California Conservative

Harry Reid came out swinging in a speech to be delivered on the Senate floor. The bad news is that Reid’s become the storyline. Here’s a portion of Harry’s bluster:

In remarks prepared for delivery, Reid said that under the legislation the troops that remain after next April 1 could only train Iraqi security units, protect U.S forces and conduct “targeted counter-terror operations.”

Reid is engaging in a game of high stakes chicken. Given that his hometown newspaper and the dean of the liberal Beltway media have criticized him, Sen. Reid isn’t working from a position of strength. When you factor in this Bloomberg article, it’s safe to say that he’s skating on thin ice.

The other thing that’s noteworthy of this proposal is that it’s unconstitutional. The legislative branch can’t tell the executive branch how to conduct military operations. That’s entirely within the Commander-in-Chief’s authority. Frankly, I’d sign the bill, then get the provisions thrown out that ties the President’s hands.

It’s apparent that Reid is both incompetent and arrogant. He’s acting like he’s dealing from a position of strength but you’d have to believe that he knows that he’s dealing from a position of utter weakness. Not even a tired liberal is that stupid.

Here’s a little portion from the Bloomberg article:

Representative Joe Donnelly, a freshman Democrat from Indiana, voted with his party last month to tie funding for the Iraq war to a timeline for withdrawing troops. Now, with President George W. Bush vowing to veto the measure, Donnelly is ready to compromise.

The Democratic-controlled Congress and Bush need to “try to find that middle place, work together, get the troops funded,” Donnelly, 51, told constituents last week at a town- hall meeting in Logansport, Indiana. If the withdrawal timelines are waived or eliminated, he said, “so much the better.”

Donnelly, who is among 30 House Democrats elected in districts previously held by Republicans, said Congress must avoid a showdown with the White House that will cut off funding for Iraq. While a majority of Americans now oppose the war, according to polls, the House bill setting a withdrawal date passed the House by a slim 218-212 margin.

In other words, if defeatist Democrats like Reid, Pelosi and Murtha insist on tying Gen. Petraeus’ hands, freshman Democrats like Donnelly and Nick Lampson and others will be one term wonders. What’s worse is that Reid, Pelosi and Murtha will get blamed for abandoning the troops on the battlefield. Rest assured that that isn’t the position that the Democrats want to be in entering a presidential election.

Reid drew criticism from Bush and others last week when he said the war in Iraq had been lost. The Nevada Democrat did not repeat the assertion in his prepared speech, saying that “The military mission has long since been accomplished. The failure has been political. It has been policy. It has been presidential.”

Let’s take this literally. Reid says that “the military mission has long since been accomplished.” If he truly believes that, what is he basing that on? Is it based on the military being caught up in a ‘civil war’ that Iran is funding? Or is it based on the need to conduct more “targeted counter-terror operations”?

Simply put, Reid’s doing his best not to sound defeatist while being defeatist. Reid’s hoping that nobody notices. Unfortunately, when you’re on the big stage, it’s impossible to hide incompetence for very long. People are figuring out that Harry simply isn’t ready for primetime.

Ms. Pelosi will cave soon. With freshman ‘moderates’ realizing that they can’t get re-elected if they pull the rug out from under the military, it’s only a matter of time before she’ll be forced to choose between a House majority or pleasing the Insane Left.

When push comes to shove, politicians will choose re-election every time.

Another thing working against Sen. Reid is that he’ll lose the Democrats’ majority if he keeps pushing this defeatist majority. He’ll force Joe Lieberman into the Republican caucus, which makes it a 50-50 split. Does Reid really want to push things that far? Again, politicians prefer positions of power. They prefer the title of chairman or Majority leader.

On the other hand, I invite Reid to keep pushing this defeatist agenda. In the words of Clint Eastwood “Make my day, Punk.”

Technorati Tags: Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, Joe Donnelly, Defeatocrats, President Bush, David Petraeus, Joe Lieberman, Iraq War, Election+2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Monday, April 23rd, 2007 at 10:41 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Election 2008, Foreign Policy, Iraq, Military, Pelosi, Special Interests, Subversives, Terrorism, W. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.