You may have missed it, but for about 30 seconds this week a Democrat drew a line in the sand on funding for Iraq. And then another Democrat shot his foot off.
Appropriations maven David Obey, defying the White House, Congressional Republicans and House Majority Leader Steny “Stand Fast, Retreat Faster” Hoyer, announced that he was pulling the plug on a budget deal that would have given Bush no strings money for his vanity war in exchange for increased funding for Democratic budget priorities. Obey said that since Bush was threatening to veto the spending bill despite the Democratic decision to include unconditional money for Iraq, he would reinstate a version that included no money for Iraq and hewed to the president’s spending limit by trimming the president’s priorities. “When the White House continues to stick it in our eye, I say to hell with it.”
That was Monday. A day later, Senate Majority Leader Harry “Mind On My Money And Money On My Mind” Reid said that Obey’s plan to eliminate all earmarks from the legislation was a non-starter—”I have the right … to determine what money should be spent in Nevada”—and Nancy Pelosi, who had initially supported Obey’s plan, displayed the same strength of character that led her to become a war criminal and switched sides.
The result is that Bush will get his money and Democrats will get a few pieces of silver to distribute to the folks back home. Mission Accomplished. Again. Salon’s Glenn Greenwald provides a visual representation of the outcome.
Well done, O mighty warriors.
His later cite of a conservative blogger is also telling:
“There is no Democratic Party in Congress. There are, instead, a bare majority of Congressmen and Senators who have banded together in order to gather power, influence, and money. Which is fine, as far as it goes — except that they are not actually using any of the resources that they are gathering to benefit the groups and causes who worked to put them in power.”