Hello, Mr Reid? Reality calling…

Harry Reid is threatening to cut off funds to the Iraq War, according to AP;

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday he wants to cut off money for the Iraq War next year, making clear for the first time that Democrats are willing to pull out all the stops to end U.S. involvement.

Reid’s new strategy faces an uphill battle because many of his colleagues see yanking funds as a dangerous last resort. The proposal increases the stakes on the debate and marks a new era for the Democratic leadership once reluctant to talk about Congress’ power of the purse.

Power of the purse, huh? Well, according to Charlie Rangel, the power of the purse means buying votes from Democrats for things they ordinarily wouldn’t support, according to Crotchety Old Bastard;

Tim Russert: The House voted for funding for the war with a date certain, March of ’08, to begin a withdrawal of U.S. troops. But in that bill was $20 billion of so-called pork: money for cricket infestation, tours of the capitol, security at the national convention, peanut crops. Why would the Democrats put that kind of money in such a serious bill?

Rep. Charlie Rangel: Because they needed the votes. That bill, we lost so many Democrats, one, because people thought we went too far and other’s because we didn’t go far enough. So a lot of things had to go into a bill that certainly those of us who respect great legislation did not want in there…And I didn’t care what was in that bill if there was anything to slow down, to say what the American people said in the last election, ‘get out of Iraq.’”

So by Democrats’ own admission, they’re forcing a policy on the American people that isn’t popular. Despite the fact that they keep repeating to themselves that the American people want us out of Iraq, Democrats’ majority is so slim that they have to bribe THEMSELVES.

If Americans really wanted us out of Iraq, the Democrats would hold a good solid majority that would override any veto or any debate instead of holding their peckers in a sandstorm.

I love it when John Kerry thinks he’s relevant;

In the face of the administration’s stubborn unwillingness to change course, the Senate has no choice but to force a change of course,” said Sen John Kerry who signed on Monday as a co-sponsor of Reid’s proposal with Sen. Russ Feingold.

I thought that was what their big vote last week was about. What’s this new vote going to be about? I guess the Left only grades its accomplishments on intentions rather than results.

Bush has said several times he would veto the measure, and Republicans say they’ll back him. On Monday, 154 House Republicans sent Bush a letter promising to stick with him in opposition to the legislation.

Mindful that they hold a shaky majority in Congress and that neither chamber has enough votes to override a presidential veto, Democrats are already thinking about the next step after Bush rejects their legislation.

From defeat to defeat, you can always count on the Democrats bravely head into the next defeat. It’s too bad they won’t focus this kind of exhuberance on our real enemies instead of imagined ones.

Fox News Channel gets the language from Feingold’s office;

“No funds appropriated or otherwise made available under any provision of law may be obligated or expended to continue the deployment in Iraq of members of the United States Armed Forces after March 31, 2008,” reads the measure.

So I guess al Qaida in Iraq can just go lay out on the Riviera for a year and take a well-deserved break. maybe take in some of the Roman ruins or cruise the Greek Isles while Harry Reid swings at shadows. 

The Washington Examiner reports that;

Six in 10 Americans say they favor a timetable to remove all troops within six months, and the number grows to 71 percent if all troops are removed within two years, according to recent AP-Ipsos polling.

But threatening to cut off funding for the troops makes Democrats a target for criticisms that they have turned their backs on the military – a charge administration officials and Vice President Dick Cheney made Monday.

I wonder if AP bothered to ask Americans what they thought of cutting off funding for the troops when they did their poll. It seems to me that if Reid and Pelosi had those kind of numbers for cutting off funding, they wouldn’t need to bribe their caucus – or even the Republicans.

Well, Cliff May at The Corner has the polls that ask that very question;

• A Bloomberg poll last month found that 61% of Americans believe withholding funding for the war is a bad idea, while only 28% believe it is a good idea.

 

• According to a March USA Today/Gallup poll, 61% of Americans oppose “denying the funding needed to send any additional troops to Iraq.”

 

• That poll also showed that only 20% of Americans want to withdraw the troops immediately.

 

• Public Opinion Strategies (POS) recently reported that a majority of voters (54%) oppose the Democrats imposing a reduction in troops below the level military commanders requested.

 

• A POS poll in February found that 59% of voters believe pulling out of Iraq immediately would do more to harm America’s reputation in the world than staying until order is restored.

 

• That POS poll also finds 57% of voters support staying in Iraq until the job is finished and “the Iraqi government can maintain control and provide security for its people.”

 

• According to a Time magazine poll also taken in March, only 32% want to withdraw the troops within the next year no matter what happens.

And we hear from S.A.Miller of the Washington Times that the Republicans are sticking together;

Congressional Democrats say Republicans are following Mr. Bush “off a cliff” by backing the increasingly unpopular Iraq war.
    Republicans call it a principled stand.
    “Our members are trying to figure out what is the right thing to do rather than what’s the popular thing to do,” said House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican.
    Republicans say they are cognizant of widespread opposition to the Iraq war, as seen in a USA Today/Gallup poll last week that showed 69 percent of American adults disapprove of the president’s handling of war and 60 percent support a troop pullout by fall 2008.
    But Republicans are united in opposition to the Democrats’ bills that tie emergency war funding to pullout timetables and to about $20 billion in domestic spending, including pork-barrel projects.
    Their stand continues to win approval from most Republican voters, though the lawmakers say their position is not anchored by polls.

Imagine that, politicians that don’t bow down to private poll numbers. Why…you could almost call that leadership couldn’t you?

And the Democrat caucus could just fall apart, too;

Most Republicans and many conservative Democratic senators, including Ben Nelson of Nebraska, have been reluctant to embrace a timetable in Iraq. Nelson agreed last week to swing behind the Senate spending bill, which calls for troops to leave by March 31, 2008, only because the date was nonbinding and not a firm deadline.

Nelson also agreed to vote for the measure because Reid added language Nelson wanted outlining steps the Iraqi government should take to improve stability in Iraq.

But when all is lost, send in the last remaining screeching harpie;

“This is vetoing the will of the American people,” Clinton said. “It is time for us to get them out of the middle of this sectarian civil war.”

So it seems that Dingy Harry Reid, John “Vietnam Veteran who Richard Nixon sent to Cambodia” Kerry, Hillary “Husband, what Husband?” Clinton and Russ “Old hippies are the grooviest” Feingold are just whistlin’ past the graveyard since Nelson won’t agree to cutting off funding for the troops – and no one can count on Chuck Hagel for anything…ever, Democrats just won’t have the votes to cut off funding.

Time drag out your pink feather boas, girls.

Category: Politics