Posted on 02/05/2007 3:11:22 PM PST by Mongeaux
Edited on 02/05/2007 3:33:35 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON - A bipartisan resolution repudiating President Bush's decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq failed to advance in the Senate Monday, dealing a serious setback to critics of the war.
The resolution needed 60 votes before the 100-member Senate could begin debate, but it got 49, with 47 voting against. Although it would not have been binding on the president, the measure was the first serious effort in Congress to confront Bush over the unpopular Iraq war.
The president's call to send additional American troops, mostly to Baghdad, is widely seen as a last chance to quell the sectarian violence ravaging the capital and surrounding regions.
You misunderstand...
This is the GOP filibuster.
If it's cloture, then the measure was to cut off debate.
thank God. Senate GOP seem to have grown some sort of spine.
Harry Reid..you've been pwned!!!!
How does that s@#t sandwich taste now...that's for all the non-votes on confirmation! I hope John Bolton is kicking back with some scotch!
Just a banner over at MSDNC. Looks like the Republicans bottled up one of the resolutions in committee.
***Moonbat Suicide Watch In Effect***
***Moonbat Suicide Watch In Effect***
GO G.O.P.!
LOL!
I'll bet Harry's giving some real thought to going "nuclear" right about now.
The Republicans looked at their bank accounts and realized the punishment for siding with rats.
Dims only mustered 49 votes . . . 11 short.
I'm not sure filibuster's a good tactic, since this is a non-binding resolution. Let the 'rats and their fifth-column Republican allies put themselves on record, and then let history heap the scorn on them that they deserve.
The Senate may take its first vote on the Warner/Levin anti-"surge" resolution as early as later today. Republican leaders in the Senate are trying to block a vote on the Warner resolution through a filibuster, unless the Democrats also permit votes on two competing resolutions. Dianne Feinstein says that blocking a vote on Warner/Levin would be a "terrible mistake:""It's obstructionism," said Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. "This is not tolerable in a situation where it's the number one topic in the nation, and the Republican party prevents the Senate of the United States from debating."
That's a lot of obfuscation crammed into a couple of sentences. The purpose of a filibuster is not to "prevent the Senate from debating," but rather to prevent the Senate from voting. The Dems can debate to their hearts' content. And with respect to voting, the Republicans aren't necessarily averse to voting on Warner/Levin, they just want the other resolutions to come before the Senate as well. It's hard to see what's "obstructionist" about that.
And Feinstein tries to differentate the Republicans' "obstructionism" from the Democrats' use of the filibuster when Republicans controlled the Senate, e.g. to block judicial nominations. Feinstein says the filibuster is improper here because Iraq is the "number one topic in the nation." That may be true, but the nonbinding resolutions at issue aren't the number one topic; on the contrary, unlike judicial nominations, they have no practical impact at all.
UPDATE: The cloture vote on the Levin/Warner resolution is scheduled for 5:30 eastern time. Republican leadership reportedly expects its caucus to hold firm on insisting that amendments and/or competing resolutions be permitted. Ongoing negotiations could lead to a procedural resolution either before or after the scheduled vote.
What were the names?
From that count, I'm going to hazard that a couple of people on both sides flipped.
Lieberman must have voted with us. And...?
Can we get a headline change to clear this one up?
Doesn't Dirty Harry remember?
A filibuster does not limit debate, it is endless debate, we just want to make sure we get the issue right by debating it ad infinitum, just like those judges.
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