The party’s anti-war base and independents are just now coming to grips with the reality that Democrats don’t yet have the means to change the direction of this war. Their disappointment is now showing up in the polls, and rightly so.
But the answer isn't to punish the Dems. It's to work for a Democratic White House and a larger Democratic majority in Congress in 2008. I understand the frustration with the number of Democrats that voted for the "no strings funding" ( although I think this terminology plays into the Republican frmaing and I wince when I read it in Steve's posts). But it was basically a moot point at that point. Once it became clear that the Senate wasn't gonna play ball anymore it was done. Let the Dems who felt the need to cover themselves vote for he funding bill. Why force them to give ammo to the opposition back home over a lost cause? Take your next shot with the 2008 appropriations bill when you can take advantage of more Republican discontent with the drag that Iraq is gonna be on their re-election prospects.
Posted by snark at June 5, 2007 12:42 PMI have to disagree snark.
But the answer isn't to punish the Dems.
Yes it is. Every Military Industrial Complex teat sucking one of them needs to be shown the door and replaced with a Progressive.
We can still have the majority and start change in the proper direction.
If the Dems don't show some spine they are useless, totally useless. Might as well be a repuke vote.
Posted by Seven of Six at June 5, 2007 01:15 PMLike I have said, the 2008 Elections are the Democrats to lose.
Posted by Judith at June 5, 2007 01:24 PMLike I have said, the 2008 Elections are the Democrats to lose.
This is true. And a number of Democrats are gonna face re-election in not-so-blue voting districts. In case you've forgotten the Dems picked up more than a few seats in areas that are pretty evenly split. Many need to vote with that in mind. Giving seats back to the Republicans by abandoning Dems over this vote is not gonna help in the 2008 elections. But you're right Judith. It's the Dems election to lose. I'd just rather not help them lose it.
Posted by snark at June 5, 2007 01:39 PMSnark, you are correct but only to a degree of 15-25 seats that are in purple districts. That doesn't explain why the other 2-3 dozen in the House voted for an auto-pilot bill, nor does it explain why safe Democratic committee chairs in the Senate did as well.
Posted by Steve Soto at June 5, 2007 02:51 PMHave to disagree -- the GOP had no trouble dragging their "moderates" to their extreme positions. Pelosi and Reid have failed to manage their troops like that. It wasn't about a veto proof majority -- it was simply about passing adequate funding for bringing the troops home -- and then selling it to the public which they also did poorly.
In GOP-land, they control with 51% of the votes. In DEM-land, they wouldn't be in control with 67%. They need to stop whining and start winning with their majority.
Posted by Marie at June 5, 2007 04:16 PMSteve,
Yes, the jist of my comment was that the rush to cut off the Dems funding will endanger those 15-25 seats. There's been a lot of talk about cutting off the Dems at the national level in favor of supporting individual candidates. What's the prospect of successfully fielding an independent progresive candidate in purple districts? Do we really want to give those seats back? Is that gonna help the cause? I'm not happy about the results of the vote either but people need to stop looking at it in a vacuum. I want a Democrat in the White House in 2009
Posted by snark at June 5, 2007 06:58 PMIt isn't about having the means to force change, it's about having the will to oppose Bush and make the case on why there needs to be change.
And every Democratic vote for Bush tells the electorate that the Dems don't have the will, the integrity, the courage, or the stamina for the job.
Every Bush appointee they pass through from this point forward sends the same message. Every perjury laden testimony like from Schlotman today that goes sans consequences does the same.
It really shouldn't be this hard. They need to stop voting for Bush, and they need the people in Leadership to lead that action. And until they do, they can bugger off, because come November 2008 they will have lost the voters that could have put us over the top and into the White House. Like Judith says, it's ours to lose, and playing it safe is guaran-effing-teed to accomplish that disastrous end.
And you wonder why Al Gore polls so high?
Posted by Duckman GR at June 5, 2007 09:05 PM"Money maintains the Republican/Democratic duopoly of trivialized politics. It confines the debate over U.S. policy to well-hewn channels. It preserves intact the cliches of 1933-45 about isolationism, appeasement and the nation's call to "global leadership." It inhibits any serious accounting of exactly how much our misadventure in Iraq is costing. It ignores completely the question of who actually pays. It negates democracy, rendering free speech little more than a means of recording dissent.
This is not some great conspiracy. It's the way our system works."
I Lost My Son to a War I Oppose. We Were Both Doing Our Duty
by Andrew J. Bacevich, Washington Post, Sunday May 27, 2007
The war economy is a continuous presence in all 435 congressional districts. When it swears, barks orders or otherwise issues pronouncements, its bipartisan servants dutifully attend to their master's voice. Pelosi, Reid & Co. are as habituated to this as any GOP chauvinist lout. They have no intention of authentic national security leadership; just better execution and enlightened discipline.
These people only understand force, money and power.
If we don't speak their language, it's our fault they don't obey.
The party’s anti-war base and independents are just now coming to grips with the reality that Democrats don’t yet have the means to change the direction of this war.
But they do have the means. They hold the purse strings. Set a date certain after which there will be no more funding for the war. Give enough time so that an orderly plan can be implemented to pull back the existing force structure for redeployment.
Allowing Dems to say there's nothing they can do is just plain old B.S.
Posted by Mike at June 6, 2007 11:41 AM