Posted on 11/18/2007 9:59:19 PM PST by neverdem
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 — Democrats in Congress failed once again Friday to shift President Bush’s war strategy in Iraq, but insisted that they would not let up. Their explanation for their latest foiled effort seemed to boil down to a simple question: “What else are we supposed to do?”
Frustrated by the lack of political progress in Iraq, under pressure by antiwar groups and mindful of polls showing that most Americans want the war to end, the Democrats last week put forward a $50 billion war spending bill with strings attached knowing it would fail.
Like so many of the war-related measures that Democrats have proposed this year, the spending bill sought to set a timeline for redeploying American troops, and to narrow the mission to focus on counterterrorism and on the training of Iraq’s security forces.
And, like so many of the war-related measures that Democrats proposed this year, it was approved in the House only to wither and die in the Senate, where on Friday it fell 7 votes short of the 60 needed to prevent a Republican filibuster — with 45 senators voting to block the measure.
All signs indicate that Democrats will continue proposing such measures as long as Mr. Bush remains in office and troops remain in Iraq. “We are going to keep plugging away,” said Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
Democratic lawmakers and strategists on Capitol Hill said their hope was that even if Republican support for Mr. Bush’s strategy held firm, voters would reward Democrats for their efforts at the polls next November, and that there was no risk to failing again and again.
Some, including Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the Democratic conference chairman, argue that Congressional Democrats are the only ones putting real pressure on...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Yes and an 11% approval rating says it all. Most Americans had a legitimate gripe about the post-invasion management of Iraq, including myself (do better research guys!) but for the Democrats to continue this anti-American behavior goes beyond strong opinions and into the realm of traitor.
Democrats say they won’t back down on backing down on backing down.
Let me boil this down...
Here is the Democratic world view in 1 sentence:
FACTS DON’T MATTER.
LOL - bunch of useless loonies they are. Too much LCD in the sixties as hippies perhaps.
You are making me laugh.
Yes. They had too much LCD in the sixties, as hippies perhaps. It crystallized their brains.
How about the only intelligent act of politics still available, to take the war off the partisan agenda and concentrate on other things? This has to be absolutely maddening for any Democrat who thought 2008 was a slam-dunk. It is a political miscalculation of massive proportion carefully disguised as a moral decision, that on the tiniest scrutiny shows itself as empty of morality as it is of political savvy. If I were a Dem I'd be tearing my hair out at these amateurs blowing the election with this futile and idiotic posturing.
They have one single hope - that the sympathetic media can seize on a single upcoming act or period of violence to give the impression of a stalemate or a continuing war. It won't save them in even the medium term but it might save the election if it's properly timed. Actual defeat is no longer going to happen, but a loud enough declaration of defeat might serve.
That's a mighty thin hope at this point and it gets thinner every day. Whose fault is that?
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