This morning the House approved a non-binding resolution “that effectively endorses President Bush’s war policy and rejects setting a date for the withdrawal of U.S. forces” from Iraq, writes William Branigin at WaPo.
The nonbinding resolution, which declares “that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror,” passed by a vote of 256 to 153, with five lawmakers voting “present” and 19 others not participating. Forty-two Democrats sided with 214 Republicans in supporting the measure. Three Republicans and one independent joined 149 Democrats in voting against it.
Curious about which House Dems are still providing butt cover for Bush, I combed through this list of how House members voted and pulled out Democrats who voted yes; also noted are Dems who were present but didn’t vote and those who were absent. Any Dem congress critters not on this list voted no.
AL Cramer
AR Berry, Ross, Snyder
CA Berman, Cardoza, Costa (Sherman was present but did not vote. Waxman was absent.)
CO Salazar
FL (Boyd was present but did not vote.)
GA Barrow, Bishop, Marshall
HI Case
IL Bean, Costello, Lipinski (Evans and Butierrez were absent.)
IA Boxwell
KS Moore
KY Chandler
LA Melancon
MA Lynch
MI (Dingell and Kilpatrick were absent)
MN Peterson
MS Taylor, Thompson
MO (Cleaver was absent)
NY Higgins, McCarthy (Bishop was absent)
NC Etheridge, McIntyre
OK Boren
PA Holden
SC Spratt
SD Herseth
TN Cooper, Davis, Gordon
TX Cuellar, Edwards, G. Green
UT Matheson
VA Boucher
WA Larsen, Smith
WI Kind
The Republicans who voted no were Leach of Iowa, Duncan of Tennessee, and Paul of Texas. Sanders of Vermont, an Independent, voted no.
In a 256-153 vote that mirrored the position taken by the Senate earlier, the GOP-led House approved a nonbinding resolution that praises U.S. troops, labels the Iraq war part of the larger global fight against terrorism and says an “arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment” of troops is not in the national interest.
“Retreat is not an option in Iraq,” declared House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. “Achieving victory is our only option … We have no choice but to confront these terrorists, win the war on terror and spread freedom and democracy around the world.”
I see Boehner still believes in the Good Democracy Fairy.
Balking carried a risk for Democrats, particularly when they see an opportunity to win back control of Congress from the GOP. Republicans likely will use Democratic “no” votes to claim that their opponents don’t support U.S. troops.
The most recent polls still say a big majority of Americans — 61 percent in the latest CBS News poll — disapprove of the way Bush is handling the war. Yet voting for “staying the course” is the “safe” vote, and votes that reflect the opinion of a big majority of Americans is a “risky” vote. This suggests the Good Democracy Fairy needs to spend some time in Washington. Along with the Accuracy and Fairness in Media Fairy.
Some GOP incumbents who face tough challenges from Democrats in November issued qualified support for the measure while criticizing the GOP-led Congress.
“The American people are looking to us to answer their questions on how much progress is being made, what are the Iraqis themselves willing to do to fight for their freedom and when will our men and women come home,” Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-Pennsylvania, said before voting in favor of the resolution.
Like I said in the post title — resolve has nothing to do with this.
The House vote comes one day after the Senate soundly rejected a call to withdraw combat troops by year’s end by shelving a proposal that would allow “only forces that are critical to completing the mission of standing up Iraqi security forces” to remain in Iraq in 2007.
That vote was 93-6, but Democrats assailed the GOP maneuver that led to the vote as political gamesmanship and promised further debate next week on a proposal to start redeploying troops this year.
Wake me up when the Senate gets some real resolve.
Murtha, a Vietnam veteran, said it was “easy to stay in an air-conditioned office and say, ‘I’m going to stay the course.”‘ He added: “That’s why I get so upset when they stand here sanctimoniously and say we’re fighting this thing. It’s the troops that are doing the fighting.”
It’s absolutely disgusting to watch men without courage or the decency of honest conviction to hide behind the rhetoric of courage when the sacrifice is being borne by others. They are the ultimates whores who prostitute the sacrifices of our troops to find security in the graces of a misguided and deceitful administration. Fuck em all ,and I hope America can see come November where their allegiances lie.
Let’s see how many more lives and families will be destroyed by Bush’s bid for glory come November. It won’t be me or mine coming home after dark in a box from Iraq, so, bring it on! . “We weep and we mourn.”.yep, we sure do
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I have seen several bloggers respond to this debate, but nobody raises the point that just uttery infuriates me. So I had to put it on my own website, which is not even technically a blog:
http://www.wohlmut.com/kevin
> > The House erupted in impassioned election-year debate over the Iraq war on Thursday… “We must renew our resolve that the actions of evildoers will not dictate American policy,” House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said in remarks laden with references to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Okay, fair enough. I’m fine with what Hastert said. –But speaking of dictating American policy, since when does the Pentagon hand out a book of War Debate Points to Senators on the Senate Floor?
Why, starting YESTERDAY, that’s when! ( http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2080508 )
> > Choreographed by the GOP, the debate unfolded four months before midterm elections that will decide the control of Congress. The administration, for its part, was so determined to get its message out that the Pentagon distributed a highly unusual “debate prep book” filled with ready-made answers for criticism of the war. …
> > The Associated Press obtained a copy of the document. It was sent to both Republicans and Democrats and it laid out the administration’s positions in strong terms and offered page after page of counterpoints to criticisms that Democrats typically level against Bush’s war policies.
This is a fine line. Yeah, sure, Senators can _go to_ the Pentagon and get reports and strategies and arguments. Senators can _go to_ the Pentagon and get biased facts and misleading analyses, if that is their inclination. But when the Pentagon sends biased material _TO_ the Senate, that crosses the line. The Debate Prep Book says: “Iraq will become a haven for terrorists, murderers and thugs,” if the United States leaves “before the job is done.” Will Become? _W_I_L_L_ BECOME? HAVE YOU READ ANYTHING IN THE NEWS FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS?
What else do we have to endure before we realize: Democracy in our country is not pinin’, it’s _passed on_! This republic is no more! It has _ceased to be_! Democracy has expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a _late_ Democracy. It’s a stiff. Bereft of life, rational civic debate in this country now rests in peace, if you hadn’t nailed it to the Congressional gavel it would be _pushing up the daisies_! The ideals of our Founding Fathers have _rung down the curtain_ and _joined the choir invisible_! This is an _E_X_-Democracy!
Oh, lookie here…three more dead, well actually only one confirmed dead, but if the other two aren’t dead already they will be dead.. But we won’t cut and run, no siree bob.. these colors never run. The way I see it is, it’s not like they’re real people, but more like “just a number”.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13355608/
Republicans will try to use this vote in the fall. Fortunately, the absolutely BIZARRE spectacle of watching Republicans defend AMNESTY for insurgents who ATTACKED AMERICAN SOLDIERS should mute that talking point.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/iraqs-amnesty-plan-endangers-american.html
In fact, that should be ALL that democrats need to say to take back Congress this fall. Those Congressmen should be in every advertisement. Let’s compare who supports the troops, the party offering a new direction in Iraq for the troops, or the party offering amnesty to the terrorists?
I’m pisssed-0ff! I found the name of a friend on the list. He’s not my representative but is from my state and we’ve always contributed to his campaign. He’s cast votes that I disagreed with in the past but I can’t overlook his votes any longer. His vote on this issue cannot be excused. It was obvious to everyone (that pays attention to such things) that this resolution was brought to the floor for no other reason than free campaigning for the 2006 elections – and to divide the democratic party. It worked. The everyday Joe won’t realize the asshole stunt that the Repubics pulled – they will hear that the democratic party ‘doesn’t support the troops’. But most of all – they will hear that the party was ‘split’. If the party had voted unanimously maybe, just maybe, people would look more closely at the issue to see why it was divided strictly on party lines (one can only hope). But once people hear ‘party split’, they will only hear the talking points of opposition and lose interest and fail to turn out the vote. I’m starting to believe what I read about the splintered democratic party. To the Democrats in the House of Representatives – get it together if you want your jobs come November.
Swami,
I agree with your comments. I don’t understand why the democrats keep allowing these righties back them into this “support the troops” corner. I think they (the democrats) should just refuse to vote. The resolution means nothing and they have no chance of defeating it. Everybody knows this is just a cheap political stunt to rally conventional media and dwindling right wing support for this war. I watched the debate yesterday on C-span and couldn’t help but wonder what these people are thinking. I am an agnostic; most of these “war” supporters are Christians. All I can say is these “Christian” better hope the “after life” is more in line with my beliefs (or lack there of) than theirs. If they really believe in the bible they got some bad shit coming to them.
“War is Peace”
Yesterday, I had the unpleasant experience of truning on NPR and hearing a soundbite of our representative, Patrick McHenry give cheerleading about the war and using the old chestnut, “The Democrat’s strategy is to cut and run.” Some things never change. We have the slithery Dole, the fresh faced true believer McHenry and the vapid, lock-Stepford Republican Sue Myrick and things are starting to get very spooky. People can argue all day long whether this is “like Vietnam” or not. You would hear a lot of quotes from Sun Tzu and terms like “asymetrical warfare” but in the end to “just plain folks” it is starting to look, walk and quack like Vietnam. He old rhetoric is dusted off and put to use, the young men in my neighborhood are joining up and the word “victory” hangs in the air like a shining ornament. “War is old men talking and young men dying.”
I didn’t serve in Vietnam, I squeaked by in the lottery. Many of my friends weren’t so lucky. But, I worked with a lot of Veterans over the course of 20 years in Rehabilitation. Paras, Quads and head injured people came home in place of the 19 year olds that left. When the warhawks had no use for them any longer, they were abandoned and “fell through the cracks” in some dismal wreck of an nursing home that wreaked of urine and obscurity. We got a lot of them into their own apartment and some found jobs and a better life. Once in a while I still try to count up how many of them died for the lack of a decent health care system or just because something inside them was shattered and they couldn’t be consoled.
Here’s a catchy line that should be included in the rhetoric, “War is the gift that keeps on giving.” The young Republican turks don’t have to cut and run because they’re not there. And they won’t be there for the long grim aftermath either. They’ll go on destroying social programs and the vets will make do on less and less. The veterans with disabilities will soldier on, as will the cancer victims from GW I (thanks to depleted Uranium). They’ll be fighting the war for the rest of their lives. By then the hawks will be cheerleading about some other foreign place,
Thanks for the insight on these democratic cowards on the hill.
But why is anyone surprised? At the end of the day, a politrickan will always be looking out for his or her best interest. So these dems will always run for cover, and take the easy way out, especially if they think it will translate into votes.
Just look at Harold Ford, and how he has morphed into a classic house-negro. All because he wants to be like Barak Obama -a man he envies- and be the next black Senator in Washington.
FN
Patrick McHenry’s display of patriotic bravado really turned my stomach.If he could see himself through my eyes..he’d cringe in shame. He’s earned himself a commission in the Jonah Goldberg brigade of armchair warriors. It’s ironic that he happens to be a Tar Heel…an endearment of brotherly love given among warriors that he’s managed to extract the camaraderie to make the sentiment literal.
Might as well face the facts folks.The mega-embasy is under construction, no cuttin’ and runnin’ in the playbook.
We are the proud parents of a Palestine clone in Iraq.
It will suck us dry financially.Our sons and daughters will be killed and maimed for many years to come. The “Black box voting” will insure Republican rule.
Unless the Dems get their shit together, or the rest of the world calls bullshit and forces sanctions on US. Attack Iran, and that may happen.
Swami,
What?
Uncledad..Well, it made sense in my mind when I wrote it.. It just doesn’t read so well. I think it might have something to do with rapid the fluctuations in barometic pressure we’ve been experiencing here on the gulf coast of Floriduh.
Floriduh!
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uncledad and field-negro — Both of you behave. Or else.