Enough, already. Enough with the gnashing of teeth, the threats to leave the party, to quit working on behalf of a more progressive nation/government/party. Enough with the venom for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Keep in mind that this appears to be exactly the strategy that many of us have advocated for months!
I'm trying to throw this together in a hurry, and don't have much time to look up links. But many on this site have advocated for months that the way to bring this sorry occupation to an end was to force the President to keep coming back to Congress, time and again, and ask for more money. Keep him repeating his mistakes, keep hammering it home on the front pages and on the opening of each news broadcast, what a disaster this President, and this Republican party, has brought to this nation.
And that, it appears, is exactly what is going to happen. At least, that's what CNN is reporting.
The legislation would provide more than $90 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September 30, the end of the fiscal year.
So, Bush gets funding for four more months. And he's got to submit reports in the interim. The case against continued funding will continue to build, and the MSM will be forced to continue reporting on the President's failed policy and its support by the Republican members of Congress.
In the meantime, as MeteorBlades points out:
If the supplemental bill – with its ludicrous, waiverable benchmarks - is passed, the Iraq occupation is funded through the rest of this fiscal year, through September 30. And the new fiscal year, which starts October 1, will include enough funding in the overall Defense appropriation to pay for yet another 12 months of the occupation. Chances of cutting funding in the overall Defense appropriation – with its election-year risk of being considered "weak on defense" - is next to nil.
This is the part where I disagree with MB's conclusion. He may be right, but then again, he may not. After all, this war, and the occupation, have been funded since the beginning with "emergency supplemental" legislation, and not as part of the regular defense appropriations process. There's no reason to think that Bush will try to include the occupation in the regular budgeting process next year anymore than he has for the last four years.
Harry Reid, at least, seems to get the idea that this stopgap can be used to increase the pressure on Republicans, and Bluedogs, and force the issue that much closer to an actual cut-off of funds.
And then, as I've indicated, the defense authorization, we're going to start right where we've left off with this bill, continuing our push to change direction in the war in Iraq."
Again, thats from
CNN's report.
I know, that means more American casualties, more Iraqi casualties, more treasure and lives wasted.
But I think you've got to keep in mind the big picture here. And the big picture is that it's taken almost four months for Bush to get this four month extension. That means this is going to continue to be front and center for the next four months. That means we've got four months to ratchet up the pressure on our own leaders, as well.
Further, by the end of September, people will be beginning to pay real attention to the next election, what with the calendar being front loaded, and essentially a national primary coming up on February 5th.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This war, and this occupation, are owned by "Brand W" Republicans. They will go down with this ship. They've got nothing else, they don't stand for anything else.
I don't think this action, by giving the President and the Republicans another 4 months, means that we, as Democrats, are "Buying the Occupation." Au Contraire. I think this move allows us to tie the anchor firmly around the Republicans neck for the upcoming election, and perhaps for a couple of decades to come.
The Republicans are already crowing about this victory over the Democrats, and I'd bet money that's the way the MSM will play this. The meme will be that Bush, and the Republicans, won a significant victory over the reluctant Dem leadership -- meaning that the Republicans have forced America to continue Bush's failed strategy. Again.
Republican senators, who had objected to timelines and deadlines, sounded optimistic that a compromise would be reached.
They said they understood it to be similar to a bill written by Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia, which included benchmarks tied to economic aid to Iraq and which passed 52-44 last week. (The vote was more than a majority but less than the 60 needed to advance under the rules in effect.)
That bill granted Bush the authority to waive any penalties if the Iraqis did not meet benchmarks.
"Hopefully, we will get through this process before Memorial Day," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. "I know that's been the desire certainly of the majority leader, to finish the bill, to get the bill to the president for signature without a 'surrender date.' I think that is the direction in which we are headed."
I think this does give the Democratic party a tremendous opportunity to crush the Republicans for perhaps a couple of decades to come. Iraq, and the Republican support of it, may well do for the Republicans what Vietnam did for Democrats -- make the public suspicious for decades about the party's bona fides on foreign policy.
Don't panic, people. We've come a long way. Is it really that surprising that there's further to go?
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