agreed -- I'd say she's definitely gonna run...

Our military won the war. I saw Commander Codpiece land on an aircraft carrier and tell me that four years plus ago.

Patraeus is not Marshall. We have and are loosing the occupation. I am not saying that our forces are not doing some good things over there, I am saying that Cammander Codpiece and the Dark Sith Lord have stacked the blocks against them.

Stop trying to steal Iraqi oil profits. Bring our forces home and treat their wounds. Return our government to the people . . .

perhaps, but wouldn't she be more likely than sununu to vote for binding legislation mandating withdrawal? of course, it's also possible that by fall of 2008 such legislation may have already passed with a veto-proof majority...

even if a vote for withdrawl happened today, it will take a year to do it, when you consider all the infrastructure and equipment we have in place.

Republicans will want to make sure it's happening before Nov 08, so i'll predict some type of withdrawl to begin in the next 6 months.

perhaps, but wouldn't she be more likely than sununu to vote for binding legislation mandating withdrawal?

I only have the skimpiest knowledge of Shaheen that mostly consists of a critic's description.

With that proviso, it appears to me that she may be little more than a member of the most conservative wing of the Democratic Party.

If you go down the list of Democratic pretenders to the presidency, only Richardson and Dodd seem committed to cutting our losses completely. Even Kucinich leaves plenty of wiggle room for himself. I have no idea what Gravel thinks.

Events have a way of overtaking all plans. Life is never quite black and white. The trauma resulting from Bush's presidency will long outlive his tenure and likely our involvement with Iraq will continue for a very long time.

I think Pennsylvanians made a huge mistake in replacing Santorum with Casey. Casey's only readily apparent virtue is that he is not Santorum, which is not quite enough to recommend him I think.

Sure, given the choice of only Sununno or Shaheen, there is little to choose. But it appears NH might be able to do much better.

Might be better for Iraqis too.

All just my very tentative opinion.

Best, Terry

Dear Congressman Boren,

Between my wife and I, FIVE nieces, nephews and cousins currently serve on active duty. Not unlike the honorable gentleman from Virginia (Senator Jim Webb) my family, and my wives, believe that military service is part of our family heritage and responsibility to this country. I ask that you explain to me how making a promise to a President whose failed wartime leadership that has cost thousands of American lives and tens of thousands (if not more) Iraqi lives, honors their service? By enabling the failed leadership of this administration you dishonor that service and the sacrifice they, and their families, make on a daily basis.

You, sir, are part of the problem. How do we "support the troops" by continuing to allow a failed wartime President's policy? The problem does not lay with the brave men and women in uniform. The problem stems from the inept civilian leadership in the Executive branch, the self-serving General and Flag officers unwilling to speak truth to power, and the cowards in the Congress.

Honor the sacrifice of the fallen, support those still in uniform and their families: END THIS WAR NOW. Bring home our men and women. We love them and miss them dearly.

Really? With that reasoning we can expect Joe Lieberman to be voting to withdraw any day now.

Thom Hartmann has a great piece on this at CommonDreams.org . . . It is worth the read.

Think about who Oklahoma's two Senators are. Why is this so puzzling? Given that Imhofe won't acknowledge that gloabal warming might be a problem and Dr. Coburn wanted doctors who perform abortions arrested is it so surprising that the Democrats elected from Oklahoma are TPMCafe's sort of Democrats?

However, misguided there was a tacit understanding that the Congress would wait until Petraeus' report in September. It is clear both that Bush has no intention of paying attention to whatever Petraeus says, and that Iraq is making no political progress.

However, listen to CSPAN and you will hear vehement supporters of Bush. Presumably many of those come from Oklahoma. Should Boren risk his seat for the benefit of the soldiers, probably. If the seat should go to a Republican not clear if it would be a good move for him especially since his vote is not really crucial.

Daniel A. Greenbaum

"What difference does it make if you have a conservative R than a conservative D?"

It continues to amaze me that people still don't get the meaning of having a solid majority in Congress.

In addition to the obvious advantage of controlling the agenda and controlling the committees, adding to the majority means that the membership on each committee becomes more advantageous increasing the chances of moving favorable legislation to the floor. It also weakens the hand of people like Lieberman and possibly someone like Ben Nelson.

Even if Shaheen is a relatively conservative D she's still more likely to support progressive legislation than a conservative R.

And, who's to say that Shaheen might possibly be more liberal in the Senate given the fact that NH is becoming more liberal. Remember, she was elected Governor at a time when NH was a bit more conservative than the present.

In any case, for still more reasons, a D is preferable to an R.

Just as Condi Rice's dream job is to be NFL Commissioner and George Bush's dream is to be Commish of baseball, I think that David Boren used his Senate seat to get his dream job--President of OU. When he was in the Senate, I saw him the same way I see Libermann now: someone who sucks up to power in the name of "bipartisanship." (Sorry, dblo6; nothing personal--just my take on David Boren.) It appears that his son is walking in his father's footsteps: whining about how unfair things are without demonstrating that he has the nerve to make changes. When are Boren and the other Dems going to realize that it is their job to make laws--whether popular or unpopular with the President and Republican legislators--and not to whine or tell us how they are going to change things once they REALLY get in power, in 2009? Dan Boren, of course, is not alone; he is just like hundreds of other Dem legislators who don't seem to understand that our country and our Constitution are slipping away from us while they fiddle around the edges of war policy. ("But, how will I get that bridge if I vote to defund the war effort? Oh, dear, this job can be hard.")