Here's an easy prediction -- the blogosphere is going to beat the daylights out of Mike Pence over this remark:
BAGHDAD -- U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., traveling Sunday in Iraq's capital with three other GOP members of Congress, compared a shopping area there to a "normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime."Pence, speaking after a heavily guarded hourlong walk through the newly fortified market, echoed comments made by U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and others that the capital was getting safer.
"I, too, find myself leaving my day at the market in Baghdad with a new sense of cautious optimism that freedom might just work for these people," Pence said during a news conference inside the fortified Green Zone.
Sure, just like an Indiana market, except for the car bombs, the shootings, etc. etc. The stuff will practically write itself. Even if the war is going better than most people think and Baghdad might be safer than it was, that was an unfortunate way to phrase it.
Comments
I can say with great pride that I didn't vote for him. My Congressman is the other dope.
Leo,
True, the blogs may beat him up on this, but this isn't some ridiculous comment; Baghdad is, statistically, experiencing fewer bombings and becoming like the rest of the country--conquered by the good guys. The majority of Iraqis support this, and I support this too. Quip all you want about the painful metric of progress being less frequent bombings instead of the better metrics like GNP, etc., but those quippings amount to cheap shots at a very complicated and *worthwhile* investment in the cause for Democracy and human rights.
Chris Mann