So they support the President. Interesting On Jan 19, 11:46 am, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > Monday, Jan 17, 2011 13:50 ETFreshman Republicans want even longer Afghan > warByJustin Elliott > Last week anti-tax leader Grover Norquistpleadedwith conservatives to have, > at least, a conversation about Afghanistan and the goals and costs of the > 10-year war. (One estimate puts the price tag at $120 billion per year.) > But it appears the Republican Party is simply not there with Norquist. > The latest evidence comes as four freshman Republican senators, including > among the most "fiscally conservative" members of the Senate, have concluded > a trip to the region. They are now promptly calling for the expensive war to > be extended indefinitely. > This is despite the fact that the Obama Administration's oft-repeated target > dates for beginning of withdrawal (July 2011) and full transition to Afghan > control (2014) are not harddeadlinesat all. > John McCormack at the Weekly Standard has beengathering reactionfrom the > senators, Marco Rubio of Florida, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Ron Jonson > of Wisconsin, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. All four came back with > basically the same message: progress is being made in the war and there > should not be even a timeline for withdrawal. Here's Rubio:Based on > everything we've see here, we are making significant progress. ...Everywhere > we went here--and I mean everywhere--from the markets that we walked on the > streets to the Afghan authorities, all the way up to the president, even in > Pakistan, what we heard repeatedly was: It is important--it is > important--that it is clearly understood that the U.S. is committed to seeing > this through.And here's Johnson:We�ve sacrificed so many lives and so many > dollars in this effort and it�s such an important effort in terms of our > national security, we have to see this thing through.Politically this means > that -- even if serious Democratic opposition to Obama on the war arises in > Congress -- the Republican Party will be standing with the president, if not > pushing an even greater escalation of the war. > War critic and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendelltold melast year that Afghanistan > cannot become a serious political liability for Obama as long as he has full > Republican support on the war. So far, he appears to be > right.http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/index.html?story=%2Fpolitics%2Fwar_room%2F2011%2F01%2F17%2Ffreshman_republicans_afghanistan&source=newsletter&utm_source=contactology&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Salon_Daily+Newsletter+%28Not+Premium%29_7_30_110
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