DEMOCRATS PUSH THROUGH WAR FUNDING BILL WITH WEAK STRINGS ATTACHED THEY WILL ABANDON AS SOON AS BUSH VETOES THE BILL

The latest bill funding Bush's catastrophic war in Iraq passed 218-203. Generally speaking, Democrats voted for it and Republicans voted against it. The Democratic leadership was pushing for it because it makes some moves in the direction of troop withdrawal. But even those weak moves were enough to stir controversy. 15 Democrats voted with the Republicans (while 4 North Carolina anti-war Republican Walter Jones plus 3 pathetic opportunist rubber stamps-- Phil English, James Walsh and Chris Shays-- fearlful that voters will toss them out next year, abandoned Bush and voted with the Democrats).

Most of the Democrats who voted with the GOP on this were the regular war-mongering Cheney-supporters like John Barrow (GA), Jim Marshall (GA), Dan Boren (OK), Jim Cooper (TN), Nick Lampson (TX), Gene Taylor (MS), John Tanner (TN), Vic Snyder (AR), Jim Matheson (UT) and Brian Baird (WA). But several progressive Democrats also voted against the leadership position because they are tired of playing games and felt-- rightly so-- that the bill is just a charade and a sop to Americans who want real peace. John Lewis (GA) loudly abstained and no votes were registered from ant-war heroes Pete Stark (CA), Dennis Kucinich (OH) and Tom Allen (ME).

As you know, Blue America has been working to help Tom Allen challenge notorious Bush Regime rubber stamp Susan Collins for Maine's senate seat. Allen sent us his rationale today for opposing the bill:

“I opposed this war from the beginning and have consistently worked to set a deadline to bring our troops home. I voted against this bill because it does not set a binding deadline for safe, logical withdrawal of our troops. This legislation carries the ‘change the mission’ view that leaves our troops in Iraq indefinitely, merely re-labels their jobs and costs billions and billions of dollars. That isn’t the change in policy that we need.”

The polar opposite came from Bush-supporter Brian Baird (D-WA) who has drunk the koolaid and is now a die-hard war hawk. CSPAN captured him speech making the Democratic version of Cheney's talking points:

"My colleagues, as someone who opposed the invasion of Iraq and believes it was one of the most egregious mistakes in the history of this country, I rise today to implore you to not make a mistake today by demanding that we begin an immediate withdrawal. The facts on the ground are the situation is improving in Iraq. Courageous Americans have given their lives and the time away from their families to make that happen. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died in a conflict that we created. We have a chance now to try to improve the situation. Progress is being made, do not let anyone today say it is not. Violence is down, political leaders are reaching out across the aisle, Shias are meeting with Sunnis, Sunnis are meeting with Shias. They need more time to succeed, and an insecure situation will undermine the progress, not further it. We need to have more time to debate this resolution today. We need to take the good parts of it, keep those in, but abandon this requirement for an immediate withdrawal. There is a big difference between one year, which this measure says we have to be out in, or a ten year horizon. We should find the nuanced ground that we can agree on."

To summarize Cheney's Baird's position:

* "Courageous Americans have given their lives" so we must make more courageous Americans give their lives too. This was a rationale used for endless war starting in ancient times and has been used in every war since Athens invaded Sicily in 414 BC as part of the Peloponnesian Wars, an invasion that has all the hallmarks of Bush's Iraq disaster.
* "Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died in a conflict that we created" so let's double down and see how close we can get to a million before we bankrupt ourselves completely.
* "Progress is being made" is the same calumny that was used to prolong, tragically and pointlessly the War in Vietnam (although them Baird would have been saying "There is light at the end of the tunnel."
* "Violence is down," another accountant's lie perpetrated by the Bush Regime and bought by hacks like Baird, Barrow and Boren but few others.
* "Political leaders are reaching out across the aisle." Baird must be referring to al-Mailiki hiring CIA double agent/Iranian spy Ahmad Chalabi, another sure bet that further disasters await for all concerned.
* "We need to have more time," basically what all war-mongers who are losing always say. Always.