COCHRAN AMENDMENT DEFEATED. SENATE WILL PUSH FOR AN END TO BUSH'S WAR IN IRAQ

Earlier today I was chewing on my ankle worried that the Democrats would fail to stop Cochran's amendment to the supplemental spending will which would have stripped out the language directing Bush to start redeploying American troops by next year. The Republicans failed to muster a majority and it went down to defeat 50-48. Hagel voted with the Democrats, calling for an end to the Republican strategy of obfuscation and obstructionism. On the Senate floor, Hagel used language he usually reserves for the Sunday talk shows: "The cost of combat in Iraq in terms of American lives, dollars, and world standing has been devastating for our country. The American people are demanding that we develop a bipartisan consensus for an honorable and responsible exit strategy from Iraq... If we fail to build a bipartisan foundation for an exit strategy, America will pay a high price for this blunder, one that we will have difficulty recovering from in the years ahead." Unfortunately, it wasn't that bipartisan. Hagel was joined by endangered Oregon Republican Gordon Smith while Mark Pryor (D-AR) and former-Democrat Joe Lieberman (I-CT) voted with the Republicans. God only knows what Reid promised Ben Nelson (D-NE) to get him to vote with the Democrats!

Russ Feingold put the vote in perspective: "Today marks an important step toward ending the war in Iraq. For the first time, the U.S. Senate will pass binding legislation requiring the President to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. While this is long overdue, it is a big step in the right direction and it brings us closer to ending our involvement in this disastrous war."

Republicans are counting on Bush to veto the bill once the differences with the House get ironed out in conference committee. But with the Pentagon screaming that the soldiers need the support in Iraq now will Bush fly in the face of the Senate, the House and the vast majority of the American people and cut off support for our troops? Would Bush do that just to play political games? Will he put our troops in jeopardy?


WINGNUTS RENDING THEIR CLOTHES AND TEARING OUT THEIR HAIR

I don't usually link to far right websites but this one was too funny to pass up. They have no brains and no capacity to think beyond what Limbaugh and Hannity read them from Rove's daily talking point faxes. It's kind of sad, especially the part about how they're starting to realize what a laughing stock they are: "I am sick and tired of this laughingly-termed 'Conservative Movement.' We all suck at it, it's as much a movement as the one those who take Ex-Lax might experience, and it needs to change or go away so we can continue to shrivel and hide in our dark little closets away from the bright sunshine that IS the Progressive/Liberal activist movement..."