You have to admit that if the blogosphere were serious about ending the war, then I wouldn't have had to read Filibuster to End the War Now! first on the radical leftist CounterPunch.. I do quite a bit of reading in the left blogosphere, DailyKos, MyDD, Agonist. So why aren't I seeing calls to pressure our Senators to end the war by filibustering the appropriations bill that will pay for it?
Why haven't I seen someone else do the math like John Walsh does in the CounterPunch article?
Right now there are 18 sitting Senators who voted against the war in 2002. And there are 13 more who voted for the war and now say they regret it. That comes to 31 nominally antiwar Senators.(2) In addition there are 4 new Senators, Barak Obama among them, who claim to be against the war. That brings the count to 35 of the necessary 41, leaving only 6 more needed. And the Democrats now have 51 seats, with at least one or two Republican antiwar Senators to boot. So it would take only 41 out of 51 who claim to be against the war to actually end the war.
Even if ...
Even if it would be a politically risky thing to do for a Senator, it shouldn't be risky for us. Our job is to move the political conversation into "forbidden" areas. Our job is not to be a part of the pre-compromise crowd.
We know of ways to cover our Senator's backs. Here's one from Walsh:
At the same time the filibustering Senator could put forth a resolution similar to Congressman McGovern's in the House, which is aptly named "The Safe and Orderly Withdrawal Act." It provides funds to ensure the withdrawal of U.S, forces from Iraq in a way that guarantees their safety, and no other funding for the war. If the opponents of our hypothetical, courageous Senator wish to oppose such legislation, let them go on record in so doing. They are then on record as refusing funds to bring the troops safely home.
I imagine that this idea has been bandied about the left blogosphere. I imagine that it has been rejected out of hand by the sophisticates of blogging as being a non-starter. But if we aren't talking about it then who else will? Are we for bringing the troops home and getting off of Iraq's and Iran's backs or not?