Save the (Republican) Senators (by Marie Cocco at Truthdig)

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Save the (Republican) Senators


Posted on Jul 11, 2007
By Marie Cocco

To understand the debate on Iraq now unfolding in the Senate, it is necessary first to give it a proper name: save the senators. The Republican senators, that is.

The rules are simple. Find a way—any way—to revise, reverse or otherwise wiggle out from under the series of embarrassing votes these same Senate Republicans took in February, March and April to block debate on what to do about the disaster in Iraq.

At the start of the legislative year, the Senate was not allowed to discuss changing course in Iraq because the Republican leadership lined up the votes necessary to stymie substantive progress. Not even the last refuge of the politically ridiculous—a nonbinding resolution declaring a “sense of Congress” on the need for a new military and diplomatic strategy—survived.

The filibuster has long been a friend to obstructionists, used commonly to thwart one party’s ideological ambitions or an objectionable nominee. This week adds a twist. Now it’s the chosen tactic to keep panicked Republicans from halting President Bush’s folly in Iraq.

For all their hand-wringing and rhetorical reversals, the handful of Republicans who’ve broken with the Bush White House do not now coalesce around a single proposal to accomplish what they say they want to achieve: the long-awaited policy shift to extricate our troops. So the numbers—60 votes are needed to end a filibuster—still seem to favor the White House.

“The tide has turned,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who is openly considering voting with Democrats to begin a partial drawdown and redeployment of the remaining American forces in Iraq. “There’s not 60 votes, but I can assure you in September there will be.” .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070711_save_the_republican_senators/