The War Over The War
President Bush is taking Democrats to the woodshed for not passing a clean Iraq supplemental appropriation. Democrats vow not to be bullied by the Bush administration. In the end, the Democrats will fold their hand and demoralize their activists. For all their talk about changing directions, Democrats haven’t mustered the votes for changing directions. Here’s President Bush’s shot across Pelosi and Reid’s bow:
In his weekly radio address, Bush said Congress was “failing to meet its responsibilities to our troops.”
“For months, Congress has delayed action on supplemental war funding because some in Congress want to make a political statement about the war,” he said, criticizing Democrats for leaving for their Thanksgiving break without approving the war funds.
Democrats are sounding tough but they’re about to get rolled. Again. The American people have read enough reports to know that things have dramatically changed in Iraq. Democrats like Dennis Kucinich, John Murtha, Russ Feingold and Ted Kennedy insist that the America people’s message was that they wanted us out of Iraq ASAP.
That’s a bald-faced lie. Democrats worked their tails off to even get people to vote for Sense of the House and Sense of the Senate resolutions demanding a “change in direction.” They even said that they weren’t trying to end the war.
Here’s Harry Reid’s reply to President Bush’s radio address:
“He damn sure is not entitled to having this money given to him just with a blank check,” Sen. Harry Reid, the Democrats’ Senate leader, told reporters. “Americans need someone fighting for them taking on this bully we have in the White House.”
Harry Reid might be the most inept Senate Majority leader since I started voting. In fact, he makes Trent Lott look as effective and steadfast as LBJ. Here’s how easily Reid got rolled:
“There is a misperception that this department can continue funding our troops in the field for an indefinite period of time through accounting maneuvers, that we can shuffle money around the department,” Gates told reporters at the Pentagon. “This is a serious misconception.”
It’s time that Democrats did their job for a change. They’ve passed a handful of bills since they regained the chairmanships a year ago. They’re the most inept, spineless congress in recent history, which is saying something since the last few congresses in Republican control weren’t exactly profiles in courage.
At some point, Democrats will have to decide if they’re more interested in appeasing their lunatic fringe base than they care about protecting America. They can’t do both.
Technorati Tags: Iraq War, President Bush, Harry Reid, Iraq Supplemental, Russ Feingold, Ted Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich, John Murtha, Robert Gates, Defense Department, Nutroots, National Security
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
November 17th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
And we should believe anything that comes out of Reid’s mouth because…?
Quite frankly, I don’t know if he would recognize the truth if it came up and slapped him upside the head. Appears that way to me, anyway, but I don’t count there because I am lucky enough not to live in Nevada.
Now, if someone would just get him back in that funny white jacket with the really long arms…
November 18th, 2007 at 8:06 am
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
Politicians make no difference.
We have bought into the Military Industrial Complex (MIC). If you would like to read how this happens please see:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/spyagency200703
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/halliburton200711
Through a combination of public apathy and threats by the MIC we have let the SYSTEM get too large. It is now a SYSTEMIC problem and the SYSTEM is out of control. Government and industry are merging and that is very dangerous.
There is no conspiracy. The SYSTEM has gotten so big that those who make it up and run it day to day in industry and government simply are perpetuating their existance.
The politicians rely on them for details and recommendations because they cannot possibly grasp the nuances of the environment and the BIG SYSTEM.
So, the system has to go bust and then be re-scaled, fixed and re-designed to run efficiently and prudently, just like any other big machine that runs poorly or becomes obsolete or dangerous.
This situation will right itself through trauma. I see a government ENRON on the horizon, with an associated house cleaning.
The next president will come and go along with his appointees and politicos. The event to watch is the collapse of the MIC.
For more details see:
http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2007/02/warped-priorities.html