The Discerning Texan
-- Edmund Burke
Friday, March 23, 2007
Cowardly House Dems Pass Micro-managing War Bill--Using YOUR Tax Dollars as Bribes
... It’s not about stopping the war. It’s not about bringing our troops home. The whole purpose of this bill is to score political points against the President, to weaken him, to embarrass him – all the while handing the enemies of the United States a victory on the field of battle they’ve neither earned nor deserve.Meanwhile AJ Strata thinks the President can simply ignore the unconstitutional provision:At the expense of principle and common sense, the Democratic left has allowed their hatred of the President to trump all. And the problem for the Democrats with this entire process is that they are now committed to a course of action (and setting a disturbing precedent that may very well come back to haunt them some day) that ignores military reality in favor of political expediency. ...
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For once, I agree with many of the netroots on this issue; give us an up or down vote on funding the Iraq War, not this sneaking around and playing political games with the lives of our troops. If, as Democrats have been saying for months, the American people elected them to end this war, let’s end it already. What in God’s name are they scared of? If, as they claim, the people are behind them, what is there to worry about politically? George Bush is beyond lame duck status. He’s a gone goose. The President is an irrelevancy, a non-factor. Republicans are sick of defending him. The base has abandoned him. Bush could claim from here to the next election that Democrats “lost” the war if they cut off funding but no one would listen or believe him. So why the hesitation?
The fact is, the left in Congress are cowards – unprincipled, abject cowards. They talk a good game but when push comes to shove – when history calls and asks them to stand up for their principles – they run and hide under their beds like five year olds scared of the thunder.
And the hell of it is, they are going to point to passage of this bill as a “victory.” It’s a triumph of hate over principle – hardly a victory unless you consider it more important to stick a shiv into the President’s gut to satisfy your own personal animus.
And in the NON-BINDING language is the idea of a troop withdrawal in August 2008. Well the House nor Congress can order the troops anywhere. They can only fund. And the funding for next year will be voted on NEXT YEAR! There is nothing binding on the benchmarks or withdrawal date language. So if the liberal media and Dems want to lie to themselves - BFD. The House just supported the war effort, including the surge, by doing the only thing they have authority to do - they funded these activities FULLY! Dems lose.While Strata is right that the President cannot be compelled to remove the troops, I disagree in this sense: if the troops are not home by August the Democrats will--Constitutionally or not-- have the "political cover" they have been looking for to defund the war completely. And I believe they would do just that. President Bush must veto this bill... and it is time to simultaneously put the White House communications machinery into high gear.
Ultimately to get war funding, the President may have to live with pork, but he cannot live with any provisions that would defund the war "if". That is not within the Constitutional powers of the Legislative Branch, period. And I think it would be a tremendous strategic blunder to assume you can come back later and change the Democrats' minds.
The only other alternative I could see would be to sign the bill but challenge the provision in the Supreme Court--where it would almost certainly be found to be unconstitutional. But that might take time than this President has with the traitors in Congress determined on an American Defeat and Surrender.
Vetoing this bill is the right answer. Put the ball back in the Democrats court.
UPDATE: Watch Sam Johnson's speech on the House floor today. Yeah, baby.
Labels: Democrat Sabotage, Hearts and Minds, Iraq, War strategy
