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2007.05.17 Dem Perfidy // Islamism Delenda Est Roundup
See previous: 2007.05.16 Dem Perfidy // Islamism Delenda Est Roundup
Below the fold, newest items at the top:
- War Funding Cutoff Vote Fails
- Pressure Mounts for Clinton, Obama, Feingold, Biden, Reid to Resign From Senate
- Clinton aide forfeits law license in Justice probe
- Congress's War Dodge
- Pakistani Christians Seek Government Protection
After Threats to Convert by Pro-Taliban Forces
See also:
*** *** *** Fold (but please don't spindle or mutilate) *** *** *** War Funding Cutoff Vote Fails
Pass the popcorn... Can I have a beer while you're at it?
By streiff (H/T: Lorie Byrd)
Yesterday the scrappy but embattled Senate Majority Leader took time out from managing his real estate empire to hold a "test vote" on a proposal to cut off funding for the war in Iraq. The vote was on an amendment to a water bill and was defeated by a vote of 67-29 In the words of the NY Times.: Congressional Democratic leaders signaled on Wednesday that they were ready to give ground to end an impasse with President Bush over war spending after the Senate soundly rejected a Democratic plan to block money for major combat operations in Iraq beginning next spring.
The 67-to-29 vote against the proposal demonstrated that a significant majority of Senators remained unwilling to demand a withdrawal of forces despite their own misgivings and public unease over the war.
The proposed amendment was clean and straightforward:
[...]
What this shows is that for all the tough talk Senate democrats are unwilling to go out on the limb and actually vote to back up their anti-war rhetoric ...
So, why am I passing the popcorn?
House democrats found out how impatient the anti-war Frankenstein's monster they've created when they voted to continue funding the war but with a timeline for withdrawal. Reid's announcement after the vote can hardly make them any happier than they were after the House vote: After the vote, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader and a co-sponsor of the Feingold plan, said he was committed to delivering legislation acceptable to Mr. Bush by the end of next week. He conceded that the compromise was likely to disappoint war opponents who had pushed Congress to set a pullout date.
“On this issue, Democrats in the Senate start with 49 votes, and the opposition has 50, so it is a little hard to flex your muscles too much when you start one vote behind,” said Mr. Reid, referring to the general split on war issues in the Senate.
As very few in the anti-war movement can count to 50 and seem to think shouting "mandate" in an ever louder voice means something other than the onset of schizophrenia, I think both Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are going to be in for a fun few weeks..
*** Pressure Mounts for Clinton, Obama,
Feingold, Biden, Reid to Resign From Senate
Hatched by Dafydd ab Hugh
[Wednesday's] humiliating vote on the bill by Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI, 100%) to set a hard date for American withdrawal from Iraq -- the bill needed 60 votes to break the Republican filibuster; it got 29 votes, a scant 31 votes short -- puts more pressure on the 28 Democrats who voted for it, including all Democratic presidential candidates still in the Senate, to resign from that august body in disgrace. The proposal lost 29-67 on a procedural vote, falling 31 votes short of the necessary votes to advance. Of the 67 senators who opposed Feingold's proposal, there were 19 Democrats, 47 Republicans and Connecticut Independent Joseph Lieberman. Of the 29 supporting, 28 were Democrats and Vermont Independent Bernard Sanders.
(Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, 100%, is undisgraceable, so is excused from the calls for mass resignation.)
Everyone knew that the bill wouldn't be able to clear the 60-vote hurdle; but Majority Leader Harry "Pinky" Reid (D-Caesar's Palace, 95%) was stunned by how little support he actually had within his own Democratic conference: The bill passed among Democrats by only 60% - 40%. In contrast, Republicans were solidly united against it; not even Sens. John Warner (R-VA, 64%), Olympia Snowe (R-ME, 36%), Susan Collins (R-ME, 48%), Charles Grassley (R-, 88%), or Chuck Hagel (R-, 75%) voted in favor. Sources within the Senate who do not wish to be identified say this signals an impossible task for the pro-surrender wing of Congress.
In a clear sign of a dangerous divorce from reality, Majority Leader Reid announced that a 60-40 split is an example of party unity:
*** Clinton aide forfeits law license in Justice probe
By Jerry Seper (H/T: Michelle Malkin)
Samuel R. Berger, the Clinton White House national security adviser who was caught taking highly classified documents from the National Archives, has agreed to forfeit his license to practice law.
In a written statement issued by Larry Breuer, Mr. Berger's attorney, the former national security adviser said he pleaded guilty in the Justice Department investigation, accepted the penalties sought by the department and recognized that his law license would be affected.
"I have decided to voluntarily relinquish my license," he said. "While I derived great satisfaction from years of practicing law, I have not done so for 15 years and do not envision returning to the profession. I am very sorry for what I did, and I deeply apologize."
In giving up his license, Mr. Berger avoids being cross-examined by the Board on Bar Counsel, where he risked further disclosure of specific details of his theft. The agreement is expected to be formalized today. ...
*** Congress's War Dodge
They're for the war but also against it.
Democrats in the Senate yesterday demonstrated, once again, that they neither have the votes for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq nor a real policy on the war.
Wednesday's vote to cut off funding by March 31, 2008, was voted down 67-29, with 19 Democrats joining every Republican in opposing the measure, which was submitted as an amendment to an unrelated bill. Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, who put forth the measure with Majority Leader Harry Reid, noted optimistically that a majority of his caucus voted for the measure, which is one way of defining majority down.
There seemed to be some ambivalence, moreover, even among the 29 who supported the measure. Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both voted for Mr. Feingold's amendment, but they also indicated that it was more about sending a message than setting policy. We recall Bob Dole's legendary advice to a freshman Republican that he couldn't go wrong voting for a bill that failed. The two Democrats thus don't give competitor John Edwards any running room on the antiwar left, but they also don't have to take responsibility. Ah, war-time leadership.
The Democrats, in other words, remain trapped in the land of symbolism over the war. Taking up the responsibility that the "power of the purse" gives them does not seem to be on the agenda. They'd rather posture, appeasing their party's left wing without taking ownership of war policy. This evasiveness won't let them off the hook, however. The political consequences of defeat won't only belong to President Bush. To the extent that Democrats are making the conduct of the war more difficult and less certain, they already bear responsibility for the war's outcome whether they like it or not. ...
*** Pakistani Christians Seek Government Protection
After Threats to Convert by Pro-Taliban Forces
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Christians in a Pakistani town beset by pro-Taliban militants sought government protection Wednesday, the eve of a deadline for them to convert to Islam or face violence.
About 500 Pakistani Christians in Charsadda, a town in the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, received letters earlier this month telling them to close their churches and convert by Thursday or be the target of "bomb explosions."
Several Christians, a tiny minority in the predominantly Muslim country, have fled town and others are living in fear, community leaders said.
Some complained that police were not taking the threat seriously.
"Police say someone is joking with us by writing these letters," Chaudhry Salim, a Charsadda Christian leader, said during a news conference in Islamabad. "They have deployed only two policemen at our churches ... this is the kind of security we are getting now."
Don't miss Bryan Preston's excellent related post here.
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