Reality sets in for Dems

So after a month of posturing and daring the President to veto their pork-laden Capitulation Proclamation, Democrats realized that they can’t even get the weakest version of their surrender passed. According to the Washington Times’ S.A. Miller and Jon Ward;

The Democrat-led House yesterday failed to override President Bush’s veto of an emergency war-funding bill with a troop-withdrawal timetable for Iraq, after House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Congress should quickly pass a new version without a pullout plan.
    The attempt to reverse Mr. Bush’s veto failed in a 222-203 vote, more than 60 votes short of the needed two-thirds majority, which also would have had to have been mustered in the Senate.

So now they have to get down to business and craft something the President will sign – like they should have been doing instead of making empty political statements and trying to pass the buck to the President for their own votes back in 2002. The Washington Post reports that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the darling of terrorists everywhere, was still feeling froggy;

“We made our position clear. He made his position clear. Now it is time for us to try to work together,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said after a White House meeting. “But make no mistake: Democrats are committed to ending this war.”

Pretty weak, though. The Republicans are committed to ending this war, too, Blinky – Republicans, mostly, want to end it so we don’t have to go back in another decade, as opposed to Democrats who want to end for a year or so and then blame the Republicans when it flares up again – just like they used the first Gulf War and it’s untimely end against Republicans throughout the 90s. 

Bush said he is “confident that we can reach agreement,” and he assigned three top aides to negotiate. White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten, national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley and budget director Rob Portman will go to Capitol Hill today to sit down with leaders of both parties.

Sure they can reach an agreement – the Democrats figured out that Republicans and real Americans aren’t completely taken in by their over-heated rhetoric. And just to be clear, there were Democrats who voted against overriding the veto, too. From Politico;

Seven Democrats broke ranks and voted with the GOP: Reps. John Barrow of Georgia, Dan Boren of Oklahoma, Lincoln Davis of Tennessee, Jim Marshall of Georgia, Jim Matheson of Utah, Michael R. McNulty of New York and Gene Taylor of Mississippi.

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), a leading war critic and Democratic presidential candidate, voted “present.”

Brave little Denny Kucinich couldn’t bring himself to vote for the failed bill. Truly the future firt Secretary of Peace.

I’ve said time and again, the Democrats don’t control this country – except their own tiny, closed minds. They call a coupla seat victory in midterm elections a mandate to end the war, but if that were true, Republicans would be feeling pressure from the constituency – but they’re not. Well, mostly. from the Washington Times piece;

“This bill is not the last word,” said the Maryland Democrat, who explained that the strategy to deal with the impasse is being developed. He said he expects the House to pass a new war-funding bill within two weeks, leaving the Senate two weeks to approve it before Congress takes a weeklong Memorial Day recess at the end of May.
    “We’re not going to leave our troops there in harm’s way at the point of the spear without the resources they need to achieve success,” he said, signaling that the leadership will fund the troops first and oppose the war later.

That’s where the American voters are – think Old Finger-in-the-wind Hoyer would’ve made such a statement if he hadn’t done his research about where the majority of Americans stand? Nope. No way. From the Post’s story;

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.) indicated that the next bill will include benchmarks for Iraq — such as passing a law to share oil revenue, quelling religious violence and disarming sectarian militias — to keep its government on course. Failure to meet benchmarks could cost Baghdad billions of dollars in nonmilitary aid, and the administration would be required to report to Congress every 30 days on the military and political situation in Iraq.

Benchmarks have emerged as the most likely foundation for bipartisan consensus and were part of yesterday’s White House meeting, participants said. “I believe the president is open to a discussion on benchmarks,” said Senate Democratic Whip Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), who attended the session. He added that no terms were discussed. “We didn’t go into any kind of detail,” Durbin said.

See, that’s what they should have been doing for more than a month now instead of running to a microphone and reminding us that they have a slim majority of the seats in Congress and whining that the President isn’t paying attention to their polling data. Apparently, Americans weren’t paying attention their polling data either.

Category: Politics, Terror War