Hillary Strikes Again

Argh. Liberal Oasis reports (link via Mahablog):

[Hillary Clinton] is currently on trip with a few other Senators to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

On Sunday, while in Iraq, she was asked on CBS’ Face The Nation, “Do you think we're coming to a situation where we will have permanent bases in Iraq?”

Her response:

No, but I think that we should take this sort of one step at a time...

...We are going to be negotiating with the new Iraqi government. The Iraqi government could turn around any time and say, “We want you to leave.”

I don't see any indication of that, but it could happen.

The Iraqi government could say, “We want you to be here with a certain kind of footprint.”

But until the Iraqi government is stood up and operating, I think it's a little premature for us to be talking about what they and we may decide to do
together.

On one hand, she’s not coming out in favor of permanent bases.

But on the other, she’s covering for Bush by saying we’re not already on that path, when we clearly are.

Most importantly, she doesn’t make a clear distinction between the parties on this fundamental issue, leaving open the possibility that she would support them.

(Arguably, one might be hesitant to be partisan while on foreign soil, but LiberalOasis isn’t expecting any clarifications when she gets home.)

Stop. Just stop. No more playing both sides of the fence. It’s pointless, because on one side of the fence you have people like me, who believe in facts and use logic and have empathy for the plights of others, and on the other side you have people who believe the infinite streams of bullshit spewed into the ether by harpies like Ann Coulter and spawns of Satan like Sean Hannity. Yes, there’s a muddy middle, but it’s populated with people who don’t appreciate dissembling over permanent bases in Iraq.

All such waffling accomplishes is to piss off the people on whose votes you’ll depend to get elected (and who you are clearly taking for granted) and send a message to the Right that a cohesive Democratic opposition is still a pipe dream.

Please just take a stance that reflects the values of your party or just shut the fuck up. You’re not up against the same George Bush your husband was, and it’s not just the rules that have changed—the entire game has changed. We have no use for someone who talks out both sides of her mouth anymore.