Can't fault a man for playing to his base:
Posted on 07/19/2007 3:56:12 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Seventy House members, nearly all liberal Democrats, vowed today that they would not support any more funding for Iraq military operations unless tied to a complete withdrawal of combat troops.
This is a big development. Earlier this year, liberals grudgingly voted for Iraq funding bills because they didn't want to give Nancy Pelosi a defeat. Now it seems that their patience has run out.
The next Iraq funding bill won't come up until the fall, so this showdown won't happen for a few months, but it appears to be shaping up as an epic battle between liberals in Congress and President Bush. This may be the beginning of the end for the Iraq War.
The liberals' full letter to Bush appears after the jump ...
We are writing to inform you that we will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of all our troops out of Iraq before you leave office.
More than 3,600 of our brave soldiers have died in Iraq. More than 26,000 have been seriously wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed or injured in the hostilities and more than 4 million have been displaced from their homes. Furthermore, this conflict has degenerated into a sectarian civil war and U.S. taxpayers have paid more than $500 billion, despite assurances that you and your key advisors gave our nation at the time you ordered the invasion in March, 2003 that this military intervention would cost far less and be paid from Iraqi oil revenues.
We agree with a clear and growing majority of the American people who are opposed to continued, open-ended U.S. military operations in Iraq, and believe it is unwise and unacceptable for you to continue to unilaterally impose these staggering costs and the soaring debt on Americans currently and for generations to come.
Sincerely,
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA); Rep. Barbara Lee (CA); Rep. Maxine Waters (CA); Rep. Ellen Tauscher (CA); Rep. Rush Holt (NJ); Rep. Maurice Hinchey (NY); Rep. Diane Watson (CA); Rep. Ed Pastor (AZ); Rep. Barney Frank (MA); Rep. Danny Davis (IL); Rep. John Conyers (MI); Rep. John Hall (NY); Rep. Bob Filner (CA); Rep. Nydia Velazquez (NY); Rep. Bobby Rush (IL); Rep. Charles Rangel (NY); Rep. Ed Towns (NY); Rep. Paul Hodes (NH); Rep. William Lacy Clay (MO); Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR); Rep. Albert Wynn (MD); Rep. Bill Delahunt (MA); Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC); Rep. G. K. Butterfield (NC); Rep. Hilda Solis (CA); Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY); Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY); Rep. Michael Honda (CA); Rep. Steve Cohen (TN); Rep. Phil Hare (IL); Rep. Grace Flores Napolitano (CA); Rep. Alcee Hastings (FL); Rep. James McGovern (MA); Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH); Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL); Rep. Julia Carson (IN); Rep. Linda Sanchez (CA); Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ); Rep. John Olver (MA); Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX); Rep. Jim McDermott (WA); Rep. Ed Markey (MA); Rep. Chaka Fattah (PA); Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ); Rep. Rubin Hinojosa (TX); Rep. Pete Stark (CA); Rep. Bobby Scott (VA); Rep. Jim Moran (VA); Rep. Betty McCollum (MN); Rep. Jim Oberstar (MN); Rep. Diana DeGette (CO); Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA); Rep. Artur Davis (AL); Rep. Hank Johnson (GA); Rep. Donald Payne (NJ); Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (MO); Rep. John Lewis (GA); Rep. Yvette Clarke (NY); Rep. Neil Abercrombie (HI); Rep. Gwen Moore (WI); Rep. Keith Ellison (MN); Rep. Tammy Baldwin (WI); Rep. Donna Christensen (USVI); Rep. David Scott (GA); Rep. Luis Gutierrez (IL); Lois Capps (CA); Steve Rothman (NJ); Elijah Cummings (MD); and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX).
Action must be taken now.
Doesn’t this bill now contain a provision that makes preaching against homosexuality in the pulpit of the church a hate crime?
I should follow up to say that, if that is indeed the case, it would be enough to completely change my support of the bill.
Thanks for the post, list of names. Thanks to Josephine Hearn at The Politico.
Then President Bush can just veto the budget bills and effectively shutdown the government then get the money from the treasury as certified by the AG as “essential” funding.
I don’t think there is a bill yet. These liberals are pledging to vote against any future bill for troop funding.
How many house members are there? 435?
LMAO. Dude, Ron Paul is not a RINO. Disagree with his stand on Iraq, but don't call him a RINO.
Can't fault a man for playing to his base:
He is a RINO because he is a libertarian posing in republican clothing. Soon to be an ex-congressman after he loses badly in his race to the whitehouse. Ron Paul will be targeted by the GOP, and he should.
They see the surge is working and want to nip that in the bud.
Joining with Barney Frank, Keith Ellison and Barbara Lee (among other leftists) on foreign policy issues makes one a RINO.
You were right. Ron Paul is a RINO. He is a LIBERTARIAN posing in Republican clothing to get elected to Congress. Paul stands no chances of winning the POTUS and his days as a congressman are numbered. Ron Paul will not win reelection as a congressman in his district. He will be a large target for Texas GOP.
Good. Let them show their true face to the American people. Thanks for handin’ us ‘08, fellas!
“I don’t think there is a bill yet. These liberals are pledging to vote against any future bill for troop funding.”
OK...I had read somewhere that Kennedy was trying to get that “hate crimes” thing in the bill.
Only 70 Democrat members of the House won’t vote for more Iraq War funding? Does that mean that other 100+ members will vote to continue funding the war. If so, that looks bad for Pelosi. Rush continues to claim that House Democrats are split on the war...based on this, he might be right.
no, because he percieves our deployment there as unconstitutional. he looks at these things from a solid conservative viewpoint. it is possible to be “conservative” and against an interventionist foreign policy.
In fact, in the old days, our invasion and occupation of Iraq would be seen as internationalist do-gooder liberal nonsense by the political conservatives of the day (pre-FDR conservatives)
Why would anyone consider a Libertard like Ron Paulson??
Pray for W and Our Troops
Well, he isn’t a conservative. He’s a libertarian and used to be a Libertarian.
And since Goldwater the Republican Party has favored an interventionist foreign policy. Going back to the days of Taft and the America First Committee is neither realistic nor plausible for a post-9/11 world.
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