Democrats React

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a former Army Ranger, delivered the Democratic response to President Bush's address and had the following to say:

"Soldiers take a solemn oath to protect our nation, and we have a solemn responsibility to send them into battle only with clear and achievable missions. Tonight, the president provided neither. An endless and unlimited military presence in Iraq is not an option...Democrats and Republicans in Congress and throughout the nation cannot, and must not, stand idly by while our interests throughout the world are undermined and our armed forces are stretched toward the breaking point...We intend to exercise our constitutional duty and profoundly change our military's involvement in Iraq."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had this to say on the President's speech:

"The American people long ago lost faith in the president's leadership of the war in Iraq because his rhetoric has never matched the reality on the ground. The American people reject the president's call for an 'enduring relationship' with Iraq that is based on leaving our troops in the middle of a deadly civil war for at least 10 years. The choice is between a Democratic plan for responsible redeployment and the president's plan for an endless war."

Sen. Hillary Clinton responded to the President stating:

"What the president told the American people tonight is that one year from now, there will be the same number of troops in Iraq as there were one year ago. That is simply too little, too late and unacceptable to this Congress and the American people who have made clear their strong desire to bring our brave troops home."

Sen. Barack Obama reiterated something I said earlier, saying:

"What this is, is that we have run out of troops. We can't sustain the surge, and we are now going back to the same levels of troops that we had nine months ago."

The democrats are doing the right thing: standing up for America's safety and America's men and women in uniform. They are fighting for what the country wants, a safe end to the War in Iraq, and God bless them for that.