Over the next few weeks, the congressional
Democratic majorities must decide how scared they still are of George W.
Bush and his right-wing attack machine. Or put differently, can a weakened
President still intimidate Democrats by questioning their patriotism or
doubting their support for the troops?
Bush has
thrown down the gauntlet with his demand for another $105 billion in war
funding without “strings” attached. He also has warned that he would
veto any measure that seeks to limit his discretion over how to fight the
war in Iraq.
With that question firmly in mind, we wondered whether Democrats would hold
firm on their pledge to include an ammendment to the Iraq war funding measure
which would require Bush to seek permission from congress before
launching any attack on Iran. It didn't take Bush and his radical right
minions long to start slinging mud
and issuing threats at the Democrats:
The White House has issued a veto threat against the measure, and Vice
President Dick Cheney attacked its supporters in a speech, declaring they
“are telling the enemy simply to watch the clock and wait us out.”
Top House Democrats retreated Monday from an attempt to limit President
Bush's authority for taking military action against Iran as the leadership
concentrated on a looming confrontation with the White House over the Iraq
war.
Sadly, the heat came not only from the Bushites, but also from
conservative Democrats, who had apparently been intimidated into believing
that any role congress took in checking the president's war making power would
imperil the welfare of Israel. I
smell AIPAC's hands all over this:
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in an interview there is widespread
fear in Israel about Iran, which is believed to be seeking nuclear weapons
and has expressed unremitting hostility about the Jewish state.
“It would take away perhaps the most important negotiating tool that
the U.S. has when it comes to Iran,” she said of the now-abandoned
provision.
Note to Shelley Berkley - requiring the president to request permission from
congress to wage war DOES NOT TAKE ANYTHING OFF THE TABLE!!!!!!! It doesn't
stop Bush from threatening to nuke Iran. He can rattle that sabre all he
wants. He can even claim that congress might just say "yes" when he
seeks their permission.
But why bother to perform your constitutionally defined role in checking
the president's ability to declare war. After all, if you wash your hands
of the decision, nobody can blame you when the next war started by our
"unitary executive" president bankrupts this country and destroys
what's left of our military, right??!! And then AIPAC can't call you anti-semitic
and everyone will want to vote for you and even more Democrats in 2008,
right??!!
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