The current appropriation bill that Congress is sending to the white House is a step in the right direction. Of course, as we all know, Bush has already promised a veto. I hope the Democrats then just don't cave in and send him what he wants: the money without a deadline for withdrawal. That would be caving. If they need to play a game of chicken with Bush so be it. These guys have to start getting serious. It's all about not backing down to the administration with the most disastrous foreign policy in history. They need to fight him in every way they can including ultimately not sending him the money at all to continue a failed policy which results in numerous deaths and mutilations on a daily basis.
Congress should make Bush back down to them. Take back democracy for Christ's sake. They are not fighting hard enough. It looks like they are assuming the role of a secondary branch of government. It looks like they are assuming the role of a submissive to Bush's dominant. They shouldn't let this happen. Now is not the time to pussyfoot around, not the time to be namby-pamby. They need to stand up to Bush: use the same tactics he uses. Take him on!
This war is not just about Iraq. It's a war between the two political parties, and so far the Democrats have let the Republicans win because the Republicans have been playing hardball for years while the Democrats have been trying to make nice. They need to get rougher and tougher than the Bushies and the only way to do that is to use every bit of power at their disposal just as the Reps have used every bit of power at their disposal with the result that we practically have one party rule and the Constitution has been gutted. Get serious, Democrats.
Bush obviously wants to ride the Iraq situation out to the end of his term. The war is not his to win but it is his not to lose. Listen, Democrats, make him take the responsibility for losing it. Otherwise, when you take the Presidency in 2008 and settle the Iraq thing, the Republicans will say that you lost the war in Iraq. Better to settle it now under Bush's watch and make Bush the loser. Otherwise, they're going to pin the loss on you. Not that it is an issue of win or lose, but that's just the spin they'll put on it. And they'll say Bush fought valiantly to the end of his term to save us from terrorism and blah, blah blah.
I hate the thought of the Bush library which will be a shrine to how gloriously Bush fought the War Against Terrorism to the last day of his Presidency only to have the Democrats take over and lose it. I hate the thought of all the billionaires who will contribute millions to honor Bush's legacy of fighting the War Against Terror which he would have won if it hadn't been for those confounded Democrats. The Bush library will be funded by millions and millions of dollars more than the Clinton library or the Nixon library or the Reagan library or any other library because Bush has done so much for all the rich people that they will show their gratitude by contributing to a veritable monument to George W Bush who valiantly and gloriously fought and struggled to the end of his Presidency. Think of all the glowing multimedia displays. It's sickening, right? Democrats, don't let this happen. Rove et al will make you out to be wimps, losers. You've got to get down and dirty just like them. If they want to fight in the gutter, give it to them. Candy-pansy ass Bush-Rove-Cheney will cut and run at the first sight of their own blood. Of course, they don't mind spilling the blood of others
The Bush team wants you in a double bind, of course: If you don't vote to fund their war, you're not supporting the troops. If you do vote to fund their war, they'll drag it out to the end and label you as the party that lost Iraq and the War on Terror. It's not enough to just get out of this double bind. Turn it around and put them in a double bind. If Tom DeLay and Dick Cheney want to accuse Harry Reid of treason for saying the war in Iraq is already lost, call them treasonous for being lying, murdering, Constitution-gutting sons-of-bitches. If the Republicans want to call you unAmerican, call them unAmerican. Use exactly the same kind of language on them that they use on you or else you're conceding that ground to them. You're looking like they're right. Use psychology, for Christ's sake, like they do!
Congress, you don't need to concede to Bush over war funding. Earmark any money you appropriate specifically for supporting our troops including armored Humvees, night vision goggles, medical care and veterans' benefits upon their return home etc. Appropriate funds for a month or two. Make Bush come back again and again for more money. Finally, if you have the guts, cut off the money spigot altogether and appropriate just enough to bring the troops home. Let Bush and Cheney go apoplectic. Drive them nuts. Demean them as they have demeaned you. Denigrate them as they have denigrated you. Swift boat them like they swift boated you. Willie Horton them like they Willie Hortoned you. They will lose no opportunity to defeat you both at the ballot box and also in terms of the politics of personal destruction. You've got to do the same to them.
The real issue, of course, is what's right, what's the less murderous policy, what will stabilize the middle east, what will save American and Iraqi lives and treasure. But, mark my words, the Republicans are positioning themselves to propagandize that the Democrats lost the war in Iraq. Don't just be policy wonks. Don't just have good ideas. The only way to fight this is to take it to the limit now. Use your power, Congress, to end this war under Bush's term or you'll live to regret it.
