Russ Feingold is the only Senator, Democratic or Repub, who really wants our troops out of the Iraq hellhole, according to the latest funding votes. All the rest are keeping Bush's Casualty Creation Machine very well funded.
To me, the Senate should function as a bulwark against an out-of-control unitary executive branch which is intent on wrecking our Armed Forces in the Iraq hellhole. And so should the House, for that matter, but I think the Senate ought to be the stand-firm goal line defense. Yet, the Senate has partnered with Unitary George to ensure that the body bags and dismembered soldiers keep coming. And Democratic Senate leadership shows no shame in trying to deceive us.
Dick Durbin, who is my Senator and everyone's majority whip, spoke on September 7, 2007 at the Center for National Policy, and delivered his "No Blank Checks" speech, where he said,
But this Congress must not give this President another blank check for his war in Iraq.
Then, he and every Democratic Senator who was present for this vote last week, except for Russ Feingold (Bless you, Senator Feingold!), voted to keep the funds flowing, as reported one week ago (September 28, 2008) by John Nichols of The Nation:
Congress Quietly Approves Billions More for Iraq War
The Senate agreed on Thursday to increase the federal debt limit by $850 billion -- from $8.965 trillion to $9.815 trillion -- and then proceeded to approve a stop-gap spending bill that gives the Bush White House at least $9 billion in new funding for its war in Iraq.
Additionally, the administration has been given emergency authority to tap further into a $70 billion "bridge fund" to provide new infusions of money for the occupation while the Congress works on appropriations bills for the Department of Defense and other agencies.
Translation: Under the guise of a stop-gap spending bill that is simply supposed to keep the government running until a long-delayed appropriations process is completed -- probably in November -- the Congress has just approved a massive increase in war funding.
MoveOn has questioned whether the general has betrayed us. Without doubt, Senate Democratic leadership has extra-double-triple-super-deluxe betrayed us. And deceived us, too!
Call 'em on it.
Capitol switchboard: 800 828-0498 800 614-2808
Senator Durbin's Springfield office: 217 492-4062
Senator Durbin's "No blank checks" speech The Nation article, full text Tom Tomorrow's take from "This Modern World", a knee-slapper!