No, not George Bush's ridiculous benchmarks. We failed on those. We know that.
I'm talking about our benchmarks. Remember these?
Apparently on tap in the coming weeks:
- Sen. Carl Levin's amendment to the Defense Authorization bill, requiring redeployment beginning within 120 days of passage
- Another pass at Reid-Feingold
- House consideration of legislation to repeal the 2002 AUMF, probably that introduced by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (H.R. 2450)
This was the list of the tough votes on tap for the summer, meant to reassure us that we were going to rebound from the disappointment of the collapse on the Iraq supplemental in May, and turn up the heat on the debate such that Republicans would be begging for mercy by September.
They were drawn from this June 4th article, originally appearing in the LA Times:
Democratic congressional leaders, whose efforts to force a withdrawal from Iraq were stymied last month, plan a summer of repeated Iraq-related votes designed to force Republican lawmakers to abandon the White House before the fall.
At the same time, antiwar groups are expanding their campaign to pressure GOP incumbents in their home states.
Both efforts seek to ensure that anxious Republican lawmakers — many of whom have said they want to wait until September to assess President Bush's Iraq strategy — get no break from the war over the summer.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) had the right idea at the time:
"[I]t is incredibly important that the debate continue in June and July. It keeps the pressure on the White House, and it keeps the pressure on Republicans to break with the president," he said. "At a minimum, we need to be building ... for a showdown in September."
So how'd we do on that?
- Levin amendment filibustered, with just 52 votes for cloture
- No additional consideration of Reid-Feingold
- Not even so much as a committee hearing on H.R. 2450 or other such measures
Hmm. Not so good.
In fact, we headed into an August recess with another disheartening collapse, inexplicably passing a FISA bill that actually handed more power over to an Attorney General so mired in scandal and distrusted that he didn't even last out the month.
And now, elements of the leadership are telegraphing a green light on $200 billion more for (what they say is) Iraq.
Way to "build for a showdown," fellas.