Pelosi said... DRAFT IS OFF THE TABLE!!!

[Rainscents]

Can we now, move on to more important issues? :hi:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/20/AR2006112000428.html

Pelosi said restoring the draft will not be on that list and was not something she supported.

"The speaker and I discussed scheduling and it did not include that," Hoyer added.

Incoming Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., caused a stir by repeating a long-held position that a draft is the best way to ensure that all levels of society are represented in the military. Besides Rangel, there is almost no support in Congress for restoring the draft.

"It's not about a draft, it's about shared sacrifice in this country," Pelosi said. She said Rangel is "a strong voice for social justice in our country" and his support for the draft was "a way to make a point."

[NOLADEM]

1. Thank god. We just dodged a suicide attempt

[LittleClarkie]

2. But the draft didn't work in Vietnam to get people from all walks of society

into the war. The rich kids still find ways out.

[Dr Fate]

34. I disagree with all the draft talk too (now)- but that is not quite right.

Plenty of the white middle class kids found themselves in Vietnam but wont find themselves in Iraq.

The fact that rich & connected kids would get out would not go un-noticed by everyone else and would be a political catalyst in itself- just like it was before.

Rangel's draft "stunt" was a good idea 3 or so years ago-it was a great way to make people think-but we probably agree that it is not so good as a propaganda stunt now that we are in power...

[fooj]

3. How is THIS a suicide attempt?

"It's not about a draft, it's about shared sacrifice in this country," Pelosi said. She said Rangel is "a strong voice for social justice in our country" and his support for the draft was "a way to make a point."

I think that it's something that the American people need to think about. Shared sacrifice. I just don't see how that's a bad thing.

[pnwmom]

12. It would have been suicidal for the party to take such a deeply

unpopular position merely to make a point.

[fooj]

14. Of course it's unpopular...

I mean...where is the shared sacrifice? I believe that the point NEEDS to be made.

Just my 2 cents...:smoke:

[pnwmom]

18. I have never thought anyone should be in this war.

Not my son, or anyone else's.

[fooj]

30. Agreed.

:thumbsup:

[enough already]

35. Would you please stop making sense? n/t

[Fridays Child]

4. Rangel has voiced that view, in the past. His argument includes some...

...theoretical good points, and he wants people to start thinking critically--not just accepting the status quo. I appreciate that immensely. We need more people like Charlie Rangel.

[MrCoffee]

5. Why is this a big deal all of a sudden? Rangel's been talking about this for years

He brought his draft bill before House Armed Services a couple of years ago, where it sat, because Congressional Repubs wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole.

Why all the outrage all of a sudden?

[Maddy McCall]

6. Because it's the first time Dems have been in power since....

the Iraq War began?

[Rainscents]

7. I have no idea why...

I think people like to stir shit it's not even there.

[tblue]

9. Yep. This is about the ONLY way to get the general public to take the consequences of this war

seriously. You wouldn't see so many young Repuglicans then. They dig war when they don't have to fight it. Rangel is 100% right and very courageous. Pelosi is playing the safe middle.

[madrchsod]

10. pelosi is playing it safe for the middle and upper classes

not for those who would not be deferred...

[pnwmom]

15. What are you talking about? That is pre-election talk.

The general public is sick to death of the war and it shows in the polls.

They voted against Bush and his Iraq war. If we became the draft party they would turn on us.

Do you think it is only Republicans who don't want to send their kids to Iraq? I'm a Democrat who has been protesting the war since months before it began. I have no more wish than any Republican to send my son there. And I'd have never forgiven the party that proposed a draft for that purpose.

[MrCoffee]

17. Rangel proposed this in 2003, introduced the bill in the House...

have you forgiven the Democrats yet?

[pnwmom]

19. He didn't do it just as Bush was considering expanding the size

of the military, which is what is happening now. And he didn't have any power then. And he wasn't successful.

IF he had been successful in getting this passed, that's what I would have found unforgiveable. As it is, I think he just made a lot of Americans -- who didn't get involved in the philosophical argument -- wonder why they had voted for the Dems, if the Dems were "war mongerers" just like the Repubs.

[tblue]

33. Don't you get it? Rangel's not trying to send anyone to war. He's trying to raise awareness of

people who are pro-war only as long as they have no skin (family, friends, self) involved. I support the draft 100%, and I would not go nor would I allow my son to go.

[madrchsod]

8. well a very important issue is off the table

oh well we are in a perpetual war so i guess it`s very important to make sure no one questions just who is going to fight these on going wars. must`n ruffle the feathers of the middle class in america...

carry on america-christmas sales start friday!

[pnwmom]

16. The American public gets it. It opposes this war and that's why Bush

lost the election. It's time for us to get out, not to dig in deeper.

[Union Thug]

11. The only draft that should be considered is 100% for Rich Kids.

Every rich kid in this country should be drafted. If you are low income, your chances drop to 0% A graduated draft based on wealth and income is the only fair way to do it.

If they come after my child to fight a rich man's war, they'll have to kill me to get to him.

[bowens43]

13. I knew I liked Pelosi.

[pnwmom]

20. She was smart to get out in front on this.

It would have been terrible to let this get any traction. The mass media spin was horrible.

[Kagemusha]

26. She was a day late, but better a day than a week or a month

So I wouldn't call it 'in front' in the sense of cutting it off at the pass. More like shooting the tires out over open ground. But I'll take it.

[pnwmom]

27. I agree. I would have preferred it yesterday, too.

Oh well.

[CK_John]

21. This is Pelosi's mistake for this week. She should have forced

the WH to comment before taking anything off the table.

[pnwmom]

28. Wrong. The longer this had been out there, the worse it

would have been for the Democrats.

The Democrats have a mandate to get us out of Iraq, not to get us into a draft.

[enough already]

36. Why should the White House comment when we're shooting ourselves in the foot?

At least Pelosi put a stop to this stupidity.

[Virginia Dare]

22. Support for the draft was "a way to make a point"...

I agree, and I think it was a good way to rip open another gaping hole of hypocrisy in this country.

[Cascadian]

23. Thank you, Nancy!

We just dodged a bullet.


John

[CTLawGuy]

24. Thank you Nancy

for quashing this hideously stupid ploy.

[Kagemusha]

25. Hey Skinner, this is exactly what I said Pelosi should do.

And I'm glad she's done it. It won't stop Fox from trying to bury her with it but, she's done a lot to shield herself from the rest of the media blaming her, and her saying the draft's not on the agenda means more than the Chairman of Ways and Means saying it, only because she did speak up.

In a perfect world she wouldn't have had to but.. it's not a perfect world. (Edit: This refers to a thread from this morning. Polite disagreement over what Pelosi should do.)

[DemBones DemBones]

29. If Pelosi keeps putting things off the table, the Dems aren't going to

get anything done and the GOP will take back Congress in '08.

[Clarkie1]

31. I support what Rangel said and did, but is this really news?

I mean, I'm sure Rangel never expected it to be brought to the floor ahead of the pre-announced priorities.

Or that it had a bat in hell's chance of passing.

[obreaslan]

32. Kick, for moving on...

:kick: