It is time

[MadHound]

With Bush's bald faced assertion that he plans to continue this illegal, immoral war indefinitely, kicking the can down the road for the next president to deal with, it becomes painfully obvious that the only route open for the Democrats is for them to end the war, ASAP.

We have reached the point where the namby-pamby half measures of sending up meaningless resolutions and bills only to be vetoed is past. Much more stern measures need to be taken, and that means exercising Congress' power of the purse.

Yes, it is time, past time to defund the war. It is the only option left. Setting a timetable in a funding bill merely means that Bush will either veto the bill, or ignore the timetable. Thus, the power of the purse is all we have left.

For those of you who will scream that the public won't support it, I ask you two questions. The first, isn't it a primary quality of leadership to do the right thing, that which needs to be done in spite of public opinion? Isn't one of the qualities of leadership to persuade the public that yes, let us do what needs to be done? Isn't it time that our so called leaders actually stood up and led?

The second question for these people is do you think that it is the moral thing, the right thing to play politics with people's lives on the line? Is it right to allow more death and destruction while waiting for poll numbers to move?

But just to assuage your angst over this, I include one of those oh so precious polls <http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/030107_Bush_Iraq_Iran_web.pdf> Note, this is from Faux, that rabid right network who would do their best to downplay this sort of thing. Imagine what the real numbers are.

It is time, past time. People on all sides are dying for no good reason, and it is now clear to even the most blind that Bush is not going to end the war. It is up to the Democrats to fulfill the mandate that the voters gave them last fall, end this war ASAP. Frankly, if they don't, the disillusioned public could very well turn their back on them next fall out of sheer disgust. Perhaps they should put that in their little political pipe and smoke it.

For those of you who equate defunding the troops with starving them, rest assured the troops won't starve, nor will they be left stranded without supplies. The yearly DoD budget is nearly 500 billion dollars annually, more than enough money to feed, supply and transport the troops as they come home.

It is time, it is past time. Defund the war, starve the beast, and bring the troops home ASAP. Anything else is, at best, criminal negligence. At worst, it is playing politics with people's lives. Neither is a winning position in an election.

[OneBlueSky]

1. I find it hard to believe that anyone would argue that we should continue funding . . .

an Iraqi occupation what, from the moment of the attack, was illegal and immoral . . . how do you defend continuing to do something that was wrong then, is wrong now, and will remain wrong as long as it continues -- which, according to Fearless Leader, will be a long, long time . . .

face it . . . we went into Iraq for one purpose, and one purpose only: to steal the oil . . . anything BushCo says regarding rebuilding, initiating democracy, or anything else is just so much bullshit . . . we want to remain there to provide Big Oil with a more and more crude for as long as it lasts by establishing a permanent presence . . . regardless of their words, they really don't care about anything else -- including the Iraqi people and the American troops . . .

this war was wrong when it started, it's wrong now, and it will be wrong tomorrow . . . to continue to fund it is just reinforcing and expanding bad decisions already made . . .

[MadHound]

2. I understand your confusion all too well,

But there are plenty of people around here who argue that we must continue throwing bodies onto the pyre of Bushco's war. They are desperately afraid that it will reflect badly on the Democrats somehow, ie they are willing to play politics with peoples' lives. It is sad, it is pathetic, but it is true. What's even worse is that many of our so called Dem leaders are willing to take the same low path, sacrificing innocent lives all in the pursuit of political victories. Disgusting quite frankly, and it just might come back and bite them in the ass next fall if they don't change their ways soon.