Blow Up
The drama is being played out in Washington as though it's been scripted. The "Decider" (now the "Commander Guy") has vetoed the "emergency" war funding bill (that's a lot of needless quotation marks - I hope I don't burn through them too quickly and run out), and the Democrats don't have the votes to override the veto.
Georgie is blaming the Congress for not funding the troops, and the Congress is blaming Georgie for getting a lot of the troops killed for nothing. And a thousand times more Iraqis. Oh, and unaccountably wasting billions of dollars. And squandering our position of world leadership. Plus, the Democrats are funding the troops - all the way back home.
So, where do we go from here? Who wins the stare-down? On the one side, you have the squinty-eyed Veep who looks more like a cartoon villain every day. You have the grey-haired toddler of a Commander Guy. And you have a collection of sycophants and jack-booted thugs who proudly believe that Georgie the toddler is actually King Georgie the Toddler.
But Georgie doesn't have to face the voters ever again (especially not without an armed guard). He's dreadfully unpopular, and approaching "broadly hated" status, but doesn't care. He's got drastically un-American advisers telling him that he's royalty - above the law. And in his profound ignorance, he believes them.
On the other hand, you have Congress. The Democrats hold a decent majority in the House, but just a one-vote margin in the Senate. As more Senate seats come up for election, Democrats will win more. Doesn't matter where or in what state - that's just the way it is now.
Congress has the will of the people behind them - backed up by actual opinion polls, rather than the Repub "wishful thinking" polls they seem to rely on.
But who will win? I suspect the Democrats will cave, but only partially. They'll make the Iraqi withdrawal language weak and unenforceable, and Georgie will finally sign something. This won't please anybody on the right or the left.
The two alternatives I like are: 1) stick to your guns. If Georgie won't sign the money, he's the one killing the troops (that's true no matter what). That way, the Democrats stand up for right and can win something important.
The other avenue, which I believe Rep. Murtha proposed, is to give the money in short intervals, no strings. So the troops will be funded to stay (rather than funded to leave) for three month shots. When the votes are there, a tougher bill can be passed.
But no matter what, more Americans and Iraqis will die needlessly for the political crimes of one man and the movement that worships him.
Georgie is blaming the Congress for not funding the troops, and the Congress is blaming Georgie for getting a lot of the troops killed for nothing. And a thousand times more Iraqis. Oh, and unaccountably wasting billions of dollars. And squandering our position of world leadership. Plus, the Democrats are funding the troops - all the way back home.
So, where do we go from here? Who wins the stare-down? On the one side, you have the squinty-eyed Veep who looks more like a cartoon villain every day. You have the grey-haired toddler of a Commander Guy. And you have a collection of sycophants and jack-booted thugs who proudly believe that Georgie the toddler is actually King Georgie the Toddler.
But Georgie doesn't have to face the voters ever again (especially not without an armed guard). He's dreadfully unpopular, and approaching "broadly hated" status, but doesn't care. He's got drastically un-American advisers telling him that he's royalty - above the law. And in his profound ignorance, he believes them.
On the other hand, you have Congress. The Democrats hold a decent majority in the House, but just a one-vote margin in the Senate. As more Senate seats come up for election, Democrats will win more. Doesn't matter where or in what state - that's just the way it is now.
Congress has the will of the people behind them - backed up by actual opinion polls, rather than the Repub "wishful thinking" polls they seem to rely on.
But who will win? I suspect the Democrats will cave, but only partially. They'll make the Iraqi withdrawal language weak and unenforceable, and Georgie will finally sign something. This won't please anybody on the right or the left.
The two alternatives I like are: 1) stick to your guns. If Georgie won't sign the money, he's the one killing the troops (that's true no matter what). That way, the Democrats stand up for right and can win something important.
The other avenue, which I believe Rep. Murtha proposed, is to give the money in short intervals, no strings. So the troops will be funded to stay (rather than funded to leave) for three month shots. When the votes are there, a tougher bill can be passed.
But no matter what, more Americans and Iraqis will die needlessly for the political crimes of one man and the movement that worships him.
posted by fiduciary at 3:20 PM
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