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Reed: GOP just blames Obama for cleaning up messes they caused

By Michael O'Brien - 10/22/09 02:37 PM ET

Republicans have developed a pattern of criticizing President Barack Obama for trying to fix problems the GOP caused, one Democratic senator said Thursday.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a former Army Ranger who serves on the Armed Services Committee, blasted Republicans and former Vice President Dick Cheney for their criticism of Obama's handling of national security issues.

"Republicans have developed a troubling pattern of blaming President Obama for trying to fix all the problems they created," Reed said in a conference call.

"They say that elephants don't forget, but it looks like many members of the Republican Party have a mass case of amnesia," Reed explained. "The same politicians who were demanding that the current president stop dithering and do whatever his generals suggest forget that the previous administration ignored and under resourced our commanders and soldiers in Afghanistan for nearly eight years."

Reed's remarks mark the latest salvo Thursday in the back and forth between Democrats and Republicans since Cheney accused Obama of "dithering" over his decision on whether to send new troops to Afghanistan.



"Why didn't the former vice president ask George Bush to just do what it takes to win in Afghanistan for the seven years when he was in office, instead of blindly rushing into Iraq and allowing Afghanistan to drift into chaos?" Reed shot back, noting that he voted against the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/64369-reed-gop-just-blames-obama-for-cleaning-up-messes-they-caused

Comments (6)

If this is "cleaning up the mess" I'd rather have the mess.BY JimT on 10/22/2009 at 16:20
Attention Senator Pumpkin Head Reed RI. I know you are a low intellect Dim, but here are the BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTIC unemployment stats for the Bush years 2000-4.1%, 2001-4.5% , 2002- 5.7% , 2003-5.6%, 2004-5.4%, 2005-4.9% , 2006-4.4%, 2007-4.9% , 2008-5.5%, 2009-9.8%. Senator Pumpkin Head did you notice the spike in unemployment when the country's largest hate group took over congress, and it does not help that we now have a President that will go down as one of the dumbest man to ever occupy the White House. These stats don't lie dims like yourself do.BY Sue on 10/22/2009 at 16:25
When are these clowns going to stop pointing fingers and do what we elected them to do? Deregulation and our other problems were caused by both parties. Our Congress is more concerned with power and re-election than representing the people!BY Chuck on 10/22/2009 at 16:51
God, it will be great when this fool and Pelosi are gone.BY JHardyM on 10/22/2009 at 17:38
I completely agree with Senator Reed, there has to be a serious case of mass amnesia on the part of Republicans and the conservative party as a whole. Otherwise they are just a bunch of F*ing hypocrites who scream and rail about responsibility from others all the while denying their own responsibility for the present situation. I don't know how those who chose to stand in the way of progress and do everything within their power to prevent progress from being made can complain about progress not being made. Consider the fact that Bush was the first president ever to finance a war by borrowing the money. Every other president in our history saw the need to raise taxes to pay for war efforts, but the supposedly fiscally conservative party chose to cut taxes for the most wealthy while borrowing to pay the expenses for war. Yet some seem to believe that the financial crisis is not his fault and the current administration is just pointing fingers, very rational. For those of you who don't recall, following 9/11 our fight was with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. The Bush administration chose to leave our soldiers in Afghanistan hanging out to dry while he redirected resources to Iraq a country that hadn't done anything to us nor were they harboring our enemies. So rather than accept responsibility for the fact that the war effort in Afghanistan became all screwed up on his watch Cheney wants to condemn Obama for not doing more in one year than he and Bush were able to do in eight. The others who have commented here don't seem to grasp how ludicrous that is, that is a pretty sad commentary on how sheep like the readers of this blog are when it comes to party loyalty.BY Michelle on 10/22/2009 at 19:23
I've tried to look over Senator Reed's record to see how anybody formerly associated with the US Army Rangers and 82nd Airborne would have become a leftist. It must have been the time in Harvard. I was an enlisted guy anyway, but I can tell you that there were not a lot of leftist's in the 1/75th. Anyhow I would like to ask Senator Reed how come if the election was held in August, the President and his stellar staff are just now getting around to figuring out that it might be a problem. It is nice to know that you voted against invading Iraq, but if you have been a member of the Senate since 1996 where has your voice on Afghanistan and the Republican messes been?BY Patrick Michael on 10/22/2009 at 20:45

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