February 5, 2007
ALL THEY ARE SAYING...GIVE WAR A CHANCE:
Republicans in Senate block debate on Iraq resolution (Noam N. Levey, February 5, 2007, LA Times)
Republican Senate leaders succeeded today in blocking debate on a proposed resolution criticizing President Bush's plan to boost troop levels in Iraq. Democrats vowed to return to the issue soon."They may stop us temporarily," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Vowing to return to the Iraq war in future debates over the 9/11 Commission's recommendations and on a supplemental appropriations bill, Reid said, "This does not end the debate on Iraq."
On a procedural vote, Senate Democrats mustered 49 votes -- far short of the 60 votes needed.
So, after the spate of editorials this morning about how passage of a Senate resolution opposing the surge in Iraq would be a deeply meaningful rebuke to the President, oughtn't we read this as a stunning rebuke to the opponents?
MORE:
GOP Stalls Debate On Troop Increase: Democrats Fall Short On War Resolution (Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray, 2/06/07, Washington Post)
A day of posturing, finger-pointing and backroom wrangling came to nothing when Democratic and Republican leaders could not reach agreement on which nonbinding resolutions would be debated and allowed to come to a vote. [...]"What you just saw was Republicans giving the president the green light to escalate in Iraq," Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said after the vote.
He must be learning his oratory from Joe Biden with that sort of accidental clarity. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 5, 2007 7:33 PM
Reid could get only 49 votes? He's more hopeless than his predecessor(s).
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 5, 2007 8:30 PMYup, not even a majority of the Senate. Hapless Harry ...
Posted by: Steve White at February 5, 2007 10:11 PMThose headlines are atrocious. It was the Dhimmicrats who were trying to block debate by invoking cloture; the Repubs wanted debate and consideration of several alternate resolutions.
Posted by: jd watson at February 6, 2007 12:40 AMNo, they don't. They want to kill it.
Posted by: oj at February 6, 2007 8:03 AMAll the Democrats have to do is to reject the Republican resolutions and accept the Democrat one, all of which can be done with straight party-line votes. The real problem, of course, is that they can't produce a straight party-line vote on this issue--which will drive their base up a wall.
Posted by: AC at February 6, 2007 10:37 AM