White House Wins On War, IMF Funds

As the clock began to count down the minutes that members of the House had to cast their vote on a war-funding bill topping $100 billion, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) waded into enemy territory.

The anti-war Democrat, who'd been whipping hard against the measure, stood behind a klatch of Republicans, watching the GOP computer and taking notes. It's not often that Kucinich and House Republicans find themselves on the same side. But the GOPers were determined to oppose what they call a bailout for foreign banks, and antiwar Democrats hoped to ally with them to block funding for wars they've long opposed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), meanwhile, hovered by the front desk, beaming. As the 15-minute vote wound down to zero, she was still far from the 218 she needed for passage, but she showed no sign of concern. The vote was held open as enough Democrats stepped forward to vote for the war money.

Fifty-one Democrats opposed the war funds the last time it came before the House. There was little pressure on them one way or the other. But when the Senate added the line of credit for the IMF and Republicans announced opposition, votes that had previously been worthless took on heightened value. The White House and Democratic leadership went into high gear, threatening and offering deals in exchange for a yes vote. This time around, 32 Democrats stayed as no votes.

Democrats who switched tapped Pelosi on the shoulder before walking back to their seats, swapping smiles, as Pelosi studied the lit-up board on the wall that displays the votes.

The tally hit 218, but Democrats seemed not to notice. When Pelosi looked up and saw it reading 220, she left the well of the floor and found Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wisc.), the Appropriations Committee Chairman, in his seat. The two shared a congratulatory handshake.

The vote was gaveled to a close, with five Republicans joining 221 Democrats. Pelosi turned her gaze back to the board, studying her members' votes.

She was no doubt pleased to see that these names sported a green box next to them this time, reversals from their previous no votes...

Clarke
Cohen
Cooper
Costello
Frank
Gutierrez
Inslee
Kagen
Markey (Mass.)
Matsui
McDermott
George Miller
Napolitano
Neal (Mass.)
Oberstar
Schakowsky
Thompson (Calif.)
Towns
Velazquez
Weiner

And those who stuck with their no votes...

Baldwin
Capuano
Conyers
Doggett
Edwards (Md.)
Ellison
Farr
Filner
Grayson
Grijalva
Honda
Kaptur
Kucinich
Lee (Calif.)
Lofgren
Massa
McGovern
Michaud
Payne
Pingree
Polis
Serrano
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Speier
Stark
Tierney
Tsongas
Waters
Watson
Welch
Woolsey

My book, This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America, is now out

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Comments

[paganmist]

He always said that he was going to ramp up the troops in Afghanistan and perhaps into Pakistan. He never lied about it. We all elected him knowing that he was planning on withdrawing from Iraq (step 1: end the "war of choice") and hit harder in Afghanistan (step 2: finally get Bin Laden, the way we SHOULD have been doing from the very start.)

I hate it as much as the rest of you, but Bush got us into these wars. We can't just drop everything and leave. We have a responsibility to help the Iraqis fix the mess that we made, and we still have to squash the taliban.

You remember them, right? Bombed us? September 11? Destroyed the twin towers? When we gave Bush permission to go to war (well, some of us), that's who we were sending him after. He's failed miserably.

Now you criticize Obama for trying to fix all of this?

God. What losers. I give up. Seriously. Democrats always eat their own. Republicans will stay in power because at least they support each other. The second things don't go our way, Democrats and liberals turn on each other like a pack of snarling dogs until nothing remains.

And then the Republicans come in and screw everything up once again.

You know what? We deserve exactly what we get. I wish some of you fair-weather Democrats would just switch parties already and stop sabotaging the rest of us.

[CaptainVideo]

The Republicans voted against supporting our fighting men. Why do Republicans hate our fighting men?

[Kache]

Republicans hate everybody. Haven't you heard - it's the only thing they have left.

[Squeglen]

I don't think that they hate our fighting men, they only hate them fighting under a dem and an african american man.

[Kache]

Are you insinuating that GOPers delight in seeing bodies returning in caskets just so they can wave the flag? I've always believed that.

[zaz33]

This is as disgusting as the Bush years - (nice smile though)

[Bigunsmom]

I'm going to play a game. There are too many people on here still sipping on that good ole kool-aid. Me I am having a bourbon and coke.

[teron678]

There are 1 or 2 here ... still tr0lling too .......

[CaptainVideo]

What kind of coke are you referring to?

[fairyduster]

That's understandable. Obama is more republican than Democrat.

[CaptainVideo]

Obama is a moderat liberal pragmatist, not a left wing ideologue. DEAL WITH IT!

[Kache]

I'll join you! Here's to Nancy! Job well done!

[TJCole]

Yeah; Obama Won, more money for War and Foreign Banks rather than wasting it on Americans losing their homes...

Or our Troops who we infect with HIV and Hepatitis ...

[Coinyer101]

agreed. like the new avatar.

[MadDemocrat]

Didn't BHO run for stopping wars and getting our troops home? I don't get it!

[judyc]

No, actually he didn't. You must not have been listening.

[CaptainVideo]

Obama made it clear before the election that Afghanistan was one war that he believed we should be fighting and that he was not in favor of precipitrous withdrawal from Iraq. The reason you do not get it is that you did not pay attention to what he was saying.

[sweetwhine]

Have you noticed most people who claim to be Obama supporters don't even know what he's about. Tells you they don't read anything yet they act like the know better than Obama.

[fairyduster]

Obama said that he would pull the troops out of Iraq, but go
after al CIAda in Afghanistan. I thought he would catch a clue but I was wrong.

The MIC must be difficult to resist....­..

[Kache]

That's what you heard, not what he said.

[polaris12]

This just shows the hypocrisy of the Democrats and their leadership. They were happy to carp about Bush, but they were always there to provide the money. That's why Bush/Cheney always showed them utter contempt. War and occupation come first above all else. We could bring down the deficit tomorrow and solve all our health care problems if we stopped trying to police the world.

[teron678]

No matter who was the president on 9 1 1 .......... there would have been an Afghanistan W A R ..... doubt there would've been a Iraq war though ....... If Dubya didn't take his eye of Afghanistan & allow the T A L I B A N to regroup ... we wouldn't have been in this situation today .......

p.s ... i agree that American Intervention pre 9 1 1 led to 9 1 1

[PlantGod72]

The horses are out of the barn, and Bush/Cheney et al LIED to open the door!

[polaris12]

So what does that mean? You go on making the same mistakes because you were lied into a situation? Bush/Cheney lied but they couldn't have gotten away with it without Democratic enablers. Let's face it, we have only one party in this country and it's called the Republocrats. One lies and the other swears to it. The military/industrial complex has to be fed - the entire economy depends on. We are like the Mayan civilization where a fresh victim has to be found every couple of years to placate the gods of the war economy.

[MadDemocrat]

Democrats divided - it's going to get so much better. Thanks BHO for saying one thing and doing another. You make it so easy to criticize as your poll numbers slowly slip down, down, down......­..

[CaptainVideo]

What good are high poll numbers if you do not use them as political capital to achieve your objectives? Once Obama actually started doing things, whatever he does is going to offend some group or other. Reduction in poll standing is the price on has to pay to get the things one wants done.

[fairyduster]

Sadly yes.

[sweetwhine]

MadDemocrat? More like losing-your-mind republican. Who do you think you're fooling.

[damilitantone]

There are still a few democrats who kept their promise to the rest of us and they should not be forgotten when election rolls around. Obama better hope that the death toll of American military in Iraq doesn't reach 5,000 any time soon. These days of American military might in Iraq are over. All of the factions have taken the last eighteen months to rest, stock up on weapons, and plan strategy, the Shiites to keep power, the Sunnis to take power, and the Baathists to reclaim power. As so it goes.

[gotalifepost]

Thanks libs.

For nothing.

You got punked.

Admit it.

[Bigunsmom]

I agree 100% gotalifepost. Great post.

[Echoesofhope]

I.D.O.I.T. Maybe you should have paid attention to the election.

[ThesagaciousOne]

I wonder who the.I,D.I.­O.T is?

[RJII]

can't wait to see what Obama does with this clout.

[Kache]

Two months ago Pakistani television repeatedly showed a video of a 17 year old woman being held down by two Taliban goons as another one whipped her 34 times. The incident took place on the street in a town in the Swat valley.

Pakistanis who had entertained the idea that the Taliban might be a better alternative than their corrupt government were suddenly forced to realize what a Taliban rule would mean to their families. Increasingly Pakistani citizens began turning to the military, offering intelligence on the Taliban infiltrating into their neighborhoods. Armed with that knowledge the army attacked the Taliban in Swat - the first successfull campaign they have had.

To all but 5 Republican Representatives refusing to buy our fraudulent mortgages back from east European banks who had bought them in good faith was more important than that girl's screams. To 32 Democrats, who somehow think this is still 1968, her screams went entirely unheard.

Republicans, by definition, care more about cheating the other guy out of a buck than anything else in life. Their vote was to be expected. But those 32 Democrats should be ashamed of themselves. If that young woman had been whipped by a religious cult on the street in Waco, Spokane, Harrisburg or Flagstaff they would have made an icon out of her. But their fetish against war blinded them to the fact that she too is our sister, our daughter, our friend.

No wonder American's are not trusted throughout the world.

[Coinyer101]

so, you wanna invade pak, now? ferget it.

[Kache]

See what I mean? You can not hear her screams, she is not human to you.

If we follow your advice and leave Asia by the end of the month what do you honestly think would happen? I know your answer - you'd feel important. Yeah, right Coinyer, this is all about you, isn't it?

[polaris12]

I agree with you that the suffering of that girl is abhorrent. There is no doubt that the Taliban are a bunch of ignorant, backward, retarded louts, but there are many such groups in countries around the world. How many countries are we to invade and occupy to eliminate such swinish leaders? And do you think we would be bothering at all with the Taliban and what they are doing, if Afghanistan were not a major route for oil and gas pipelines?

[Kache]

Get real. Afghanistan was a major route for oil and gas pipelines back in the 80's and 90s.

Not everything in the world can be reduced to simply a big oil conspiracy theory. Destroying Exxon will not turn the world into a big happy Shangri-La.

[rollingdivision]

Terrible idea borrowing another 100 Billion from the Chinese to give away.

[teron678]

You & your party's fake outrage & concern is amusing ...

[Coinyer101]

true.

[Kache]

Republican bankers made fraudulent loans, then sold them to bankers in East Europe hoping to never see them again. When it all blows up and those European bankers want their money back Republican Congressmen refuse. Nice little scam you guys got going there.

[Bigunsmom]

If any one on here is watching Hannity on Fox right now, he has John Edwards on there. He is the guy that says he crosses over to talk to dead people. Very interesting.

[teron678]

What is hypocritical from many Libs here is ...

They Criticize Obama for not living up to his promise on DADT & DOMA ....... which they rightly should ..

But also criticize him for living up the promises he made since the Primaries ... that is implementing his Health-Care Plan & focusing on the War in Afghanistan ... because they want Single payer instead & an end to the War in Afghanistan

Libs to Obama: "Live up to the Promises you made to the electorate, we support but break the promises you made to the electorate, that we don't support"

[Coinyer101]

we also want him to start withdrawal from Iraq now, instead of waiting until after the end of the year and Iraqi elections. If he had lived up to his biggest promise ,[to withdraw 1-2 brigades/month], I would not care about this bill. There are supposed to be 6-12 brigades gone by now.

[teron678]

Aren't they starting to withdraw from Iraq on June 26th if I'm not mistaken .....

[fairyduster]

I want single payer and an end to all the occupations.
DADT and DOMA are unconstitutional.

[teron678]

prove my point ... *shakes head*

[CaptainVideo]

And you want a pony.