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Hagel and Snowe Objection to Senate Recess Until Iraq Resolution Debated LOSES 33-47
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The Motion to Adjourn for Recess Passes 47-33. Shame on the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Reid thought that pushing through a cloture motion to debate the House-passed resolution against the President's Iraq troop surge plans would balance out a principled call by Senators Hagel and Snowe to oppose any Senate recess until a debate on the troop surge takes place.
Reid's effort to get cloture just failed -- and now Dems are voting in mass against Hagel and Snowe and in favor of Presidents' Day shopping excursions.
Hagel, Snowe and others have been writing a "pox on both your houses" letters several times over now -- and there are numerous Democratic Senators who are getting as irritated with their own leadership as with the Republican leadership of Mitch McConnell and Trent Lott.
Adjournment is a serious mistake for Dems while this matter is unresolved -- and the Hagel/Snowe letter is something Reid and others should embrace, forcing the recalcitrant Republicans to stay and give up their fundraisers and family excursions.
It was not enough to have a simple cloture vote today -- Reid should have gone further and become a stakeholder in what Hagel is doing -- and that is assuring that the Iraq troop surge resolution be our single highest priority right now.
-- Steve Clemons
Update:: Matt Stoller of MyDD.com agrees.
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Reader Comments (17) - post a comment
I have to agree. I was actually more surprised by the second vote, the recess vote, than by the cloture vote. The Dems dropped the ball. It makes them look like they were just out to score points.
I disagree. This shows that the Republicans are in lockstep backing of Bush Iraq occupation policy. Bush policy is to keep troops in Iraq for the next decade. The Republican leadership is committed to the continued occupation of Iraq. This includes all the Republican presidential candidates, McCain, Romney and Giuliani all of whom would continue the failed occupation of Iraq past 2012. Listen to what they say. They don't want the US to leave Iraq either.
The Republicans are responsible for blocking the motion and no amount of self-flagellation by Senate Democrats will change that fact. Dems will simply have to change tactics and force the hand of the Republicans in other ways. Hagel and Snowe are simply trying to cover their own ass and disassociate themselves from their party position. Snowe cannot move far enough fast enough or the voters will throw her out over Iraq policy in 2 years. If Snowe really wanted to make a statement, she would quit the party over Iraq.
Iraq policy was set in 2004 when Bush was re-elected. Congress cannot force Bush to make the necessary diplomatic and political negotitations that will make it possible to leave Iraq. Bush will just play a giant game of chicken with Congress. Bush has enough Republican enablers in Congress (including Senator McCain) that will block the Dems and the will of the American people. The only thing that will change US Iraq policy is to throw the Republicans out of the White House in 2008.
I think that last few days have been very damaging to the republican party. The American public can see through all the stuff that the republicans are trying to attach to the resolution in the senate. The people in America know that the Democratic party is having to walk a tightrope between shutting down the Bush operation and making sure that the boots allready on the ground in Iraq get what they need. This fact makes these matters even more damaging to the republican party because we are at a point where they are being viewed as either being part of the solution (getting the troops out) or part of the problem (enabling Bush to continue running his game).
It's true that Hagel has been speaking out for some time now, and I have some genuine admiration for him. But it's a bit rich for him and, and even more so a Bush-enabler like Snowe, to be circulating "pox on both your houses" letters now that the Dems have control of the Congress. Where were those letters a year or two ago?
I'm with larry birnbaum on this. Unless Hagel, Snowe, et al have a chance of getting more Republicans on board against escalation, what is their point in finger-shaking at everyone who isn't a signee to their letter? Btw, how did Lieberman vote -- for the escalation and for staying in session during the recess? That would be the true measure of this effort, I think.
How do you think Lieberman voted! Lieberman is the #1 Bush enabler. Of course Lieberman voted against cloture all the while condemning the good people trying to end the Iraq mess as unpatriotic. Holy Joe is a turd in the punchbowl.
After six years of rubber stamping, Hagel and Snowe have finally taken a stand, so now they're heros? Sorry. I think the Dems should support this resolution, and I know refusing to accept that one part could actually be worse than the other is the hallmark of "maturity" in the Cult of High Broderism, but the "pox on both their houses" crap is one of the reasons we got to where we are. If Snowe and Hagel want to shake things up, let them declare themselves as independents, Hagel could punch Li'l Lindsay Graham in the mouth (you know he wants to), denounce John McCain and his cheap demogoguery out loud and by name.
It requires more than the brand new zeal of two very freshly (less than two weeks, all things considered) rubber-stampers to convince me that this is somehow Harry Reid's fault.
The GOP loves to march in goosestep. Just watch and see DDay unfold in 2008 when the Dems pick up another 35 House seats and 8-10 Senate seats.
The decimation the of GOP 4th Reich will be glorious !
Heres an interesting aside. Just call it food for thought. It seems that due to a couple of "incidents" where Veterans Administration computer hard drives dissappeared, the VA has decided to "temporarily" close down a numnber of "research facilities". Just call me distrustful and cynical, but I would be real interested in knowing if these targeted research facilities and programs were researching the health effects of DU on our service people.
And hey, speaking about the VA....
Did you all notice how much of the shallow and insincere posturing that accompanied the so called "debate" about Iraq was focused towards the time worn canard about "supporting our troops"? Well, heres how much these bastards in Washington care about our troops....
Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility
By Dana Priest and Anne Hull
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.
This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
continues at......
Surely no one believes the White House would want to suppress scientific research on the misnamed DU (there's nothing depeleted about it, it's just the isotope that can't be used to make the devil's own munitions). They would want us to know if vaporized DU, when breathed or ingested, might be terribly problematic, since they support our troops and freedom for the Iraqis, so they would not want to do anything that might cause these people serious or possibly devastating health problems.
I see your angle POA and I dont think you have any reason to NOT be suspicous.
Steve says "...and that is assuring that the Iraq troop surge resolution be our single highest priority right now."
Excuse me? Anna Nicole Smith is our highest priority right now. After that we've got the astronaut-stalker, then there's the alleged arsenic poisoning, breast-implanted, housewife beneficiary, and Britny's shaved head. The will of the people has spoken, reality TV is more stimulating than nonbinding soaps.
david, anytime 'they' - (the admin) - do something that is serious or potentially devastating to the health of the troops, they always make sure to cover their ass, as they could give a rats ass about the troops... look... wake up... this friggin admin sent them over to iraq and are quite content to leave them their indefinitely... they don't give a damn, in spite of all their impressive pretensions otherwise... i tenf to believe the democrats aren't much different either... just a bunch of scoundrels in politicial power is what is mostly running this country, with any decent individuals long ago pursuing other activities..
These elected people act like children and take home whopping pay checks with lifetime benefits........ It makes me want to throw up.
Off the point kinda question Steve: Did Trent Lott get his house rebuilt yet>? Can George go sit on his porch and drink some koolaid while he looks at the Gulf of Mexico if he were to visit? Could you find out if Mr. Lott has rebuilt in lieu of getting Americans out of Iraq, getting his neighbors help to rebuild, and generally stifling debate in DC?
I would like to see where Mr. Lott's priorities have been...... anyone else?>??
"Adjournment is a serious mistake for Dems while this matter is unresolved -- and the Hagel/Snowe letter is something Reid and others should embrace, forcing the recalcitrant Republicans to stay and give up their fundraisers and family excursions."
This is the nub of Steve's post and the crux of the matter that commentors here appear all too happy to skate around in order to take potshots at all the usual suspects (ie; the GOP). It appears to me that Reid blew it this weekend: the Dems simply chose to score an easy point instead of really trying force a debate on the troop surge. If we don't yell "foul" when our team screws up, we're not much better than the wingnuts.
Everytime this comes up, the GOP loses more votes. The Senate is now only 4 votes away, much closer than they were 2 weeks ago. The Republicans are fighting agianst public opinion on this issue and the Dems will keep pounding away until enough GOP Senators leave the sinking ship. Given that Bush and his GOP enablers will have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of Iraq and that Congress wants to leave Iraq with the least damage possible, it is going to be a long slow process. The GOP will continue to throw up roadblocks to protect the Bush Empire in Iraq. The Dems need to first build up enough momentum that they can steamroll them.
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