Democratic Senator Feingold thinks that Democratic Senators should go on the record as wanting both a phased redeployment and canceling funding for troops by September of 2007 as the article "Feingold: "It's Time To Play Hardball" On Iraq War" at http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/5306/print states "Feingold's measure, which would carry the force of law if passed, would cut off funding for the entire Iraq effort in six months and place the onus on the Bush administration to get all troops home on that deadline.
"It has historical precedence and it's one that is surely at its core in our
Constitutional role in that it says -- as we did with regard to Somalia in the early 90s, as we did with Cambodia -- it says 'look, this mission will end by this date and that's how it is.' And it's worked in the past and it can work here.... It's only the notion of a timeline and backing it up with some kind of date by which the funding is ended that really has any teeth and that's really going to get us out of this war."
There is no point in dealing with what W has forced the GOP Senators to do in the Senate.
The article "The White House Forces Congress into an Unwinnable Debate" at http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/5307/print explains that "You can't set Iraq straight by adding or withdrawing US troops. You have to get all the warring parties to the table and cut a deal. But we have an administration completely unable to carry out diplomacy. They don't do nuance and they don't do negotiations.
Dick Cheney is said to have once turned down an excellent deal from Iran because
"we don't talk to evil.""
The article "Dems: Senate Debate on Iraq Inevitable" at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020607K.shtml notes that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stated "The president must hear from Congress, so he knows he stands in the wrong place alone."
The experienced GOP operative Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott stated "As far as stalling, we've got a week here where we can have a full debate. But we insist on it being a full debate and a fair one."
The article "G.O.P. Senators Block Debate on Iraq Policy" at
click here had 2 quotes from Democratic Senators :
"You can run but you can't hide," Mr. Reid told his Republican colleagues on the floor. "We are going to debate Iraq."
"Senator McConnell led his Republican troops off the cliff," said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
What the GOP insists on doing is protecting the GOP! The Democratic Senators must realize that the GOP lost in the 2006 election and must protect the views of US citizens. The GOP had no problems violating all of the rules of the Senate when they were in charge. The GOP pushed through legislation without allowing Democratic Senators any opportunity to participate in the original drafts of the legislation, and banned them from the House and Senate Committee meetings which formed the final version of bills from, after 9/11 until they lost the Congress in 2006.
Related articles:
"The White House Forces Congress into an Unwinnable Debate" at
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/5307/print
Feingold: "It's Time To Play Hardball" On Iraq War at
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/5306/print
"The White House Forces Congress into an Unwinnable Debate" at
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/5307/print
"G.O.P. Senators Block Debate on Iraq Policy"
click here
