Democrats Plan Symbolic Votes Against Bush’s Iraq Troop Plan
The NYTimes is reporting that both houses of Congress intend to:
hold symbolic votes in the House and Senate on President Bush’s plan to send more troops to Baghdad, forcing Republicans to take a stand on the proposal and seeking to isolate the president politically over his handling of the war.
Yesterday there was a small item on CNN Political Ticker which mentioned that Senator Reid had scheduled debate on a non-bonding resolution regarding this issue for the end of next week at the earliest.
I diaried this yesterday (Important: Reid Watering Down Anti-Escalation Legislation). My read was that this push of a non-binding resolution was a watering-down of Democratic efforts, particularly in light of Senator Kennedy's announcement earlier in the day of his resolution which appeared to be much stronger and have more teetch.
Some people read it differently - they thought that this move by Reid was actually a strenghtening of Democratic efforts, and have a more realistic chance of survival.
In both chambers, Democrats made clear that the resolutions — which would do nothing in practical terms to block Mr. Bush’s intention to increase the United States military presence in Iraq — would be the minimum steps they would pursue.
So the question of the day is: Do you think this is a good move?