It would be hard to find a progressive who had a good Tuesday as far as Iraq is concerned. The Senate-House conference committee put together an ugly compromise that would give Mister Bush tens of billions of dollars to continue the catastrophe in Iraq. Call it what you will - a blank check, a sell-out, a surrender - it ultimately amounts to failure, unless victory is defined as getting a signable bill on the President's desk regardless of its contents.
Compromise is when two sides each give up something they want in order to get something they want in return. But from this compromise among themselves, what exactly is it that the Democrats will be getting in return from the White House?
Nothing. Because the President refuses to compromise.
Many say "be realistic," "be calm," "this is the best we could get," "wait until September."
September is a mirage, folks.
The supplemental bill that will apparently be sent to the President funds the occupation through September 30. The Defense appropriations bill for fiscal 2008 (starting October 1) has already been passed by the House and includes $141 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. Does anybody REALLY believe that more than a score or two Senators and Congresspeople will vote against the overall Defense bill with an election year just around the corner, risking the accusation that they are "weak on defense"?
As David Mamet noted in a well-regarded Op-Ed in 2005, Democrats need to play better poker. They need to stop calling, calling, calling, then folding. They need to raise.
Nothing could be more true. To watch a few elected Democrats - far from a majority but enough to keep the party from behaving like a majority - is beyond frustrating. It's infuriating. It makes you want to hit the tequila. Some of these infuriators are House Blue Dogs, some are conservative Dems in the Senate, and they, to say it frankly, are holding the party hostage to a strategy of folding instead of raising.
Both they and everyone who doesn't call them to task deserves every bit of the criticism and disgust that has been laid at their feet at length today by Kossacks screaming @#$@%$ %&%$#*#@ #@#$#@%^!! $%#&(*+.
However, it is also beyond frustrating, deeply troubling, indeed, to see rank-and-file Kossacks folding or threatening to fold, abandoning ALL the Democrats because of what SOME have done.
Yes, the Democratic Party is deeply flawed. We all know that, whether we voted in one election or the past 20. But progressive politics is about the long haul. It wasn't merely about 2004 or 2006. It's not only about 2008. It's about 2010, 2012, 2016, 2020. It took the Abolitionists 40 years (and a civil war) to win their crusade. It took the suffragists 80 years. It took the civil rights movement, depending on how you count, 60 to 80 years. Amazing how people who talk about standing tough and fighting back surrender so easily.
Right now, we still have an opportunity to spur Democrats to tear up the blank check the conference committee wants to give Mister Bush. Many of them are already on our side. They, including Speaker Pelosi, have said they will vote against this legislation because of a lack of timetables and toothless benchmarks and lame reporting requirements.
Many Republicans oppose the bill for other reasons. Some of them don't like the benchmarks even though they apparently won't be binding. Or they don't like the minimum wage raise attached to the bill. Whatever. A strange-bedfellows alliance could keep this legislation off the President's desk. Whatever happens afterward, its defeat would be a good thing.
If you're lucky enough to be represented by elected Dems who voted for Feingold-Reid or McGovern, call them and praise them. And urge them to vote "nay" on this terrible legislation. If you're not so lucky, call up one of the 29 Senate Democrats or 169 House Democrats who did vote for those pieces of legislation and add your voice to those of us who will be doing what we can to send this bill to the trash bin. Channel your fury.
Update: (mcjoan) Here is the roll call vote on the McGovern bill in the House. Here is the roll call vote on Feingold-Reid in the Senate.
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