This hardly requires any comment. The Democrats in the House are now falling all over themselves to give Bush everything he wants, without even the figleaf of more domestic spending as an excuse.
House Democratic leaders yesterday agreed to meet President Bush's bottom-line spending limit on a sprawling, half-trillion-dollar domestic spending bill, dropping their demands for as much as $22 billion in additional spending but vowing to shift funds from the president's priorities to theirs. The final legislation, still under negotiation, will be shorn of funding for the war in Iraq when it reaches the House floor, possibly on Friday. But Democratic leadership aides concede that the Senate will probably add those funds. . . . The agreement signaled that congressional Democrats are ready to give in to many of the White House's demands as they try to finish the session before they break for Christmas -- a political victory for the president, who has refused to compromise on the spending measures.
To add insult to injury -- and evidently just because he can -- Bush is threatening to veto even this capitulation. (See below the fold.)
Bush also may veto the spending package, even though Democrats shaved $22 billion from federal domestic programs to meet his demands, said Rep. Jerry Lewis (Calif.), the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. He added, "And I think we'll have enough Republicans to sustain a veto." The veto threats in the face of Democratic compromises left party lawmakers in disbelief. Because of Bush's intransigence, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said that "we're going to have some horrific decisions to make over the next week."
No, Patty, we have an easy decision: stop caving in to Bush. The more you give, the more he takes. He has no reason to compromise, as long as you reward his intransigence with yet more capitulation. It's clear that Obey was right a month ago; rather than getting caught up in the last minute, pre-recess madness, the Dems should have stuck to their guns and refused to do anything about war funding until after the New Year. Let the republicans feel some pressure for a change.
Our mantra is right, long term -- we need more and better Democrats. But for now, we go into the second year of this Congress with the Democrats we have, not the Democrats we wish we had. We must all exert as much pressure as we can on our representatives. If this continues, we won't have to worry about our weak leadership, because come next election we will be back in the minority. Why do I say this? Because no matter how great our structural advantages, we have to give the voters some reason to vote for Democrats. We could actually lose this election if we don't wake up.
Can you imagine the Democrats acting this way if Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn were in the leadership?