Richard WarnickA ‘whipped majority’?
Tonight on MSBNC, Pat Buchanan described the Democrats in Congress as “a whipped majority.” According to the New York Times, in a pe-emptive “compromise” “senior Democrats now say they are willing to rethink their push to establish a withdrawal deadline” for ending the occupation of Iraq.
From Greg Sargent on Talking Points Memo:
Of course, it’s not immediately clear why it would be a “compromise” for Dems to give moderate Republicans what they want — i.e., the opportunity to appease their constituents by voting symbolically against the war without forcing it to end — while giving up what they want, which is mandated withdrawal. Nonetheless, it’s looking more and more like this may be where things will head after the country is hypnotized next week by General Petraeus into believing that the surge is working.
Good grief. Buchanan is right. The Democrats could de-fund the occupation any time they want, but they are just afraid to take any responsibility for setting this country on the right course.
UPDATE: From Arianna Huffington:
The Democrats’ thinking on this is unfathomable — it makes no sense logically, morally or politically. They have the majority of the American people wanting to bring this war to an end; a constant stream of tragic news from Iraq; and a president committed to “stay the course” despite all evidence that the course we are on is taking us over the cliff.
It’s time for Democrats to stop sounding the retreat on ending the war and actually pay attention to John McCain, who said that if they “are serious that we ought to stop the war” they should “bring up a bill to cut off the funding and end it.”
McCain is right. Exercising their Constitutional power of the purse is exactly what Democrats need to do if they are serious about ending the war. And if they are serious about winning in 2008.
September 6th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Scratch a Democrat and you’ll find either a republican or some scared little person cringing at the threat of anthrax (or successfully defending some principle).
Scratch a republican and you’ll find a greedy, murdering pedophile with visions of grandiosity.
It’s like the problem with this admin before 9-11. They were either miserably incompetent or meaner than the meanest. Either way is a big loss to our society. Either way we pay the cost. Sad.