Democrat Reid: Iraq Plan Unacceptable

[jefferson_dem]

Source: AP

Democrat Reid: Iraq Plan Unacceptable
By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, September 12, 2007

(09-12) 11:25 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday rejected the call by the top U.S. general in Iraq for a reduction of up to 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq by next summer, saying it does not go far enough.

"This is unacceptable to me, it's unacceptable to the American people," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Reid said the recommendation by Gen. David Petraeus, expected to be embraced on Thursday by President Bush in a speech to the nation, "is neither a drawdown or a change in mission that we need. His plan is just more of the same."

"I call on the Senate Republicans to not walk lockstep as they have with the president for years in this war. It's time to change. It's the president's war. At this point it also appears clear it's also the Senate Republicans' war," Reid told a Capitol Hill news conference.

<SNIP>

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/09/12/national/w110158D28.DTL&type=politics

[TwilightGardener]

1. Good speech by Harry. Lays the blame where it ultimately lies, no

matter how much we like to bash Dems for not defunding or doing enough.

[movonne]

2. How long before he will say it is "acceptable" ???he changes

his mind every other day...he says what he thinks we want to hear and then votes with the repugs...

[tridim]

3. He has never said Iraq is "acceptable"

Where did you get that? Since you quoted it should be sourced.

[kysrsoze]

4. That's right. Now he'll hold his breath for 30 seconds and then go back to his office

He's got to rest up so he can vote "yes" for the next war funding bill.

[cali]

5. Well,

Slam them for their impotence, their lack of cohesion and strategy, but I don't see how you can perceive Reid as for the war.

[kysrsoze]

15. Oh, sorry. He's not FOR the war. He's only FOR CONTINUING the war. Read this roll call...

Oh Yeah!!!! Give 'em hell, Harry. Whatever. Reid and Pelosi both huff and puff, then rubber stamp it. We control both houses of Congress and do nothing.

--------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 1st Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate


Vote Summary

Question: On the Motion (Motion to Concur in House Amdt. to Senate Amdt to H.R.2206 )
Vote Number: 181 Vote Date: May 24, 2007, 08:26 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Motion Agreed to
Measure Number: H.R. 2206 (U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 )
Measure Title: Making emergency supplemental appropriations and additional supplemental appropriations for agricultural and other emergency assistance for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes.
Vote Counts: YEAs 80
NAYs 14
Not Voting 6
Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State


Alphabetical by Senator Name Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Alexander (R-TN), Yea
Allard (R-CO), Yea
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Yea
Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
Bond (R-MO), Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Nay
Brown (D-OH), Yea
Brownback (R-KS), Not Voting
Bunning (R-KY), Yea
Burr (R-NC), Nay
Byrd (D-WV), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Chambliss (R-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Nay
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Coleman (R-MN), Not Voting
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Corker (R-TN), Yea
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Craig (R-ID), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
DeMint (R-SC), Yea
Dodd (D-CT), Nay
Dole (R-NC), Yea
Domenici (R-NM), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Ensign (R-NV), Yea
Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Feingold (D-WI), Nay
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Hagel (R-NE), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Not Voting
Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Not Voting
Kennedy (D-MA), Nay
Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Levin (D-MI), Yea
Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Lott (R-MS), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Martinez (R-FL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea
McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Obama (D-IL), Nay
Pryor (D-AR), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Not Voting
Sessions (R-AL), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Smith (R-OR), Yea
Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Sununu (R-NH), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Yea
Thomas (R-WY), Not Voting
Thune (R-SD), Yea
Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Webb (D-VA), Yea
Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Nay

[Javaman]

6. Translation:

I have to keep looking like I am against this until I finally give you the go ahead so this way, I can go back to my sound bites after we drop the bombs to prove I was always against it.

[donkeyotay]

7. Right on target. It's still stay the course. The surge was always an escalation.

The repos are putting the emphasis on a possible draw down to pre-"surge" levels NINE MONTHS from now. Meanwhile, it's still stay the course, still hopes of some meaningful progress on some distant day for some unknown reason for some nebulus goal.

Reid is right. The Republican congress owns this. They could stop it if they wanted to. We stay the course because they refuse to come out from behind the slogan fog lingering from Rumsfeld and Rove.

What gets me is the way the discussion about what to do in Iraq seems to presume that no other country will have any role in events over there (or any where else). If we are going to draw down troops next summer because our military is broken, what would we do if some other, unexpected military crisis arose? Is it smart to max out our military like a credit card and just ASSUME that we get to chose the events we will face? What if someone else - maybe Russia or China - decides to act? What if some other nation decides to go all preemptive? What are we going to do if we've already bankrupted our forces and treasury just so that Bush doesn't have to admit that he's the Worst President Ever?

[Demonaut]

8. Senate Democrats reject Petraeus' plan

Source: Yahoo News

WASHINGTON - A day before President Bush's war address, Senate Democrats rejected a four-star general's recommendation to keep some 130,000 troops in Iraq through next summer and sought legislation that would limit the mission of U.S. forces.
ADVERTISEMENT

Their proposal was not expected to set a deadline to end the war, as many Democrats want, but restrict troops to narrow objectives: training Iraq's military and police, protecting U.S. assets and fighting terrorists, Democratic party officials told The Associated Press.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070912/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq;_ylt=AgSIUYK9p0yAhn.Igtb_F7.s0NUE

---

stfu, I'm sick of Reid and his go-along groupies

[mike_c]

9. ANY funding for further war is a betrayal of America, IMO....

Dems need to stop playing political games with the lives of others and with our country's reputation. I don't give a rat's ass what Bush wants, who gets reelected, etc. STOP THE WAR AGAINST IRAQ NOW. Not ten years from now. NOW!

[frylock]

10. looks good on paper..

of course, shithead will say NO, the dems will cave, and we'll see this shit play out again after another Freidman unit has passed.

[razzleberry]

11. stop funding the war .n/t.

[superconnected]

12. At this point, that means, 'Senate Democrats give lip service'.

Now it's time to watch them rubber stamp the funding for this.

[madrchsod]

13. it`s not his plan- it`s bush`s plan

petraeus does what president tells him to do and if he did`t he`d be disobeying a direct order from the president.

[rodeodance]

14. It still amazes me that the Repugs are staying with Bush on iraq!!

[kysrsoze]

16. Yeah, I find it quite mind-blowing too. Even more so, I'm stunned by Congress' lack of spine as

a whole. It's as if everyone is afraid to mention the elephant in the room.