The Discerning Texan

All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

For Sale, for taxpayer dollars: Democrat Votes Against the War

Remember when the Democrats ran for Congress last fall, promising to clean up the pork and all the special interest money in Congress. As I recall that was the entire raison d'etre of their campaign. All about cleaning up the "Culture of Corruption", have I got that right, Nancy?

So that has been, what... 5 months ago now, right? Well, the baby has officially been tossed out with the bathwater. Who knew??

From today's Washington Post:

House Democratic leaders are offering billions in federal funds for lawmakers' pet projects large and small to secure enough votes this week to pass an Iraq funding bill that would end the war next year.

So far, the projects -- which range from the reconstruction of New Orleans levees to the building of peanut storehouses in Georgia -- have had little impact on the tally. For a funding bill that establishes tough new readiness standards for deploying combat forces and sets an Aug. 31, 2008, deadline to bring the troops home, votes do not come cheap.

But at least a few Republicans and conservative Democrats who otherwise would vote "no" remain undecided, as they ponder whether they can leave on the table billions of dollars for constituents by opposing the $124 billion war funding bill due for a vote on Thursday.
"She hates the games the Democrats are playing," said Guy Short, chief of staff to Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), a staunch conservative who remains undecided, thanks to billions of dollars in the bill for drought relief and agriculture assistance. "But Representative Musgrave was just down in southeastern Colorado, talking to ranchers and farmers, and they desperately need this assistance."

Democratic leaders say the domestic spending in the bill reflects the pent-up demand from lawmakers who last year could not win funding for programs that had bipartisan support such as disaster assistance.

But in a formal veto statement last night, the White House denounced what it called "excessive and extraneous non-emergency spending." With unusually caustic and combative language, the statement dismissed provisions of the bill as "unconscionable," and said it "would place freedom and democracy in Iraq at grave risk" and "embolden our enemies."

They've got that right. What a tremendous example of the hypocrisy at the very heart of the Democrat party.

Labels: America War Support, Congress, Democrat Sabotage