| You may already have heard that the Democratic congressional leadership is prepared to send George W. Bush a blank check... er... a Iraq war funding bill minus the deadlines for troop withdrawal that Bush has promised to repeatedly veto. The line coming from the Dems is that, "Well, OK, you can have it this time, but we swear, NEXT TIME we make a funding bill, it will have to have deadlines for troop withdrawal!"
The political calculus seems to be that if Dems keep sending timetable bills and George keeps vetoing them, eventually the troops will run out of money. Now we all know that would be George's fault, leaving troops in harm's way with no funds, but the spin would be that the Dems wouldn't compromise and THEY left troops in harm's way without funds.
Idiots.
These Dems are still reacting politically as if it were September 12, 2001. This president has a 28% approval rating! The Iraq War "right direction" numbers are even lower! The Dems are fearing a "weak on terror" campaign ad in 2008, when such an ad would ring hollow to the general public that has already seen through Bush's facade.
These Dems cannot see the true political calculus: They did not win 2006; Republicans lost. Dems were elected in 2006 because Repugs kept us mired in Iraq. Dems were elected to get us out of Iraq. They should've just de-funded the war, and failing that, they should've kept sending timetable bills. The public would've seen George's resoluteness as stubbornness and a failure to see the realities in Iraq and the new politics in America.
So fearing the ghost of attack ads past, the Dems are giving Bush exactly what he always wanted. So much for "opposition party". In avoiding an ineffective potential attack ad in 2008, have they ignored the blowback from alienating their anti-war base? They have if the reaction behind this keyboard is any indicator.
The worst miscalculation in the polical calculus us ignoring the number THREE. Based on the statistics tallied since the November election, that is how many American troops will be killed every day that the Democrats do not stop this occupation.
I'm hearing that the Dems will fund this emergency appropriation to last through the fiscal year. Then, in September 2008, with Repugs feeling the heat of upcoming elections, then the Dem leadership will put together appropriations bills with veto-proof timetables for withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
Hmm. That's only 300 or so troops that will die thanks to Democratic cowardice. Heckuva job, Reidy! As Sen. Feingold (a true American patriot) said, "There has been a lot of tough talk from members of Congress about wanting to end this war, but it looks like the desire for political comfort won out over real action." |
