July 18, 2007
A Slumber Party With a Purpose (Bill Press)
It’s been a long time since I pulled an all-nighter. Probably not since graduate school.
But the U.S. Senate pulled one Tuesday night — and it was a great idea. Because it demonstrated just who is blocking progress on Iraq and every other major issue.
Ever since they lost control of the Senate in January, Republicans have played the part of pure obstructionists. Even though Democrats have a majority, Republicans have insisted on a supermajority — 60 votes — on every issue. Which means they can block, and have blocked, anything.
They killed an amendment to give troops more time off between tours of duty in Iraq. They killed an amendment to follow the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. And they killed a bill to bring our troops home by April 2008.
Even after spending the night on cots, of course, Republicans still refused to allow an up-or-down vote on Iraq. Which means they need more time. One overnight’s not enough. Harry Reid should keep them in every night — he should keep them in session the entire month of August, in fact — until they’re willing to do what the American people want and bring our troops home.
But for now the whole world knows: If there’s no change of direction in Iraq, don’t blame Democrats. Blame Republicans.
11 Comments
»
The Hill welcomes comment from anyone and will almost always post it whether it is favorable or critical, as long as it is substantive and advances debate.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Wrong Bill, as always. If the Democrats could come up with decent legislation, they would get their 60 votes. There are at least 10 Republicans who want the troops to come home. The problem is, Democrats are losing members of their own party because they can't come up with legislation that everyone can agree on.
I've worked around Congress for 15 years and in the past, they had this thing called "compromise" that today, neither party wants to try.
That, is the problem.
Comment by John Simmons — July 18, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
You're wrong as usual Bill. You're ignoring the fact that the American public holds this congress in contempt with the lowest approval rating in recorded history. This overnighter was a cheap publicity stunt, paid for by the taxpayers, that accomplished nothing, except perhaps to embolden the enemy. What a group of cowards.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — July 18, 2007 @ 12:31 pm
Do you remember how the Democrats started blocking Judicial nominations with cloture rules and the whole "nuclear opition" debate? Now the Dems are complaining about the use of cloture rules for their traditional purposes, what a joke!
Comment by Igor R. — July 18, 2007 @ 1:35 pm
Embolden the enemy? RR must have recieved the talking points for conservatives who spend too much time posting on blogs.
Comment by Mike S. — July 18, 2007 @ 1:44 pm
I turned on CSPAN 2 last night and after just 3 minutes, I heard all I needed to hear from these show-boating defeatists. Can anyone here (with a straight face) listen to Senator Levin for more than 3 minutes? Is he not the most boring man in America? (At least Hillary and Kerry had the good judgment to speak while America was sound asleep. The "defeatists" already know what our new commanding General in Iraq will be reporting to the President in September regarding the "surge", (which if true) should result in an immediate court-martial for disclosing "Top Secret" military information during wartime. These "defeatists" have concluded that the War in Iraq is a lost cause because they watch MSNBC every night and listen to the drooling host of Hardball, and the ego-maniacal sportscaster declare night after night, after night, that they believe there is still too much violence going on over there, and too many American boys are dying. If our American troops weren't so careful not to inflict "collateral damage" upon innocent civilians, this War would have been over months ago. We would simply crush all opposition with our tanks and missles. But we are protecting innocent life and we're now going block by block, street by street and house to house to kill the bad guys. The "defeatists" believe this messy business should have concluded months ago. They know more then the Genrals how to fight the enemy. Their vocal opposition undermines our morale at home and gives aid and comfort to the enemy. During World War I, (but for their Congressional immunity) Wilson would have thrown them all in jail for sedition, which is where the drooler and the sportscaster should be!
Comment by David Erlichman — July 18, 2007 @ 5:09 pm
An excellent way for the Democrats to show American citizens exactly what's going on Bill; I loved it. The Republicans (and Joe Lieberman) are free to block anything they want with their numbers in the Senate, but the public is going to know exactly who is doing it.
Comment by Derek D. — July 18, 2007 @ 8:59 pm
Americans want out of Iraq but not at any cost. Most thinking people understand the consequences of leaving now. You don't see any demonstrations in the street demanding withdrawal. What you have is an exhausted public with the progress the Iraqi's have made toward taking control of their destiny, and a democrtaic party aligned with the goals of our enemy. Blame republicans? I don't think so…
Comment by Rich — July 19, 2007 @ 1:33 am
"When the Republicans lost control of the Senate", I seem to remember assurances by the Democratic party leaders that we were going to be taken in a new direction. Were they lying or not facing reality? Sounds a bit familiar.
Comment by Johnny Elias — July 19, 2007 @ 9:03 am
Exactly Rich, most thinking people understand that the consequences of leaving Iraq must be positive, considering how disastrous the consequences of staying have been, and the polls reflect this reality. Now when are the Republicans going to recognize that? Well, a few have already; it will be interesting to see if the dripping away of Senators that have been protecting Mr. Bush continues, or if it turns into a flood.
Comment by Derek D. — July 19, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
Yes Derek, up until this point the public thought it was the Republicans that wanted a defeat in Iraq. But now that Harry Reid stayed up all night and got the highest ratings since American Idol, everybody and their mother know the score. He is such a good public educator, that Harry! And Boxer and Clinton, they really shed a lot of light on how things really are. Boilerplate never sounded so good!
Comment by Igor R. — July 19, 2007 @ 1:39 pm
There you go again Bill, getting all 3 neocon posters riled up in to a rhetorical, factually-challenged frenzy. Do you take pleasure in such entertainment Bill? 2008 is going to be fun in the sun.
Comment by Chris in NM — July 19, 2007 @ 5:42 pm