Spineless Republicans defect

It reads like a list of usual suspects – seven Republican Senators have threatened to surrender to Democrats on the nonbinding resolution to not support the President’s strategy in Iraq. According to the Washington Post;

In a letter distributed yesterday evening to Senate leaders, John W. Warner (Va.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and five other GOP supporters of the resolution threatened to attach their measure to any bill sent to the floor in the coming weeks. Noting that the war is the “most pressing issue of our time,” the senators declared: “We will explore all of our options under the Senate procedures and practices to ensure a full and open debate.”

The other 5 usual suspects;

The other Republican senators who signed the letter were Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, Norm Coleman (Minn.), Gordon Smith (Ore.), and George V. Voinovich (Ohio).

I’ll tell ya what, I’m so tired of hearing Hagel, Collins, Snowe and Voinovich standing in the way of every traditionally Republican vote in the Senate from tax cuts to this nonbinding resolution, I hope the party throws them under the bus in their next bid for reelection. Does anyone really miss Lincoln Chaffee? I don’t.

Of course the letter came out yesterday afternoon after Chief of Staff General Peter Pace said this according to Stephen Dinan at the Washington Times;

“From the standpoint of the troops, I believe that they understand how our legislature works and that they understand that there’s going to be this kind of debate,” said Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace, effectively taking out of play an argument that had been made by Mr. Bush’s spokesman and other top Republicans, who had warned resolutions disagreeing with the troop increase plan would send bad signals.
    Joining Gen. Pace in testifying to the House Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the troops are “sophisticated enough to understand” that the debate is about a way to move forward in Iraq.
    But Gen. Pace said that would all change if today’s nonbinding resolutions turned into moves to cut off funding for the war effort — something some Democrats have proposed.

So knowing those RINOs, they took that as signal to start leveraging their usually insignificant stature in the Senate. Political opportunists. Maybe they all need to come out of the closet.

And all the while, Pelosi is still worrying about her free airplane.

Category: Politics