International Herald Tribune Editorial - Buying time for an aimless war
International Herald Tribune Editorial - Buying time for an aimless war
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: July 19, 2007
The nation's anguish over the Iraq war was kept on hold in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday as the Republican minority maintained serial threats of filibuster to buy time for President George W. Bush's aimless policies. Last week, the House of Representatives debated and voted along party lines for a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal by next spring. But a similar measure was allowed no such decisive expression in the Senate.
Instead, the Republicans insisted on the approval of a "supermajority" of 60 of 100 senators before putting to a vote a measure that would apply real pressure on the president to shift his disastrous course in Iraq.
The Republicans are doing the public a real disservice and playing an increasingly risky hand by delaying sober consideration of the war. The filibuster threat on Iraq also is part of a broader Republican tactic of demanding super-majorities on a raft of major issues in the hopes of paralyzing the Senate and then painting the Democrats as a do-nothing, marginal majority.
The Democratic Party's leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, tested the opposition's stated appetite for unhampered debate by staging an all-nighter Tuesday, replete with cots and carry-out pizzas. A measure containing a withdrawal timetable failed to get the 60 votes it needed, but it did draw a 52-vote majority, including four Republicans, that amounted to more handwriting on the wall for Bush loyalists. A year ago, a nonbinding withdrawal measure drew 39 votes. The tide is shifting, even if the White House and its Republican backers won't recognize it.
The Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, notes that the Democrats engaged in similar guerrilla tactics when they were in the minority. But McConnell should keep in mind that voters can tell the difference between principled resistance and political showmanship. The Democrats' former minority leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, lost his seat three years ago when he was roundly attacked by the opposition for running a partisan, obstructionist minority.
The Iraq war stands apart as a watershed issue - a downward spiral that the public increasingly sees as a colossal waste of the nation's blood and treasure.
In postponing real action to September and beyond, Republicans laughed off the all-night debate as a "slumber party" of "twilight zone" theatrics by the Democrats. In fact, Bush loyalists seem trapped in the twilight zone, ducking their responsibility to represent constituents by applying credible pressure on the president to come up with an end to his sorry war.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: July 19, 2007
The nation's anguish over the Iraq war was kept on hold in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday as the Republican minority maintained serial threats of filibuster to buy time for President George W. Bush's aimless policies. Last week, the House of Representatives debated and voted along party lines for a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal by next spring. But a similar measure was allowed no such decisive expression in the Senate.
Instead, the Republicans insisted on the approval of a "supermajority" of 60 of 100 senators before putting to a vote a measure that would apply real pressure on the president to shift his disastrous course in Iraq.
The Republicans are doing the public a real disservice and playing an increasingly risky hand by delaying sober consideration of the war. The filibuster threat on Iraq also is part of a broader Republican tactic of demanding super-majorities on a raft of major issues in the hopes of paralyzing the Senate and then painting the Democrats as a do-nothing, marginal majority.
The Democratic Party's leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, tested the opposition's stated appetite for unhampered debate by staging an all-nighter Tuesday, replete with cots and carry-out pizzas. A measure containing a withdrawal timetable failed to get the 60 votes it needed, but it did draw a 52-vote majority, including four Republicans, that amounted to more handwriting on the wall for Bush loyalists. A year ago, a nonbinding withdrawal measure drew 39 votes. The tide is shifting, even if the White House and its Republican backers won't recognize it.
The Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, notes that the Democrats engaged in similar guerrilla tactics when they were in the minority. But McConnell should keep in mind that voters can tell the difference between principled resistance and political showmanship. The Democrats' former minority leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, lost his seat three years ago when he was roundly attacked by the opposition for running a partisan, obstructionist minority.
The Iraq war stands apart as a watershed issue - a downward spiral that the public increasingly sees as a colossal waste of the nation's blood and treasure.
In postponing real action to September and beyond, Republicans laughed off the all-night debate as a "slumber party" of "twilight zone" theatrics by the Democrats. In fact, Bush loyalists seem trapped in the twilight zone, ducking their responsibility to represent constituents by applying credible pressure on the president to come up with an end to his sorry war.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 3:37 AM
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