So everyone is going nuts over the Bolton Hearing and its short two week delay as if it as a big victory PINCH YOURSELF and come back to reality...
Yes, the delay gives more time to investigate allegations of wrongdoing...
Yes, GOP Sen. Voinovich said "...I wasn't present during the hearing on John Bolton ... I've heard enough today that I don't feel comfortable about voting for Mr. Bolton."
...however...what did the Dem's really get:
- Two weeks for the GOP to put extreme pressure on Voinovich, and we know they are masters at the pressure,
- Two weeks for Lugar, et. al. to prepare a strategy for the next hearing,
- Two weeks for the GOP to paint the Dem's as obstructionists,
- Two weeks for the GOP to find witnesses or facts to undermine the new allegations (remember Anita Hill),
- Two weeks for Rove to come up with events or issues that will overshadow the new hearing...
More beneath the fold...
So, it was a pyrrhic victory...we seem so desperate to have a "win" that we may be ignoring the actual costs - kinda think we should pick and choose our battles very carefully and fight to win the war...this doesn't mean shy away from the fight or not be tough on everything the GOP does, it means strategize and achieve victory on the most important issues...
On a side note, every battle or fight should result in the Dem's releasing or constantly repeating good sound bites - think how many came out of yesterday's session - all the stuff about fairness, voting blindly, etc. should have been repeated time and again to the media so that the story would have been that Dem's fight for the chance to do what is right for the country and the GOP is rushing things through without investigation...maybe we should start a "Soundbite of the day" diary and send it to LTE's and/or Dem officials...any thoughts
I am under the impression that if the vote had been taken yesterday, it would have been 9-9 and not referred to the whole Senate...