Senator Hutchison's Plan to Get Out of Iraq

Tonight on Hardball, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison faced off with Senator Dick Durbin on the Iraq war. Senator Durbin was his usual self -- low-key, precise, if lacking passion. Senator Hutchison was a mess. On the key question regarding the Republican plan to end the war, she gave this response.

Norah O'Donnell: What is the plan to get out of Iraq? What's the exit strategy?

Senator Hutchison: The exit strategy is to see their government come together, to continue training their security forces, and to understand that they are victims, too. The Iraqi people - when they blow up a police station - it's those men who are coming in to be a part of the security force that are being tagged again and again and again by the insurgents. The insurgents are trying to keep them from having an economy, by not letting them have the ability to set up shops and start building commerce.

We've got to see it through, so that we can show there is a stable government, that America keeps its word, and that democracy can work with the three factions that are in Iraq. It has not been easy. These three factions have never worked together in the history of the world.

We can end the war by seeing it through to the end. Glad we cleared that up. Apparently, this plan requires nothing more from us than sheer determination. And anyone suggesting a proactive end to the war, you know, by actually having a plan and implementing it, is a "cut and run coward." You can catch the complete debate on video at the Hardball website, "The Senate Debate Over Iraq."

Here's Hutchison's opponent, Barbara Ann Radnofsky, on the war:

I have consistently stated that Congress needs to insist on its right to be informed fully about what’s going on. Congress must not abdicate its responsibility to obtain, analyze, and act on timely military intelligence. Congress must demand accountability from defense leaders, civilian and military. Our military officers are eager to serve the legitimate ends of Congress, are eager to provide more information, and are eager to serve their intelligence role to Congress. Rather than a Texas senator who rubberstamps failed administration policy, who displays an absence of interest in learning about the real military situation from our military leaders and coming up with good solutions, we need an earnest, thinking, committed, and responsible senator.

We should set a timetable and safely withdraw.

There is a reason why Republicans are having such a hard time articulating the administration's exit strategy for Iraq. There is none. And that's all Democrats have to say between now and November. Stop defending the plans for withdrawal. It doesn't matter whether Kerry's plan matches Murtha's plan matches Durbin's plan. The Republicans want to keep the debate on the Democrats' perceived lack of unity to hide their own vulnerability on this issue. What matters is that the Democrats have a plan to end this war and the Republicans do not. Keep it simple and hammer it home.