War Foes’ “Cheap Talk” May Bring New Vote: Dems Still Playing Games
If I were the House Democrats, I wouldn’t want to get J.D. Hayworth too agitated by continuing talking about troop withdrawals. According to Stephen Dinan, Hayworth is prepared for another vote on the issue.
“If they start this again, we’ll call the vote again,” said Rep. J.D. Hayworth, (R-AZ), whom members credited with suggesting holding a vote. “As far as I’m concerned, if they haven’t learned from this, if they go back to this cheap talk, I would be more than happy to call for another vote.”
If the Democrats insist on talking about withdrawals, they’ll be making a huge mistake because when they talk about withdrawals, Americans are reminded that the Democrats are the ‘Weak on Defense’ Party. National security hasn’t been a winning issue for Democrats since I started voting in 1974 and it doesn’t appear it will be anytime soon.
Democrats said it’s not clear what message came out of the House vote, because the Republican resolution was not the same as Mr. Murtha’s resolution. “The Republican leadership did a masterful job of manipulating and distorting Representative Murtha’s vote, somewhat similar to what we saw with the administration’s manipulation of intelligence with the case they used to justify the war,” said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat. And Democrats said last week’s vote doesn’t erase the debate Mr. Murtha started.
The Democrats who say that “it’s not clear what message came out of the House vote” know full well what message was sent with the House vote and it won’t enhance the Democrats’ national security image.
As for Mr. Manley’s cheapshot that “The Republican leadership did a masterful job of manipulating and distorting Representative Murtha’s vote, somewhat similar to what we saw with the administration’s manipulation of intelligence with the case they used to justify the war,” he’s just hoping that you won’t notice that they didn’t vote on Murtha’s Sense of the House resolution but that they were voting for what he advocated last Thursday, immediate ‘redeployment’ outside of Iraq. What Manley calls manipulation is just putting Murtha’s original policy to a vote.
“Everyone agrees what the president is doing is not working and we need to change direction in Iraq,” said Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA), who said the question is not about whether to withdraw, but rather when and how. “I think for a lot of Democrats that’s the debate, over what time period and what benchmarks you have,” he said.
When Mr. Daly says that “Everyone agrees what the president is doing is not working and we need to change direction in Iraq,”, what he’s really saying is that Democrats agree that the President’s plan isn’t working and that they need a change of direction.
As for his comment that “I think for a lot of Democrats that’s the debate, over what time period and what benchmarks you have,” I believe that he’s being totally honest. That doesn’t mean that I think they’re right. Quite the opposite, actually. Benchmarks aren’t an end in itself. Winning is the final objective criteria that withdrawal should be based on. All other criteria pales in comparison.
“Republicans succeeded in calling the Democrats’ bluff by forcing them to go on the record against their rhetoric of retreat and defeat,” said Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, (R-IL). “Any attempt by the other side to downplay it will look hypocritical in the eyes of those who support U.S. troops fighting in Iraq.”
Mr. Bonjean, I couldn’t agree more. Still, if another vote gets called because Democrats won’t let go of this issue, put the spotlight on the Murtha amendment and watch Ms. Pelosi’s party complain.
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRing