Today the Senate passed a nonbinding resolution calling for the Bush administration to provide the Congress with progress reports in Iraq. The vote was 79 to 19, pretty definitive.
The right whines and the left spins.
The Democrats lost their vote to call for a timetable for running away. For a bunch of people who love to talk about how every vote counts, the millions of Iraqis voting does not seem to impress them.
However, I do think we have become so partisan that any attempt at compromise is seen as defeat.
The Democrats got shot down and the military gets the resources its needs and yet the GOP is not happy because the Congress will be interjecting itself into the war...as if it is not there already.
The pundits say it reflects weakness and of course the left will be more than happy to spin it that way.
I think it will give the administration the oppurtunity to make public progress reports on the good news from Iraq. Someone other than the media and a lot of hyper bloggers will be making a public case here.
Perhaps we should also realize that however deeply irresponsible the Democrats behavior may be in regards to the war, the Republicans are going to have to deal with them.
Time and again the right gains power only to lose it through infighting and self destructive hissy fits such as the public flogging of Bush for nominating Harriet Miers. If not the hysteria over judges there is the constant complaining from libertarians that they are just going to go home and sulk if the worthless Congress does not say how high when they say jump.
Grow up people..we have a war to fight and an enemy who would like nothing better than to see Hillary Clinton or John Kerry as president.
I hope the Bush administration takes that vote today and makes some lemonade with it.
And we have to realize that people are tired of bad news. They want something positive to happen and until they hear more good news, they are going to blame the man in charge: George Bush. He has been too nice for too long. He should have started fighting back a long time ago.
I want George Bush to come out swinging and it would be nice if the same people who expect so much from him could be a help rather than a hindrance.
15 comments:
More common sense from Terrye. James Joyner at OTB agrees. I do to, as I indicated there.
Congress should be involved. Remember the Truman Committee in WW II. That is why he ended up as VP in 1944 and President in 1945.
vnj:
I checked out some of the pundits and they are beside themselves.
as usual. they are such a help.
First they complain about Bush and then the complain that Warner dares intrude..
Well what do they expect?
When Bush needed them..where were they?
This can help if it is handled correctly.
Every war the US has fought has had Congressional involvement in it. Lincoln was driven crazy by Congress over his handling of the Civil War. Madison's Mexican War, and his sabre-rattling towards England over the Candian boarder received quite a bit of opposition. I haven't read much about it, but as I recall the Spanish-American War was extremely unpopular in many qwuarters -- viewed as little more than a naked imperialist colony grab.
The Courts and congress are supposed to be involved in public matters. I see no problem with reports to Congress being made, and of course both Parties will play politics over them.
As an aside, I think HDS would top BDS. I know it is a futile hope, but both parties need to knock that kinda nonsense off.
I heard someone say something about our political system and clusters.
Or something to that effect.
Terrye for president!
I am serious.
We need a down-to-earth, sensible, principled pragmatist.
Jamie Irons
Well, I've been heartened by the pushback. And postings on the Whitehouse webpage no less!
Did Bush hire somebody new?
I don't know how it's going on lefty sites, but at Tom Maguire's place the lefties fought back against the pushback and then seemed to just, well, deflate.
It got awfully quiet.
What's bothering me in D.C. is that the Reps seem to be all over the place. Unite on something, will ya guys?
Anyway, Terrye, spot on!
Terrye,
It doesn't pay to watch too closely for too long. It breeds contempt and leads to cynicism. The Republic is fortunate when there are 3-4 Senators in office who have convictions and are willing to stand by them. A guy like Wellstone is a treasure, even if I thoroughly despised his politics. Right now, I only count Mitch McConnell as having any principles worth mentioning. There may be a few others but they guard themselves from view fairly well. The bloviating jackasses we see constantly on the news are as pathetic a group as have ever cut a cloak room deal.
The current deal is smoke and mirrors. The drawdown will start in the spring and all the egos masquerading as Senators will break their arms patting themselves on the backs for achieving something that a 13 year old JROTC cadet could figure out.
It sure would be nice if Senators were easier to fire.
great post terrye. perhaps it would help if GW put some more stick about. even o'reilly was silenced (well, almost) tonight by his guest Wayne Simmons, a "former CIA operative" who said, with passion, that the American public (yes, they that can do no wrong) needs to get with the program. He allowed no 'ifs' or 'buts' - demanding instead that jane and john q public wake up and grow up. period.
i don't know much about politics, but i'm pretty sure that spineless unprincipled toads like Reid, Dean and Durbin would come to heel pdq if that was the case.
jamie:
With my past? I am blushing.
I not only inhaled, I saw pretty colors and floated in the clouds.
And then there was that whole free love episode..ahh well enough about my misspent youth.
I do mean it though, everybody needs to buck up. The world is watching this and I for one am tired of the freak show.
After all that is what France is for.
Rick:
I tend to agree that most Senators think they are jr. Presidents..but they do have a responsibility to their constituents too. And when people call in and bitch bitch bitch, they fear for their survival.
John Adams said that the greatest threat to our system was the establishment of political parties and the resultant partisan rivalry.
And btw, BDS pales next to ADS.
It is highly unlikely that the constiution would have succeeded without John Adams, but he was everybody's whipping boy anyway.
His beloved wife Abigail never did forgive them.
terrye,
I would definately agree that this is a great opportunity for the administration to get their side of the story out, but this has always frustrated me about this President. I think this has something to do with Bush just trying to do his job while his enemies at home aren't quite so mature and thoughtful. Could anyone imagine President Bush if he were in Harry Reid's position doing anything other then be mature and supportive where it counts? There are enough ideological positions to take as a means of true opposition, but personal character assassination seems the only thing that satisfies these people which makes me look back and realize what a decent opposition leaders Bob Dole, Howard Baker were. Tip or Sam Rayburn would never do as the Democrats are now doing and if they think this is the path to a permanent majority status they are mistaken.
I said three years ago that politically it could be trouble if under Bush's leadership we were not again attacked because he would get no credit and be left with little to rally a complacent people around. It is ridiculous to me that it would take another attack too make people wake up, but since we don't feel threatened at the moment the Democrats exploit this as Bush lying over-reacting and trying to scare everyone, like 911 was a fluke!!! And while I hear arguments about Saddam Hussein having no link to Osama Bin Laden, my question is did our cutting out of Iraq in Gulf War I and leaving Saddam in power have any hing to do with the boldness of our enemies? I am disgusted becuase the arguments we have are arguments due to the luxuries of not feeling threatened at the moment.
If Bush were some fantasy "West Wing" Democrat we would be getting from the MSM more of the good news aspect and the certainly the MSM would be very clear the WMD story wasn't a lie but rather common knowledge. Evan Thomas's comment about the MSM making a 15 point difference to the Democrats didn't hold up at election time but it sure is now. The Democrats are playing a dangerous credibility game because sooner or later the truth will come to the surface and let the chips fall where they may.
Peter:
Well I do not wear hair spray.
I do wear bifocals though and they give me a school marmish look which can be quite severe.
I would just love to look at John Kerry and in a very prim voice say "Sit down and shut up Mr. Frenchy britches".
peter:
I think it would be funny if I could accost him on the Senate floor and say "Teddy, don't you remember me? That night on the yacht, you...me... the moonlight...the booze."
I bet I could get the old fart going.
mark:
That sounded like a soap opera.
I was in the line at the grocery store and there was the Globe saying the same thing.
The national enquirization of the American media.
In truth every president has had a slump.
It was much worse for Carter.
knucklehead:
The very thought of mothering yet another Kennedy was such a shock I went right into menopause.
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