Veto theater
I just posted on the anti-troop veto at The Newshoggers and I dispatched the White House complaints about the symbolism of Mission Accomplished last night, but the reactions were also revealing.
The response from the Democratic leadership was heartening. Pelosi and Reid vowed not to cave in and simply issue a blank check, with Reid noting that the Democrats have now delivered a exit plan and it's up to the White House to deliver one of their own.
It's good to see the Dems vindicate the trust we put in them in 06, finally ignoring the dire warnings of the banal White House mouthpiece pundits and standing their ground by speaking up for the will of the people. On the other hand, the GOP response was predictable, with the remaining loyalists barely rephrasing Dear Leader's propaganda.
Meanwhile, Think Progress dug up this pithy quote from the archives yesterday that should be preserved for future reference. It seems Dear Leader was for timetables before he was against them.
The response from the Democratic leadership was heartening. Pelosi and Reid vowed not to cave in and simply issue a blank check, with Reid noting that the Democrats have now delivered a exit plan and it's up to the White House to deliver one of their own.
It's good to see the Dems vindicate the trust we put in them in 06, finally ignoring the dire warnings of the banal White House mouthpiece pundits and standing their ground by speaking up for the will of the people. On the other hand, the GOP response was predictable, with the remaining loyalists barely rephrasing Dear Leader's propaganda.
"House Republicans will oppose any bill that includes provisions that undermine our troops and their mission, whether it's benchmarks for failure, arbitrary readiness standards or a timetable for American surrender," said Minority Leader John Boehner.That's almost too silly to remark on. What is he really saying here? That the Iraqis can't meet performance standards so we shouldn't require any, that it's okay to send in US troops before they're fully trained and Republicans don't want the occupation to end -- ever. And they wonder why they were defeated in 06? Mind boggling really.
Meanwhile, Think Progress dug up this pithy quote from the archives yesterday that should be preserved for future reference. It seems Dear Leader was for timetables before he was against them.
[Bush in 1999] “I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.”I'm pretty sure he wasn't too keen on the unitary executive theory back then either. I guess the world looks a lot different when it's your own ass that's parked in the seat of power.
posted by Libby Spencer at 12:58 PM
3 Comments:
I think your too quick to start thanking anyone, so far, king bush is right, it's just political theater. Let's see something real (NOT just non-binding dates and posturing)
Polls still back setting a date to begin troop withdrawal regardless of the veto and subsequent failure to overturn that veto. I think people need to start holding Republican's feet to the fire. The way I see it, they're the ones holding our troops back.
Sen Feingold said it like this today: "Letting the President have his way all over again is the kind of thinking that got us into this war in the first place, and it's not going to cut it anymore."
And letting those Republicans who went along with the veto stand in our way isn't going to cut it anymore either.
Anon - at this point I'm thankful for anything that doesn't look like full scaled surrender to the Bush doctrine. I don't think you can expect the Dems to change overnight but they've shown some real progress in standing up to the White House, I think.
Hey Kathy - I really like Feingold's statement myself. He's exactly right about that. I think people are mixed about how to end the occupation -- I can't call it a war -- but they clearly do want it to end and I think they clearly want Congress to stand up to this president.
From what I'm reading it's the vocal 30%ers in the GOP's home districts that are scaring them out of taking a firmer stand.
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