Democrats to back down on Iraq war conditions

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the Congress, who came to power last year on a call to end the combat in Iraq, will soon give President George W. Bush the last war-funding bill of his presidency without any of the conditions they sought for withdrawing U.S. troops, congressional aides said on Monday.

Lawmakers are arranging to send Bush $165 billion in new money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, enough to last for about a year and well beyond when Bush leaves office on January 20.

"It'll be the lump sum of money, veterans (funding) and that's it," said one House aide familiar with the negotiations on the legislation.

The aide was referring to the funding for the unpopular Iraq war, now in its sixth year, and a measure being attached to expand education benefits for combat veterans.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080616/pl_nm/iraq_usa_funding_dc;_ylt=ApzatSuosEiTd1ZRzGqTlQEa.3QA

[derby378]

1. Wait a minute - WHY did Democrats take control of Congress again?!?

:wtf:

Profiles in cowardice, indeed...

[saigon68]

23. Reid and Pelosi just got ---- " JOEMENTUMED"

lol :-)

[Drum]

2. Wow, I'm totally stunned.

:eyes:

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. 
[link:www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html|Click
here] to review the message board rules.

[Drum]

30. Sorry, implied sarcasm. nt

[Solly Mack]

3. Yeah?

hmmm

[ananda]

4. Dems definitely have jello for spines.

They are Bush's beeyatches.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. And I should be surprised about this because....

[derby378]

Maybe because some of us expected the Dems to do their jobs?

Geez. If we left the Republicans in charge, we'd have the exact same track record on scaling down the occupation of Iraq.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. They haven't that is why I am not surprised any longer

Now if they DID their jobs I would be pleasantly surprised

[cstanleytech]

17. Maybe but would we have hope? With the democrats

for now atleast we have some hope that once they control the whitehouse (assuming obama wins which I hope he does) that the democrats might start withdrawing the troops or atleast making plans to, with the republicans though like McCain such hope is virtually nonexistent.

[LiberalUprising]

28. So you can live on hope

At least you have hope?

Good for you

I wonder how many of our youth trapped in Iraq can do the same

[cstanleytech]

34. Sometimes hope is all you have

and if you ever get to that area maybe you will understand it better.

[LiberalUprising]

35. been to that area, done it and understand it completely

hope that is.

Perhaps you will get beyond the hopeful stage, and realize how empty it's promises are

Thanks for the concern

[cstanleytech]

55. *shrug* You got a 3rd viable option, if so I am willing to listen.

Right now though we usually have few choices, the democrats or the republicans....you get the odd independant now and then but even with them you have to be careful, Lieberman being a prime example of the need to be careful.

[proud2BlibKansan]

40. I was asked just this weekend to work on a campaign I had worked on in 06

It's a Democrat who ran on ending the war and has voted to support every funding bill so far. She also voted for FISA.

So I asked her aide to tell me just one vote that reflected her campaign promises. Just one.

And he couldn't name one.

I laughed and walked away. I guess they think I am stupid.

[Solon]

6. When the opposition part refuses to take that role, we become a de factor one party state...

with two faces. There is no true choice in American politics.

[MisterP]

11. the DLCers use this weakness (which is their core platform) to encourage blind loyalty

and demand no-questions-aked voting for any Dem they proffer to us so that we can "finally" have 60 seats, the White House, the Court, etc., etc.--disregarding the fact that those conservative jellyfish Dems wouldn't pass any law worth s--t once elected, making "winning" with conservative Dems a Pyrrhic and hollow victory
it's like that scene in Legally Blonde 2, of all things, after Elle Woods criticizes Sally Field's character jettisoning any humanity in order to win (paraphrasing):
Rudd: "I can't do anybody any good if I'm not in Congress."
Elle: "But you're not doing anybody any good now."

[Solon]

13. The DLC aren't the only ones asking for such loyalty, so does the DNC...

Besides that, the DLC, as an organization, is a reflection of the trends within the DNC. The great Lie, in American politics, is the belief that the Democratic party is a Liberal party and counterweight to the Conservative Republican party. They are more liberal than the Republicans, but its more a matter of a couple of degrees difference, rather than being on polar opposites. There is no left wing in American politics, even most of our greatest liberal politicians in this country are barely center-left, whereas most of the Democratic party is center-right.

[MisterP]

15. and the two-party lock keeps those against the far right trapped with their nearer-right "opponents"

it's a common misconception on DU that all countries with strong third parties have proportional representation, meaning that genuine change in the U.S. would require change within the Democratic Party or Constitutional amendment. However, Britain and Canada both have first-past-the-post systems AND more LDPs and NDPs than you can shake a stick at--because they got tired of merely making sure that the wrong cat didn't get into power.

[WCGreen]

18. Plus the systems are not winner take all like they are here.

That is what makes the difference.

There is a proportional representation claus, I do believe, built into all the parlimentary governments.

HEre, even if you loose by 526 votes, it might as well have been 5,260,000.

[MisterP]

48. no, Britain and Canada use strictly territorial and first-past-the-post districts

only the Welsh and Scottish Assemblies have proportionality, and that is very recent: my point is that third parties are possible in a system like ours--and the U.S. Congress has seen everyone from Socialists to Free Silver to Anti-Masons

[AndyA]

7. Obviously the Dems in Congress are enjoying the war, just like Bush.

They must not mind the death and destruction.

They surely approve of everything Bush is doing.

Because if they didn't, they could do something about it. I wonder what Bush has on all of them.

We couldn't find a sorrier bunch of losers if we tried. :(

[derby378]

8. And, wouldn't you know it, Nancy Pelosi defeated her anti-war primary challenger

Good on ya, Shirley Golub. We know you tried. :cry:

[pleah]

32. Does the California voting system have a paper trail?

Just wondering.

[hooraydems06]

44. Trust me, Pelosi is actually winning these elections

People, even in SF-type regions are actually voting for people like her. For them, it's better the devil you know than the angel you don't. The closest San Franciscans ever came close to real change was when they voted for a Green party candidate in a mayoral run-off election in 2003 where it was just between him and the Democratic candidate (Gavin Newsom, who is the current mayor, as you might have heard).

[proud2BlibKansan]

41. She has another challenger in November

:)

[hooraydems06]

45. I think some on DU are FINALLY breaking through the

"has to be a Democrat" no matter what. They are opening up to the idea of voting for a third party or independent candidate.

After seeing what the Democrats are offering after finally regaining power...

[coalition_unwilling]

54. I have already broken through. I live in Jane "War Pig" Harmon's

congressional district and will never pull the lever for her again. Starting in 2006 and continuing this year, I plan to vote Dem Socialist or Peace and Freedom in that race. Same applies the next time Dianne "War Profiteering Spouse" Feinstein comes up for a vote.

[gulfcoastliberal]

10. K&R - Fascism sure sucks!! nt

[dipsydoodle]

12. Why am I surprised

:sarcasm:

[damntexdem]

14. Why is growing a spine so damn hard?

[seriousstan]

16. Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) admitted that the anti-war folks were used for votes.

"I'll tell you my impression. We really in this last election, when I say we...the Democrats, I think pushed it as far as we can to the end of the fleet, didn't say it, but we implied it. That if we won the Congressional elections, we could stop the war. Now anybody was a good student of Government would know that wasn't true. But you know, the temptation to want to win back the Congress, we sort of stretched the facts...and people ate it up."

Why the surprise now?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc5lHXkrdQ8&eurl=http://jeffemanuel.net/paul-kanjorski-pa-11-admits-democrats-lied-about-being-able-to-end-war-in-iraq

[WCGreen]

19. He's right.!

With a bull headed man in the White House surrounded by ruthless fucks and a slim majority in the Senate, there was no chance in stopping the war.

[Vattel]

22. the senate was irrelevant

the house of reps just had to refuse to fund the war

[Bandit]

42. BS

The majority can and does control the spending. A simple majority is enough to halt the spending. They may not get a bill passed to bring the troops home but they could easily stop sending the money if they had the will. They just didn't have the stomach to be branded for not supporting the troops while engaged in battle..

[Zhade]

52. Fucking horseshit. THEY CONTROL THE AGENDA - THESE BILLS DON'T HAVE TO MAKE IT TO THE FLOOR!

NT!

[acmavm]

20. Anyone who didn't expect this is crazy. These people are craven whores,

selling themselves to a corrupt administration, pissing all over the people who sent them to Washington in the first place.

Pretty gutty if you ask me.

[lonestarnot]

21. Fucking A!

Again. :grr:

[frog92969]

24. Sure glad they weren't "busy" with impeachments instead.

Just think of all the women and children WE can bomb with this OUR gift to the chimp.:puke:

[FreeStateDemocrat]

25. Plenty good bucks to be made supplying the army with the tools of the trade.

They're all fucking corporate whores becoming millionaires by being elected to become lobbyists.

[Matteon]

26. Fail.

.

[Hydra]

29. I agree

/major fail

"We can't do anything our voters want- just what Bush does."

[ohio2007]

31. you can fool some of the people ALL of the time

[Olney Blue]

33. I feel trapped.

[clixtox]

36. Those willing to fund the ongoing war crimes...

Are war criminals themselves and they need to be told this constantly.

Constantly and consistently!

This includes representatives from both political parties.

Almost everyone is willing to overlook this fact, that is one reason nothing changes, we are all bordering on complicit for not making this fact the operative reality.

Tell your rep, if they vote(d) for the funds that they are a war criminal. It is true and they need to know that we know also.

[Winterblues]

47. We are trapped and there is not a thing anyone can do about it

They have us over a barrel and they damn well know it and even joke about it. They know they can do any damn thing they want and there is no where else for us to go. The one thing I do this year is give absolutely no money nor support for those already in Office. I will continue to vote for a while yet but that too may just come to an end. I can not in good conscience vote for those that show nothing but contempt for us and the Constitution.

[classysassy]

37. Rethughs and Demlugs

both groups of gangsters are robbing us blind.

[classysassy]

38. Rethugs and Demmugs

[proud2BlibKansan]

39. Those damn blue dogs

and my congressman is one of them :grr:

[bdamomma]

43. they are invertebrates, spineless and gutless.

george is laughing all the way to the bank, unbelieveable giving this POS all this power.

[paparush]

46. Two Major Crimes Foisted on America

1. The Bush Administration.

2. A Congress that has completely abdicated its responsibility.

[JerseygirlCT]

49. And another post with them caving to Bush.

WHY? Where is the benefit here? Why do this? He's a lame-duck, he's hated by 80 percent of the country. This war is despised. Why give him what he wants - again?

[Truth2Tell]

50. Kicking with fury. nt

[Zhade]

51. REMEMBER THEIR NAMES.

NT!

[DailyGrind51]

53. Weren't they supposed to attach the 13-week unemployment

insurance extension to the bill?

[TheWatcher]

56. Are They Complicit Yet?

[ohio2007]

57. House Democratic, Republican leaders reach accord on bill to finance Iraq, Afghanistan wars

WASHINGTON: Democratic and Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives agreed Wednesday on a long-overdue bill to pay for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They said President George W. Bush will sign it.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/18/america/NA-GEN-US-Congress-Iraq-Financing.php

Same as the old boss.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cRPrbvIzn8&feature=related
pwnd again

[mdmc]

58. yes

they/we are