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

[wijg]

What Happens if Obama Loses the Left?
by buhdydharma

No, I am not talking about the Center-Left, I mean the, for lack of a better term....Th­e Issue-Left.
We all have seen the tensions on the blogs between the members of the Center-Left and the Issue-Left. The CL are the people who portray activists pushing for their issues as "wanting a Pony" or insist that Obama has only been in office for ____ number of months....­.you know, the people who confuse political activism with impatience.
The people who think that speaking up for a cause you believe in is....rude­, or means that you HATE Obama.
Obama obviously NEVER has to worry about losing them. They have no expectations, and thus cannot be dissapointed. They are willing to settle for whatever crumbs Obama will toss them. Or think that if they just wait, patiently and politely and quietly, Obama will eventually get around to GIVING them what they want with no effort on their part.
The people who get annoyed by other folks Yelling about issues that are important or vital to them....

More... http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/16/743142/-What-Happens-if-Obama-Loses-the-Left

[CaptainVideo]

What Obama needs to worry about is losing the center. Those are the people who decide elections.

[Coinyer101]

ummm, he has the center. but, he can't win again without the left.

[fairyduster]

I consider myself "center" and hes' on very thin ice with my husband and I.

[Kache]

Those are the people who elected him.

[scooperss]

TY

[Coastalthinker2]

This article stated exactly what I have said for months now. I don't think President Obama pays any attention to progressiv­es/liberal­s. What I'm not sure about since I don't know him, is whether it is pure arrogance due to thinking he already understands what a progressive thinks or whether he really doesn't care because the polls show democrats are backing him in high numbers anyway. One major "issue" left out of that article was health care.

[Samalabear]

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)­, meanwhile, hovered by the front desk, beaming."

Why would anything have changed with Obama? They were never against Bush, either, just posing. When it comes to war the money is always there, when it comes to health care slash and burn.

[Coinyer101]

WH and warmongers win . USA loses.

[fairyduster]

Yes. Not much change eh?

[Coinyer101]

no. I have become quite disappointed in the last couple of weeks. I am ready to form my new liberal-libertarian coalition party to root out warmongers and centrist do nothings.

[Bigunsmom]

Change youl can believe in!!!!!!!! The same campaign slogan they used in Kenya.

[Brillig]

you are a bloody idiot...ar­en't there USA soldiers in these countries suffering from lack of equipment and protection?

I was in NC airport on Sunday, watching a small group of young boys going off to war- and to think that a piece of shite like you would want them to die, horribly on the battlefield, while you sit at home and chat rubbish about warmongering.

Lazy thinkers like you put them in harms way, and would keep them there. Thank GOD for the people voting to keep the soldiers as safe as possible while fighting a useless war their stupid parents supported

[CaptainVideo]

The Party of No looses. Why do the Republicans refuse to support our fighting men?

[Coinyer101]

I'm a liberal. I refuse to support illegal wars.

[springsm]

Interesting that neither of my senators voted. They voted no for all those bush years...he­re they are stuck between the devil and the deep and are not quite gutsy enough. One is but the other does a great amount of work for the vets. sheesh...I need to find out more about this I think. The reasons are always so phoney.

[fairyduster]

The IMF needed 108 Billion dollars. (The money really goes to
European banks and their wealthy American friends.)

See? It's all about the money.

[ChuckyD]

Wake up! This was a House vote, not a Senate vote.

[polaris12]

Thanks for telling him.

[persimmon8]

This is not good news... In light of the urgent problems humanity has to deal with..it is extremely important we stop fighting one another and get down to our real business: ie health care, green energy, education, jobs, poverty, global warming and so on.

I also thought the majority of the American people wanted out of unpopular wars...let­s spend out money on something worthwhile. This type of policy will be our downfall. I just don't understand why the Dems support increased war funding? This type of ignorance is partly responsible for the economic mess we are in.

[ChuckyD]

We cannot just suddenly say we are gone. President Obama is doing what is necessary to extricate us from the wars that he inherited.

[Samalabear]

We do, but our representatives want war, including Obama. Bush was Ahab and Obama and the Dems are the crew that follows Ahab to their demise. Obama wants victory. Nothing has changed.

[Gatorray11]

Did you think he could safely pull out over 150,000 troops on his first day? Some of my brothers and sisters on the left are totally unrealistic. I have disagreements with Barack Obama, but you got to remember he inherited two wars, an economy the Bushistas ran into the ground, a fiancial meltdown, government bail outs without real oversight, the doubling of the national debt from $6 trillion,and deregulation of everything in sight.

Did you expect a perfect solution in 100 days or even in 200 days? I am not saying don't criticize, but push for things that we can be effective on.

Obama has to get out of Iraq, but he has to do it in a safe manner and he has to avoid a collapse of the country. Do you want the Republicans to return to power under the slogan "Who lost Iraq?"

The Bushistas gave us this unjustified war, but the Americans still don't fully understand that. We have to push for disclosure about the abuses of power the Bushistas engaged in -- including lying us into the Iraq war, war profiteering led by Tricky Dickey II, unprecdented grand theft by privatizing a war with 175,000 private contractors, torture of terrorism suspects, domestic spying started BEFORE 9/11, abolishing habeas corpus and thus rights that go back to the Magna Carta and even outing a CIA agent to get revange on a former ambassador's wife because outed one the lies George II gave in major speech.

[Pquilson]

You got part of it. The poverty thing is moving right along.

[Bigunsmom]

I thought he wanted to bring the troops home???

[teron678]

Would try to explain this to you ... but you're a Repub tr0ll ... why bother ...

[Bigunsmom]

During the campaign, he repeatly said that he wanted to bring all troops home. So now he is wanting to send more troops to Afghanistan??? My sweet nephew is getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan. I hate it. I am so scared for him.

[jcwtts1]

From Iraq. Look if you can't be bothered to have followed the most watched campaign in modern history then why are you opening your pie hole?

[southwindow]

captainvideo is an insufferable apologist.

[CaptainVideo]

I am not acting as an apoligist. I am convinced Obama is doing the right thing. He is doing what I voted for him to do.

[Bigunsmom]

What, raise taxes????

[fairyduster]

Remember that anti war speech he gave in 2002? He lied.

So, what did you want?

[jsgaetano]

Welcome to the new reality, Goopers.

When you moan and whine about "bipartisanship", just remember the party-line votes at the beginning of the year, and all the celebration that you guys were going to obstruct everything Obama wanted to do.

America no longer needs Republicans. Soon, we can dump conservatives over the side as well.

[fairyduster]

Who needs republicans? democrats are reaping the rewards now.

Same old same old.

[Bigunsmom]

Yes, you are fairy. Higher taxes, socialized medicine. Change you can believe in.
Republicans are making A HUGE come back already. Can't wait for 2010 and 2012

[Schvenzlerman]

War is the health of the State. Obama knows that as well as Bush knew it. War will continue without pause under his administration. He was elected for war by war mongers who make money on it.

[CaptainVideo]

We have begun a phased withdrawal from Iraq that will achieve our objective of getting out, while leaving a viable government in control of the country so that it does not decend into chaos. It will not be the kind of government we want. It may be pro-Iranian, although recent events in Iran make this less likely. It may become quite authoritarian and corrupt, but it is better than having the country decend into chaos.

[Coinyer101]

withdraw from Iraq has been delayed until after the elections at the end of the year.

[MichaelJ2006]

We'll be thick as thieves in the mideast until we've used all their oil.

[fairyduster]

Follow the money.....

[Peabodies]

So we have 32 democrats, true democrats, in the House. Wow. Thank YOU, all of you, VERY sincerely.

After Obama's election I had hoped for better. I should have known better. Now I am going to go register as an Independent, maybe run as a Green. Not Libertarian. Not Larouche.

Is there a warm and strong Dennis Kucinich/Bernie Sanders/John Conyers/Jan Shakowski's party I can latch on to?

[teron678]

No what you gotta do ... no one is stopping you .......

p.s ... Who gave you the authority to create a Litmus Test for Democrats ...... What's a "True" Democrat & What's a "Fake" Democrat????????

[teron678]

No = Do*

[CaptainVideo]

When push came to shove, Obama supported our fighting men while the Party of No did not.

Why do Republicans hate our fighting men? Why do Republicans hate America?

[Gretel1or2]

They are about opposing Obama -not opposing policies or principles. If Obama decides that he wants Sarah Palin instead of Joe as his VP, see how quickly they'll start hating Sarah.

[fairyduster]

"Our men" should not be fighting. What the he// is wrong with you?

[pewty]

But they are there, so they need equipment. I dont like it either but it is what it is. It is a very costly and time consuming thing to move military You dont just pack a canteen and leave. LOTS OF EQUIPMENT!!!!!!!

[Progressneeded]

Change Who can believe in it?

[ChuckyD]

Change that "I" believe in.

[pewty]

I made a believer of yo mama.

[bascombe]

same war plan as boosh!

change you can create a special appropriations bill for!

[CaptainVideo]

Why did the Republicans vote against our fighting men?

[Talossa]

Republicans voted to cut off funding and leave our troops starving in the desert with no clothing, food or weapons! Traitors all.

[plaidsportcoat]

I am so proud of my NorCal legislators.
GO FARR!
GO LOFGREN, HONDA, LEE! yAY!
We will send you lots of dough next election.