Caving, Democrat-style

The other day when half of the Democrats in the Senate failed to condemn the MoveOn.org ad disparaging General Petraeus, the President condemned those weak-kneed idiots;

“That leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org — are more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military,” [President Bush] said.

Susan Ferrichio of the Washington Examiner reports the three failures of Democrats to push troop withdrawal that would have been acceptable to MoveOn.org Democrats;

Senate Democrats, who hold a one-vote majority over Republicans, have little choice but to compromise with the GOP if they ever hope to pass a bill that aims to bring an end to the war.

The failure of the Levin amendment Friday marked the third time this week that Republicans blocked harder anti-war legislation. On Thursday, the Senate defeated 70-28 an amendment by Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., that would have required troops to be sent home by June 2008, at which time funding for the war would be cut off. Earlier in the week, senators narrowly rejected an amendment by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., that would have lengthened rest times for troops.

Well, in a rush to prove the President wrong, Senate Democrats tried, and failed to put a bill through requiring that the troops be pulled out of Iraq in 9 months – certain to anger the anti-war crowd who want the troops pulled out yesterday. So, just to pass something, anything about the war, the Democrats are working on a watered down version (Washington Post);

“We didn’t make it today, but we’re going to keep trying,” Levin said. “The stakes are just simply too high to stop what we’re doing, which is putting pressure on President Bush to change course and on [Iraqi] Prime Minister [Nouri al-]Maliki to change course.”

From S.A.Miller of the Washington Times;

[Levin] said he would begin this weekend to court Republican support for a bill setting a goal rather than a deadline to complete a pullout. That tactic was abandoned recently by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, because it risked alienating the party’s antiwar base.

Even Lamar Alexander can see that it’s been a useless exercise without the Democrats making room at the table for Republicans (Miller/Times);

Republicans criticized Mr. Reid for staging repeated votes for a pullout knowing the measures would fail.

This week the Senate already rejected Democratic bills that would have limited troop-deployment schedules and that would have cut off funding for combat in Iraq.

“Instead of posturing for political gain, it’s time for the Senate’s leaders to sit down with those of us trying to find a consensus,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican.

And Harry Reid regrets the dead trees (Post);

“Countless words, reams of paper, and oh-so-much ink have been spent on the Iraq debate here in the Senate,” Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said on the Senate floor before the vote, as he urged Republicans to cross over. “This amendment is a reasonable and responsible way forward.”

But Alexander doesn’t get it either (Miller/Times);

“The fact is, Senator Reid spent last week talking to many Republicans about ways to force a change in administration policy,” he said. “Unfortunately, in the end Republican senators decided they would rather protect the president than do what is right for the country and the troops, and that is bring them home as quickly as possible.”

What’s right for the country, Mr. Alexander, you boneheaded old coot, is to bring our troops home when the job is done – the job’ll be done if Congress get muster it’s dusty ass behind the troops instead of trying to convince our enemies that they still can win.

The Washington Times’ Miller reports that Lindsey Graham found his huevos;

“To substitute the Congress’ judgment for Gen. [David] Petraeus’ judgment is ill advised,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, referring to the U.S. military commander in Iraq.

He may have been wrong about stuff before, but he got that one exactly right. If the Democrats want to salvage their reputations, if they want to win in 2008, they’d better figure out where the American people are instead of just listening to their echo chamber crowd. Check the latest Gallup poll (Post);

GOP Senate offices circulated the results of a Gallup poll released this week that showed 54 percent of those surveyed think Petraeus’s plan for removing troops is the right pace, or even too quick. One-third of those surveyed viewed the withdrawal as moving too slowly.

Category: Politics, Terror War