... used to be my congressman, before I moved. The only time I ever voted for a Republican was when I voted against him, thinking he was too far right for me. Now I see that I am wrong.
McNulty voted against the "Out of Iraq" spending bill because he doesn't think it goes far enough. He wants out now. Good for him! Quite a U-turn from the man who voted to authorize the war.
On the other hand, this bill was the best he was going to get. So in more general terms, what is next for Congress? For the president?
Friday, March 23, 2007
Michael McNulty
Posted by Bell Curve at 12:12 PM
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2 comments:
The House already passed the non-binding resolution disapproving of Bush's "surge" strategy. The Senate never got to vote on that. The House now passed binding resolution setting benchmarks and timetables. The Senate rejected a separate version of that last week, 50-48, but this one comes attached to the war funding bill. So the Senate has to pass it if the pressure is to continue to build.
Then Bush will be forced to veto his own funding or accept Congressional limits. Or maybe he will just add a "signing statement" indicated that he will ignore that portion of the law, as he has done so many times already to other resolutions.
I think it is a matter of time. Bush has gambled the rest of the war on this last chance "surge." If the experts are right and by August of this year there is still no progress in Iraq, the Bush administration and the Republican war crowd will be under crushing pressure to change their tune. I think enough Republicans will break ranks in the Senate to force Bush to change policy, if he does not change it himself.
The Democrats need to keep pushing, keep putting the Republicans on record as supporting Bush's strategy. When the failure becomes impossible to ignore this summer, it will be time for the Democrats to take the reins. Their job now is to lay the groundwork for that inevitability. Pelosi is doing a good job of that now.
The Democrats know that they were voted in office to end the Iraq war. In effect, the public fired George Bush in November 2006. So they will keep pushing.
Now, Bush will veto the supplemental appropriations bill if he gets it, but he'll have to be clear that he has no intention of pulling out before the 2008 election. Which will not be welcome to the GOP hopefuls.
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