ODP Media Release: Oklahoma Republicans Must Change Course Not Rhetoric

Lisa Pryor, Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairman, today said the Republican philosophy of “stay the course” continues to hurt America and Oklahoma. The Center for American Progress Action Fund today released a report card on the Bush Administration's failing record in Iraq. The report gave the Republican Administration two D's and three F's on their inability to create security and stability, governance and democracy, economic reconstruction and the impact on U.S. national security. The report comes out at the same time as a story in the Washington Post which says the Administration will no longer use the phrase "stay the course" in talking about their failed strategy in Iraq.



“President Bush needs to provide Americans a plan, not more rhetoric, which is carefully crafted in response to plummeting poll numbers on the eve of Election Day,” Pryor said. “Oklahoma soldiers, their families and the American people deserve better. We want to defeat the enemy in Iraq and keep America safe. But, the Bush Administration's failed Iraq policy is feeding terrorism, not fighting it.”

But President Bush isn't the only one who has advocated the stay the course strategy even in the face of evidence of its failure. Oklahoma Congressional Republicans Tom Cole, John Sullivan, Frank Lucas, as well as nominee Mary Fallin, have continued to spout Washington Republican talking points, refusing to admit that the Bush Administration's current policy on Iraq, the war on terrorism, and the economy is just not working. Now that even the Bush Administration has backed off from their failed rhetoric, will Oklahoma Republicans flip flop too?

“Oklahomans already know that staying the course in Iraq is not an option," said Pryor said. “The rubber-stamp set of Cole, Sullivan and Lucas must do more than just change the way they talk about Iraq, they must change their permanent commitment to a failed strategy on the economy, the war on terror, privatizing social security and failing to fund education."