruption Crown, now wants us out of Iraq.
Apparently, he had a town meeting in Rocklin, CA and then repeated his new position to the Board of the Sacramento Bee.
go here: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/...
He was quoted as a "longtime supporter of the war." More likely he was a longtime supporter of what the war could do to line his pockets. I have followed this jerk for a long time and was so disappointed when he won last November. I hope that he'll be wearing stripes before the next election.
His new position:
A longtime supporter of the war, Doolittle called the situation in Iraq a "quagmire" on Thursday. "We've got to get off the front lines as soon as possible," Doolittle said at Rocklin City Hall, the Bee reported. "And in my mind that means something like the end of the year. We just can't continue to tolerate these kinds of losses.
"I don't want to keep having our people dying on the front lines. I am increasingly convinced that we never are going to succeed in actually ending people dying (in Iraq). I think it's going to be a constant conflict ... and if that is going to happen ... it needs to be the Iraqis dying and not the Americans."
Later he told the Bee's editorial board: "My belief is that the majority of my colleagues on the Republican side have become skeptical of all of this. And that's a big change."
It would appear that another rat is leaving this sinking ship. I guess he feels that this move may help him next year. Hopefully, his constituents (you know, the ones that actually vote for him instead of bribing him), will see through this Road to Damascus conversion.
UPDATEThis is the original article from the SacBee:
http://www.sacbee.com/...
He adds in here that Bush didn't go far enough in the commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence.
In comments to the editorial board, Doolittle expressed support for Bush's decision this week to commute the 30-month prison sentence of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. But he questioned whether Bush went far enough in his decision to leave Libby's conviction -- and $250,000 fine -- intact.
"I thought the commutation was the president's right to do," said Doolittle, who himself is facing a federal investigation into his ties to imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "I don't know why he didn't just pardon him outright."
He added: "It's sort of like they (the White House) tried to find a middle ground. I don't know if they satisfied anyone."
Does he see himself in the same position? Hmmmm...