House Dem Staffer: Liberals Are Worried That Leadership Will Cave On Iraq

[jefferson_dem]

:grr:

House Dem Staffer: Liberals Are Worried That Leadership Will Cave On Iraq
By Greg Sargent | bio

Today the White House said No to all of Dems' offered concessions on Iraq, effectively telling the Dem Congressional leadership to take its "surrender date" and shove it deep into its posterior. So now what?

A Democratic leadership aide tells us that Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Dem Rep. David Obey will be talking through the weekend to game out the next steps. Further talks with the White House are unlikely, at least this weekend, the aide says. So what do we make of the current political challenge facing Dems?

We checked in with a liberal House Dem staffer who is a sharp observer of Hill politics, and he gave us a surprisingly candid -- and dispiriting -- overview of the political situation. More after the jump.

Here's the situation in a nutshell, as best as we understand it. The White House says it simply won't accept any sort of timetable, even a waivable one. It says it won't accept any kind of benchmarks for progress in Iraq if there are any consequences for not meeting them. So aside from sending the bill back there are only two apparent possibilities left: Either the White House gives on one of these points. Or the Dem Congressional leadership caves and produces a bill with some sort of benchmarks but no accountability -- in other words, something that's effectively meaningless.

According to our Hill staffer, some liberals are beginning to fear that it will ultimately be the latter. And this has produced a kind of gloom among some libs in the House right now who are persuaded that the Dem leadership will ultimately back down in hopes that other future legislative routes will prove more fertile.

MORE AT --> http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/may/18/liberals

[bullimiami]

1. id like them to tell bush to go f(*& himself then.

but like the headline says, i am worried.

[magellan]

2. I can't believe these lame idiots are still hand-wringing over this

...and considering backing down!!!

IMPEACH THE BASTARDS ALREADY!!!

What, do you need it drawn out for you in pretty colors? How about BLOOD RED?

Fuck the Dems, fuck the Repugs, fuck them all.

[Initech]

5. Ding ding ding! I don't know who to trust anymore.

The dems let me down, the republicans are assholes. Who do we put our trust in?

[dogday]

9. They are waiting for Bush to piss on their shoes

who knows... No benchmarks, open-ended commitment that will continue for 10 years or more, and I emphasize the word more....

[Phredicles]

15. Yeah, they need to remember why the fuck we elected them;

I'm tired of politics coming down to the Evil Party vs. the Wuss Party.:grr::banghead:

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Oh you know they will cave

So the question is: Does el pretzeldente have something on them OR are they just chicken shits?

[BOSSHOG]

4. I sometimes exercise left handed logic (Caving might not be a bad thing)

I'd like to see Madame Speaker and the Majority leader step to the mike and say okay Mr President tell us what you want and we will give it to you. The Dem Party is washing its hands of Iraq and everything that occurs will be the sole responsibility of the republican party, good or bad. Each American death in Iraq will be caused by george bush and the republican party.

I know its a wacky idea, but democratic opposition to the war is the only thing the gop members of congress have going for them right now.

I'd shove it up bush's ass and let his party choke on his "leadership."

[NMDemDist2]

6. sigh

they'll stonewall us as long as they can

:banghead:

[GOTV]

7. They ignore subpoenas and won't compromise. The Dems better stand up SOMEWHERE...

... it's not like they don't have lots of opportunities to take the administration on.

Maybe they think they're beat? Maybe they're ultimately powerless? I wish they'd show us that then. Enforce the subpoenas, or cut off funding, and let the American people see Bush completely disregard our representatives.

That might get people motivated.

[mike_c]

8. the democratic party will own this war if they fund it any further....

They are the majority party. They CAN stop the funds and force an end to the war against Iraq. What they can't do is play effective politics with a White House that's acting like an angry, cornered animal. Congress should not even try. The democratic congressional leadership needs to tell Bush that they're not playing. Period. If he wants ANY supplemental funds he has to take them on Congress's terms, or simply not get them.

Frankly, I believe Congress should simply stop the game altogether and refuse to authorize funds for Iraq. The war against Iraq is not a game of political hot potato-- it's a crime against humanity being committed in our names. Congress MUST stop it. Anything less is complicity.

[The Magistrate]

11. It Will Not Have That Effect, Sir, On the Mass Of the People Of The Country

The war will remain a wholly-owned property of the Republican party in '08.

Nonetheless, our Congressional leadership certainly should send on bills with conditions that will certainly be vetoed by the administration, and make no real effort to compromise on the question. There is no doubt the people will blame any unpopular consequences on the administration, not the Congress.

[mike_c]

12. not in the minds of liberal democrats who are getting tired of waiting...

...for Congress to do something decisive to end this madness rather than pissing about with endless political games.

[The Magistrate]

17. Not A Large Slice, Sir, And Far From the Defining Slice, Of The General Electorate

Such feelings will not even much influence the Democratic party proimaries, once actual people are casting actual votes next year.

The people of the country are not going to blame the war in Iraq on Democrats, however much splinter factions on the left want them to.

[mike_c]

18. then I presume you won't complain when we vote with our feet...

...since we're such an insignificant constituency.

[The Magistrate]

19. One Of the Odd Features Of the Modern Left, Sir

Is how completely it has renounced the old cardinal left virtue of solidarity, in favor of an exalted individualism that would do credit to the boutique-niche marketers of cutting edge fashion, the ultimate expression of capitalism in our day....

[Deep13]

10. History 101:

Who can tell me what issue was cited by voters as the single most important in 2006?

It was corruption, actually.

The second biggest was Iraq. The nation has had enough and wants to wind things down.

Corruption plays into the Iraq thing because the whole war is actually, well, corrupt.

These two issues gave us a majority. We are working on the corruption thing. If Congressional Ds were smart they would simply say that Bush is being a bully. If he wants to act like a child we will treat him like one. No more $$ until he makes some real concessions.

[MissWaverly]

13. If I was the Dem Leaders, I would get the Iraqis involved

Do what Bush does, have a big dog and pony show with Maliki and the Iraqi leaders, have them co-sponsor the bill and then
watch Bush shoot the bill down. If he does, he alienates the country and the Iraq leadership. If the Democrats are passive,
and Iraq breaks apart, they will be blamed for inaction, this way, Bush will be in a corner, the Dem congress and the
Iraq parliament both want timetables and a de-escalation, I think it's doable, Bush is a master bully, we cannot win
at arm wrestling with him.

[Mark Twain Girl]

14. Here's the part that gets me:

What about sending the same bill back to the President? According to our staffer, the perceived problem here is that House Dems have loudly proclaimed that a measure to fund the troops will have been created by Memorial Day. Recent polls suggest that Dems haven't done a good enough job explaining to the public that the Presidential veto -- not Congress -- is what's to blame for the lack of troop funding. So a repeat of the veto scenario is thus seeen as politically very risky, our staffer says.

"The storyline in the media would then be, `Dems fail to meet their own set deadlines, Dems in disarray,'" the staffer says. (Of course, sending the same bill back doesn't appear to be under consideration by the leadership in any case.)

[OwnedByFerrets]

16. WILL CAVE??? I think its already a done deal.

I have very little faith left in my Government.

[man4allcats]

20. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Caving in to Bushco is the only thing they're good at. He tells them "Kiss my ass" and they reply with "Yes Sir. May I do it again, Sir?"

[Rosemary2205]

21. I thought they already did.......cave......... nt

[Golden Raisin]

22. Rice tells them to basically take their subpoenas

and shove them. Gonzales sits there and bold-facedly lies to Congressional committees. Bush just adds more "signing statements" to bills informing Congress which laws and parts of laws he will or will not obey. Congress does nothing. Madame Speaker continues to keep impeachment off the table. We the people and American democracy are screwed and they have already caved.