Following up on the supplemental fiasco, Senate Dems are regrouping for a new round of Iraq votes in the coming weeks. In a conference call with bloggers yesterday, Sen. Reid laid out the four pronged approach they are planning to take as they consider the Defense Department authorization bill.
Most of these measures are intended to keep the pressure on Republicans, forcing them to vote again and yet again on Iraq, since obviously they will all be opposed by the majority of Republicans and, in the unlikely event they make it through the Senate, vetoed. Nonetheless:
The first is a new take on timelines being developed by Senators Kerry and Reed. Given Bush's allergy to timelines, it's likely to be little more than an opportunity for the Dems to have another responsible, reasonable approach to ending this fiasco to present to voters in '08. Second, Reid will again bring Feingold-Reid to a vote, and he promises more than 30 votes this time. Third, Webb is leading an effort on troop readiness, that would require troops to have as much time at home as in theater. Finally, they will consider rescinding or revising the AUMF that took us to Iraq.
Reid acknowledged the role the blogs have played in driving the Iraq debate in a press conference following the call, and also noted that leadership made mistakes in the supplemental fight.
"I understand their disappointment," Reid said. "We raised the bar too high."
Reid and his caucus need to understand that it's not just the bloggers' disappointment they are feeling--it's felt by each and every voter who voted for an end to the Iraq war last November. That's reflected in the series of new polls we've seen over the last week, including an LA Times/Bloomberg poll released yesterday that shows public approval of Congress the lowest level in over a decade.
He admitted to us that it was a mistake to raise expectations and that it wouldn't happen again. Reid also acknowledged, in a response to a concern raised by BarbinMD, that it was wrong to try to spin the supplemental bill as a "victory," even though he pointed out the veteran medical benefits in it as important.
Reid also broke the news that the Magical September was likely to bring just one thing--another supplemental request by Bush. So we can look forward to another round of the "fund the troops" canard timed for exactly the moment at which Republicans keep telling everyone they're going to give up on Iraq if it's "not working."
The depressing upshot of the conference call was that we are essentially treading water on Iraq. There aren't any great parliamentary cards for Reid to keep up his sleeve on this one, just a long, hard slog of forcing Republicans--and the recalictrant Dems--to continue to vote to keep this abysmal war going.
There is, of course, one course of action Reid and the other Dem leaders are not prepared to take: use the Feingold-Reid and Iraq Study Group framework to change the course of this debate by setting a date certain for redeployment, and reframe the debate as a change in mission to get us the hell out.