Back when the second Iraq Supplemental Capitulation Bill was up for vote in the Senate, I wrote Senator McCaskill a letter asking her to vote against it, and another one asking her to vote no on cloture. After the vote, I also put forth the suggestion that McCaskill should face a primary challenge when she's up based on that vote.
Today, I got an email from the Senator thanking me for contacting her and offering an explanation for her votes.
Letter below the fold.
emphasis mine
Dear Dr. ******:
Thank you for contacting me regarding our troops in Iraq. I appreciate hearing from you.
The Senate has taken recent action on Iraq. On May 16, the Senate voted on an amendment to the Water Resources Development Act, offered by Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, that would have cut off funding for the war on March 31, 2008. This amendment failed to garner the 60 votes it needed in order to be considered.
On May 24, the Senate passed the Emergency Supplemental appropriations bill. I supported an earlier version of the Emergency Supplemental that set a responsible policy of redeploying our troops and redefining the mission. Unfortunately, the President vetoed the legislation, and Congressional Republicans upheld the veto. The second Emergency Supplemental, which I also supported, set benchmarks tied to funding for the Iraqi government while providing our troops the funding they need.
There is no easy solution to Iraq, and I oppose President Bush's handling of the war. I have worked with my Senate colleagues to bring about an overdue change in course to prevent our troops from becoming further embroiled in a civil war. However, we must get at least 15 more Republican votes in order to force the President to change his current orders in Iraq. I was unwilling to engage in "ping pong", that is, repeatedly moving legislation to the White House for a veto and back again, since funding the troops on the ground is important. I am hopeful that the vote in September will bring the necessary votes to convince the Commander-in-Chief that we must change course in Iraq.
The brave men and women who serve in our Armed Forces have done everything that has been asked of them, and they have done it well. I will continue to work to put pressure on the President to bring our combat troops home.
All best,
Senator Claire McCaskill
Her response appears to be the typical post-capitulation talking points that we heard for everyone who supported the bill from the Dems. However, I don't know why she had to perpetuate the Republican talking points (in bold above) about funding the troops on the ground. And to add further insult to injury, she talks about the mythical point-of-change that is supposed to happen in September.
Call me skeptical.