WHO'S WITH BUSH AND WHO'S WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE? IS STENY HOYER BECOMING PART OF BUSH'S UNOFFICIAL WAR CABINET?

My friend Danny is very smart. He once told me to stop mixing up "politicians" with "leaders" Politicians figure out which way the wind is blowing and then they join the parade. Sometimes they even run to the head of the parade so it looks to the dummies in the mass media that they are leading it. Do you think there's a correlation between Hillary Clinton's declaration of no support and the public's and the media's utter rejection of Bush's pathetic speech and horrific plans last night?

The dual right wing talking points of the day-- spewed out a few minutes ago by McCain on CNN, but already permeating the airwaves and print media via all the dependable Republican hacks from the odious and deplorable Dave Brooks to the Sean Hannitys and Rush Limbaughs and Ann Coulters and Pat Robertsons, as well as their politicians-- is that if the Democrats put our troops in danger by cutting off funding (I actually heard the bumbling imbecile Gordon Smith of Oregon claim the Democrats would deny our soldiers in Iraq bullets) the Democrats are then responsible for Iraq and must come up with a solution.

I'm not certain if Hillary is another Steny Hoyer phony who wants a non-binding resolution (a symbolic something or other)-- I suspect so-- or if she will really be on the team that wants to end the war. Will she become a co-sponsor of the Kennedy legislation? You can read what Russ Feingold has to say and you know exactly where he stands-- for using the constitutionally mandated power of the purse to end this war instead of escalating it. "We should be redeploying our troops out of Iraq, not sending in more. Conditions in Iraq are deteriorating, the strain on our military is increasing and the threats we face to our national security elsewhere in the world continue to grow. We can't afford to wait any longer. Congress must use its main power-- the power of the purse-- to put an end to our involvement in the war in Iraq."


We should see if the Steny Hoyer faction-- those who want symbolic opposition only-- will triumph over Democrats who actually want to do something about ending this disastrous occupation of Iraq. Hillary's statement today leaves you clueless about where she stands other than that she's running for president. Chris Dodd announced he's running too-- although he also announced he'd be supporting Kennedy's legislation to defund escalation. Edwards, Kucinich and Vilsack are also in that camp. Democrats who voted to make Hoyer Majority Leader need to do something about his determination to let Bush continue the war.

(Oh, about the photo up top. Longtime DWT reader Scott took those pictures in Brooklyn this morning. He suggests they sum up the essence of Bush's new Iraq plan and are as close as we'll ever get to the sweet smell of victory there.)