Speaking as a Republican who supports the President on Iraq, I want to urge "symbolic votes" and hold significant policy votes on the proposals to cut funds and mandate troop withdrawal from Iraq. After all, the American people deserve substantive debate and substantive votes on substantive policies, not window dressing and political posturing from those who seek surrender and wish to undercut the president and the crusade against Islamofascist jihadis.

Democratic leaders said Tuesday that they intended to hold symbolic votes in the House and Senate on President BushÂ’s plan to send more troops to Baghdad, forcing Republicans to take a stand on the proposal and seeking to isolate the president politically over his handling of the war.

Senate Democrats decided to schedule a vote on the resolution after a closed-door meeting on a day when Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts introduced legislation to require Mr. Bush to gain Congressional approval before sending more troops to Iraq.

The Senate vote is expected as early as next week, after an initial round of committee hearings on the plan Mr. Bush will lay out for the nation Wednesday night in a televised address delivered from the White House library, a setting chosen because it will provide a fresh backdrop for a presidential message.

The office of Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, followed with an announcement that the House would also take up a resolution in opposition to a troop increase. House Democrats were scheduled to meet Wednesday morning to consider whether to interrupt their carefully choreographed 100-hour, two-week-long rollout of their domestic agenda this month to address the Iraq war.

In both chambers, Democrats made clear that the resolutions — which would do nothing in practical terms to block Mr. Bush’s intention to increase the United States military presence in Iraq — would be the minimum steps they would pursue. They did not rule out eventually considering more muscular responses, like seeking to cap the number of troops being deployed to Iraq or limiting financing for the war — steps that could provoke a Constitutional and political showdown over the president’s power to wage war.

So come on, Democrats, you have teh power -- have the testicular fortitude to use it by voting on actual legislation, not non-binding resolutions, on what we all agree is the defining issue of the day.

Or is it that you lack the will and the courage to actually stand up and be counted when it comes time for a real implementation of your principles -- just like you lack the will to use America's military might to spread freedom and American values abroad in the face of those who seek to destroy both.

Oh, and a closing note -- who chose the picture of harry Reid that makes him look like a plaster saint, complete with halo?

Posted by: Greg at 11:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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