Congress Erupts in Partisan Fight Over War in Iraq

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON, June 15 — The House and the Senate engaged in angry, intensely partisan debate on Thursday over the war in Iraq, as Republicans sought to rally support for the Bush administration's policies and exploit Democratic divisions in an election year shadowed by unease over the war.

It was one of the sharpest legislative clashes yet over the three-year-old conflict, and it came after three days in which President Bush and his aides have sought to portray Iraq as moving gradually toward a stable, functioning democracy, and to portray Democrats as lacking the will to see the conflict through to victory.
....
For all the anger, there was sadness, too. At the start of the debate, Representative Ike Skelton, Democrat of Missouri, asked for a moment of silence to mark the Pentagon's announcement on Thursday that the number of American military deaths in Iraq had hit 2,500. Many lawmakers talked about visiting the troops, in Iraq and in hospitals, and about the toll in death and suffering.

Representative John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat and Vietnam War veteran whose call for a speedy withdrawal of troops transformed the debate last year, rose repeatedly to tell Republicans, "Rhetoric does not solve the problem."
...
Democrats countered, at times, with barely controlled fury. Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, described the war "as a grotesque mistake." She and others said Congressional Republicans were simply trying to "trap" Democrats, not engage them in a true debate. The resolution Republicans offered could not be amended, but only voted up or down.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/washington/16cong.html?hp&ex=1150430400&en=a37225ab27fe3d93&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Rose Siding]

1. Catch what Coburn said

He said, more or less, that it's better for his party to be unified than RIGHT.

[journalist3072]

2. Does anyone have

The full transcript of Hastert's remarks from today, where he fully linked Iraq to 9/11 and the war on terror?

If so, could you provide me with a link?

Thanks?

[geomon666]

3. How about uncontrolled fury?

Why doesn't one of these senators stand up and call this bastard what he is? Call this war what it is. Maybe if a few senators stood up and called these people pigs and crooks maybe then more people will give a shit.

[Rose Siding]

4. I don't know how they keep their wits about them, but I'm glad they do

It adds credibility. The words they used were more powerful than flinging insults would have been.

[geomon666]

5. What credibility?

Most of these people have been talking out of both sides of their mouths for so long, the mere thought of credibility is nonexistant.

They really need me on the senate floor. I will bring them ratings beyond belief.

[Rose Siding]

7. I don't see it that way

Pelosi, Murtha and the entire Out of Iraq caucus have been very consistent in opposing the war.

[SavetheUSA]

11. uhm

They have enabled the war to continue by voting for more funding as well as voting for the
"Iran Freedom Support Act" to further the PNAC agenda.

[Rose Siding]

13. I don't think the headline "Dems block funds for soldiers bandages"

would strengthen their hand. That, or its eqivalent is how a no funding vote would play out. The repubs crafted the last funding bill with hurricane aid attatched. "Dems say NO to NO"?

[Robbien]

6. Don't you love how the NYT uses the word mocked

when saying the GOPers mocked Dems. The NYT presented it as if being unified on the position of staying the course on the Iraqi invasion is a good thing. Being a bot is a good thing?

Having unique opinions is a bad thing? A thing to be in NYT's terms "mocked"?

[EFerrari]

8. Why ruin their perfect corporate butt kissing record?

Really.

[aaronbees]

9. Gotta love the spin in the lead here...

portraying Democrats as the "divided" party there to be "exploited" -- it's all about GOP perception in this article; their ideas presented first with a Democratic counter-attack. And then in comes the Pentagon to do campaign pep talk work for the Repub leadership ... just disgusting.

[genieroze]

10. Hey PUKES, get a clue the majority of the people who pay you to

represent THEM are against the war. Bunch of assholes!

[snot]

12. If every single Dem rep in Congress simply walked out

would they still have a quorum?

and regardless, wouldn't the majority of citizens CHEER?

[mike923]

14. Instead, they voted 93-7. Sickining.

[Rose Siding]

15. A "no" or a present are really the only choices

It would take about 3 minutes for a protest walk-out to transit from a "conviction of principle" to "dems cut and run".