What "Digby Says" about this............

[KoKo]

Risky Business

by digby

I've been reluctant to write about the Iraq funding "deal" because it's just so depressing --- and yet so predictable. Democrats don't have the votes, which we always knew. But they apparently also didn't feel the desire to fight it out over the summer anyway and keep the pressure on those GOP moderates in difficult races. I honestly don't think it was that risky. Bush's approval ratings keep going down, down down and this way is getting more unpopular by the day. And even if there is no chance of a veto-proof Senate, you have to keep advancing the argument in an environment like this.

Robert Borosage at TomPaine expresses it well:

The Congress will now vote on a funding bill for Iraq that offers no change of course. Every legislator open to reason, concerned for the troops, worried about this nation’s real security, or accountable to the voters will vote against this bill.

Those who vote for it are voting to enable a rogue president. They are sacrificing the nation’s security and the lives of many young soldiers to stand with George Bush.

This vote will be registered. In every state and district of the country, voters will know where their legislator stands. There are no dodges, no excuses. Vote to sustain the rogue president’s ruinous course or vote against. This is a question of life and death, not of partisan politics or Beltway political poker. Every legislator is free to vote his or her conscience. Each should be held accountable.



I hope all these "moderates" of both parties think very, very hard before they seize the opportunity to vote for this deal because they think it will inflate their codpiece or prove their macho bonafides. This president is getting more unpopular by the minute. We are experiencing more American deaths in Iraq this month than at any time since the invasion. The Republican leadership brags publicly that torture is justified at the same time that our soldiers are being kidnapped. The entire middle east is unstable and getting worse all the time. These people need to search their consciences --- and properly analyze the political situation.

more of this and analysis at 2nd Post down....

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/