Despite Rhetoric, Dems Poised To Give Bush A Blank Check For Iraq

Roll Call   |   November 5, 2007 10:44 AM


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From Roll Call:

Despite their rhetoric about not wanting to hand President Bush another "blank check" for the Iraq War, Democrats appear poised to give him exactly that -- enough cash to keep the war going full steam for as long as six months, no strings attached.


Democratic leaders continue to fear GOP attacks that cutting off or slowing funds would hurt the troops, despite anger among the Democratic base over the party's failure to use Congress' power of the purse to end the war.

And while House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have said they have no intention of bringing up Bush's almost $200 billion supplemental war funding proposal this year without a timeline for withdrawal, Democrats are quietly preparing to give the president enough spending flexibility to keep the war going anyway.

After Republicans repeatedly rebuffed Democratic attempts to adopt war restrictions in September following Army Gen. David Petraeus' testimony to Congress, Democrats began approving billions in extra funding, starting with the first stopgap spending resolution. Next up will be the regular Defense spending bill, expected to go to conference committee Tuesday. Although the bill is not expected to include funding specifically targeted to Iraq, Democrats plan to allow much of the funding to be diverted from regular Defense accounts to the war. Democratic Defense appropriators also are separately eyeing adding tens of billions in war funds, either in a small separate supplemental or attached to the next must-pass stopgap continuing resolution. They had sought to include $50 billion or more in such supplemental funding in the Defense bill itself, but leadership overrode that idea after the party's most ardent war foes complained.

Read the full article.

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This country needs to change it's underwear because it's been sitting in shit for the past six years and Bush and his croonies along with the help of some of the Dems just keep craping in the same place with the same results.
We the people, means ALL the people not just selected groups, therefore WE the people need to clean house, totally clean house, every incumbent on both sides needs to go. Send a big message to all of them. Your time's up and we are not going to put up with your crap anymore. Let's really support our troops by bringing them home and not sending them on anymore "Legacy" tours for our dictator in chief.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:12 AM on 11/06/2007


Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government..."
Thomas Jefferson

Thank you SunshineDaydream for this item. It is near time for the populace to get their guns.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:16 AM on 11/06/2007

Help Cindy Sheehan defeat Nancy Pelosi!

Nancy Pelosi: Meet Your Replacement! - video

http://www.cindysheehan2008.org

http://www.pelosioutnow.org

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:10 AM on 11/06/2007

I think Bush needs to find Jean Dixon and conduct a seance with Saddam Hussein, especially given how our ally, Musharaf, is acting.

Saddam stopped the Ayatollah's efforts to expand Islmaic fundamentalism to the rest of the Middle East single-handedly, kept the feudal fundamentalists in Iraq in their place, kept the Kurd threat to Turkey under control, kept al Qadea in hiding and out of Iraq, and kept Iran contained. He was brutal in keeping all of that together in a secular Iraq that was no threat to the United States and where no American troops were killed or maimed. Unlike Musharaf, who is equally brutal to Saddam, Saddam made no deal with Taliban or al Qaeda elements.

Bush definitely needs a seance with Saddam to figure out what to do next.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:35 AM on 11/06/2007

Fareed Zakaria has updated what the Democrats are funding in Iraq in the 11/12 issue of Newsweek:

President Bush continues to talk about Iraq's shining democracy in speeches that seem utterly detached from reality. This is a nation where 4.5 million people have fled their homes, ethnic cleansing has transformed whole cities and religious fanatics have imposed a theocratic rule that is often more extreme than in Iran. In much of the country, thugs rule the streets. The police chief of Basra told the Iraqi newspaper Al-Sabah last week, "Most of Basra's ports, especially Umm Qasr, are under the control of militia gangs. The police force is incapable of executing its duties because its members report to the militias. The central government is barely functioning. Half of the cabinet ministries are either vacant or nonfunctional. Iraq's oil production is down this year. Sectarian divisions are, in some ways, getting worse."

Great investment.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:27 AM on 11/06/2007

Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
--Hermann Goering
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, THE TRUTH IS THE GREATEST ENEMY OF THE STATE." -- Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, 1933-1945
"The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of an eye: the more light you pour on it, the more it contracts."
Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, U.S. Supreme Court
"When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." -Sinclair Lewis

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:54 AM on 11/06/2007

Democrats are wusses. They capitulate, speak out of both sides of their mouths and never take a stand. I am ashamed to be affliated with the Democrats. This is what we can expect with a Hillary nomination. No principles, no backbone, capitulate any morals just to maintain power. Sickening. Everyone in Washington DC whose been there for more than 3 years should be thrown out. Pelosi and Reid to start with. This is why a number of Senators are retiring, they see the writing on the wall.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:13 PM on 11/05/2007

This story isn't news. It's more of the same.

How about something on the Kucinich impeachment of Cheney HR333?

Rather than wait for HUFFPO to report anything, you might want to check out ImpeachThem.com

And don't forget to call your representatives and tell them to support impeachment. There are several toll free numbers listed on the ImpeachThem.com website and it only takes a minute.

It's up to us people. If they won't stop funding this illegal occupation it's time to push for impeachment again. Support only candidates that are on board with impeachment and HR333 to impeach Cheney.

Kucinich '08!

Peace!


favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:08 PM on 11/05/2007

why am i not surprised?
well america, thats what happens when you elect phonies to represent you! and guess what? it looks like the same thing will happen with the next president who is elected, because all of them (except for dennis kucinich, mike gravel, and ron paul) are full of shit.
if you're all so upset about this, then lets use the ballot box to change it! we can't change the current congress. we can write them and suggest things, but c'mon, they don't care what we have to say. if they did, then they would've done what we elected them to do and we'd be outta iraq by now. what we need to focus on is the next election.
mark my words-clinton, obama, edwards- for all their talk, they will not end the war. Ain't happening. they are no different than bush. they say what will get them an applause and continue on with business as usual.
you want out of iraq? PROVE IT. judging by the people leading in the polls, i dont believe america really wants it. if ron paul is elected, this war will be over. period. what more do you need to know?
So if you want more dead soldiers and empty promises, vote for clinton, edwards, obama, giuliani, romney- dosn't matter, they're all the same person.
How about we actually do it? vote ron paul 2008

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:19 PM on 11/05/2007

There are two cancers that have metastasized in America. The first is the NRA which is responsible for making the US the most dangerous non-third world countries to live in. You expect life to be worthless and cheap in places like the Sudan, Iraq or Afghanistan but its amazing to other civilized countries in the world that Americans have surrendered their right to live in a safe and secure country to because the NRA nuts insist on their right to bear arms. These people are just plain evil in my opinion.

The second cancer that exists in the Untied States is the Industrial Military Complex. Your armament's industry have created a yoke that even the Democrats can't get rid of. The industry of War is so entrenched in the American economy that most American's cannot see what is plain to non-Americans. That this nefarious complex of industries demand that the US be in a perpetual state of war so that they can become rich off the backs of ordinary Americans.

Ladies and gentlemen of the United States you are being bled dry by these two industries. Your futures are being squandered. When you should be investing in your ecconomy and your people and your economic infrastructure. These industries have hi-jacked your economy and your future.

You need a politician who has the courage to fight for your future otherwise you will not have a future.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:06 PM on 11/05/2007
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