Lets take a trip backwards in time, July 30th, 2007, with Congress due to start their vacation within the week.
Headline from NYT "A War We Just Might Win", where two members of the liberal Brookings Institute, Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, came back from Iraq with good news.
July 30th, 2007, via Wapo, "Clyburn: Positive Report by Petraeus Could Split House Democrats on War", saying that progress in Iraq would be a "problem" for the Democratic politicians.
The very next day, July 31, 2007, while the left was still howling with outrage over "A War We Might Just Win", Keith Ellison and Jerry McNerney came back from Iraq saying they too had noticed progress, via USA Today.
August 4, 2007: Right before their August recess, they had played around for so long that they were cornered about the FISA bill, so 2 days before their recessed was scheduled to start, Congress passed a very controversial FISA bill by 227 to 183.
Remember the Democrats stated plan was to go on recess, have the Republican constituents turn against the Republican politicians and peel off enough support from Iraq to force a change after recess was over.
Only something strange happened and it started on the first day of their vacation.
August 6, 2007: The President signs the controversial FISA bill.
The new improvements to the FISA Law passed through the Senate with 16 Democrats crossing the aisle to pass it, then it went through the House and today we see from NYT that President Bush signed it into law.August 6, 2007: The day Congress leaves for vacation, the media reports of a poll showing the first of many polls, with support for Iraq on the rise, changing a 3 yr downward trend.
Following up on the NYT/CBS poll that showed America's support for the war was inching up, then showing that the NYT conducted that poll TWICE because they couldn't believe, or didn't want to believe, the outcome of the first one, coming back with the second set of results that confirmed the first set, we have seen a number of articles dealing with that process, (Thanks Dave In Boca!!!), we now see another poll, conducted by USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, reconfirming the previous poll.
The Democratic politicians vacation started going downhill from there on... evidence by the headlines that follow, all while they were away.
August 6, 2007: USA Today headline with "25,000 turn against insurgency, military says", we showed more good news that had come out that week in our own post.
August 10, 2007: Another media outlet starts reporting success in Iraq, this time Speigel Online who says "The US military is more successful in Iraq than the world wants to believe."
Within a week, by August 13, 2007 we were seeing more news reports, from USA Today telling Americans that "Major attacks decline in Iraq", from AFP and Multi National Force saying that Operation Phantom Strike was seeing great success.
By August 15, 2007, the AP was already reporting of a "shift in loyalty among many Sunni insurgents in Iraq's western Anbar province."
August 17, 2007: Brian Baird, a critic of the Iraq war from before it started, a politicians that had voted against every single Iraq bill since day one, came back from visiting Iraq saying there was progress being seen in Iraq and the Military needed more time.
With Congress poised next month to look at U.S. progress in Iraq and a vote looming on U.S. funding for the war, Baird said he's inclined to seek a continued U.S. presence in Iraq beyond what many impatient Americans want. He also expects Gen. David Petraeus, who oversees U.S. troops in Iraq, to seek a redeployment of forces. "People may be upset. I wish I didn't have to say this," Baird said.
August 17, 2007, via Popular Mechanics, reports of our soldiers In Iraq telling the American people "they are not ready to leave" and wondering why the media isn't reporting the news but instead were only focused on "body counts"
August 22, 2007: Wapo reports that "Democrats Refocus Message on Iraq After Military Gains.
August 24, 2007, via Seattle Times: The kiss of death to the Democratic politicians was Brian Baird issuing a statement of his own called "Our troops have earned more time."
August 24, 2007: Rasmussen followed up on the previously mentioned NYT/CBS poll and the USA Today poll, both having shown support for the war rising, with their own poll, showing support still low, but climbing.
August 28, 2007: Wapo headline "After Tour of Duty in Iraq, Graham Backs 'Surge'".
August 31, 2007: The Australian headlines with "Surge working: top US general".
August 31, 2007: TimesOnline "How life returned to the streets in a showpiece city that drove out al-Qaeda".
By August 31, 2007, Harry Reid, having the worse vacation of his life watching the media trump progress and success in iraq after he himself had swore the surge would be a failure and "Iraq was lost", desperation hit, and according to Wapo, Reid wanted to start "negotiating.
So much for their nice relaxing month off.
A hop, skip and a jump, the politicians are now on their Thanksgiving recess and guess what?
MEDIA CONSPIRACY, or so I am waiting for the left to claim anyway.
In the world of crazy conspiracy theorists live in, the fact that it wasn't until after Congress recessed that now our media decided to start catching up with the good news in Iraq.
Look at the following headlines that have come on since they went on their little vacation last week:
Investors Business Daily: November 15, 2007.
The 'Do-One-Thing' Congress
NYT: November 16, 2007.
In Badlands South Of Baghdad, U.S. Says Surge Working
Fewer Roadside Bombs in Iraq, U.S. Says
Wapo: November 19, 2007.
For Bush, Advances But Not Approval, we discussed that one here.
LATimes: November 19, 2007.
Sects unite to battle Al Qaeda in Iraq
Even liberal leaning websites like Slate: November 19, 2007.
Something To Give Thanks For--Good news from Iraq.
NYT, today, November 20, 2007:
Baghdad’s Weary Start to Exhale as Security Improves.
Newsweek: November 26, 2007.
Baghdad Comes Alive
So, Congress goes on vacation and abandons our troops without the funds they need and the media, after they have gone, decides to join the "success and progress in Iraq" bandwagon.
In the meantime, Congress refusing to fund the troops will cause the following:
It wasn't like Congress wasn't warned ahead of time what their abandoning our troops and not funding them would do.
Not looking good for the Democratic politicians.
One would almost think it was some sort of "conspiracy". (Twilight music )
So, either the polling organizations, all of them, Iraqi's, Sunni and Shia, our media and the media abroad, pundits, our Military and all Coalition forces are all involved in some "vast right wing conspiracy" to make the Democrats look bad...or the other, more likely option:
They need no help to look bad, they are incapable of doing their jobs, incompetent and living in denial from what everybody else can see, hence the lowest approval ratings in the history of polling congressional approval.
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