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Senate Slumber Party
Senator Mitch McConnell notes today that The Dems have themselves in quite a pickle. They belly-ached long enough about needing a new strategy that the President finally gave them one in January. President Bush sent General Petraeus to Iraq, with an 81-0 confirmation from the Senate, to carry out the battle plan now known as The Surge. Almost immediately, Barack Obama boldly asserted, “The president’s strategy will not work.” What he should have said was, “The Democrats cannot afford for the president’s strategy to work.”
For the next three months the Democrats, who keep reminding us of the so-called mandate they’ve been given, tried to pass a funding bill that would keep the General they unanimously confirmed from completing the mission they sent him to accomplish. When the President refused to turn his back on Petraeus, the Dems folded and passed a funding bill without a withdrawal timeline. This, of course, has the anti-war base that gave them their majority completely beside themselves. At the same time, those of us who believe that Petraeus should be given an opportunity to finish the job he started haven’t forgotten the Dems’ attempts to pull vital funding for our troops.
Finding themselves squarely painted into a corner, senate Democrats have only one option: a slumber party! In what amounts to nothing more than a publicity stunt, Democrats are threatening an all-night filibuster of, you guessed it, their own bill. Proposed by Senators Carl Levin and Jack Reed, both Democrats, the bill calls for troop draw downs starting in 120 days, with an April 30, 2008 deadline for complete withdrawal. The bill is expected to have majority support, but less than the 60 votes needed to close debate.
McConnell rightly notes that “Our troops and our top military commander deserve better. At the very least they should be able to expect that we will stick with our pledge to give General Petraeus until September to report back on progress and the law which a majority of the Senate voted for in May.” Don’t hold your breath. Democrats seem completely at ease with the idea of betraying the troops, and our nation’s security, in order to gain popularity points in the mainstream media.