Look, I’m not the brightest penny in the drawer, but even *I* knew that Bush had no reason to compromise in his Iraq stance. I said so right here, weeks ago. So if *I* was able to figure it out, certainly professional politicians should have been able to do likewise and been prepared to be as stubborn and intransigent as Bush. That the only thing they could do was *give* him a reason to compromise on the issue of deadlines through a show of strength and concerted spin of his veto to their advantage.
Instead, in a monumental collapse of will and a total ignoring of the nationwide “we’re sick of this war” mandate that gave them success in the election, the Dems folded and gave Bush everything he wanted. Continued funding with no strings attached, unless you count the nonbinding benchmarks which Bush can ignore. Of COURSE he’s going to ignore them. He’s ignored the will of the people and the Constitution; what makes anyone think he’s going to attend to nonbinding benchmarks. And they’ve basically thrown away any future possibility that they’ll be able to rein him in, because they’ve sent him a firm message: Hang tough and we’ll cave.
The time to make the point, to hang tough, to get it done, was now. Not three months from now or six months from now. All they’ve managed to do is send a message to Bush that he can continue to do exactly as he pleases, and a message to the American people that they’re incapable of standing up to the president and making it stick.
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