How the Party of the Donkey Supports the Troops

Democrats, those of the party with the Donkey mascot, love to tell us that they support the troops.

The Party of the Donkey supports our fighting men and women so much, they're playing politics with the money needed to provide troop carriers that can protect the soldiers from injury or death from IEDs.

The armored carrier has a grim black slash across its side, burn marks on the door and a web of cracks along the window.

Like most of the Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles in Anbar province, this one has been hit as many as three times by enemy fire and bomb blasts. Yet, to date, no American troops have died while riding in one.

But efforts to buy thousands more carriers — each costing about $1 million — could be delayed if the White House and Congress do not resolve their deadlock over a $124.2 billion war spending bill.

About $3 billion for the vehicles is tied up in the legislation. The spending plan has stalled because of a dispute over provisions that would set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

But the Democrats support the troops. Just ask them.

They support them so much that they play politics with protection for the troops, who are the sons and daughters of America's mothers, whom we honor this weekend.

Let's all remember this when we go to the voting booth, hmmm?

Hat Tip: BlackFive.

Further Evidence of the Democrat Fracture

The late Will Rogers once commented, "I don't belong to any organized party. I'm a Democrat." It seems that his statement about the Democrats becoming disorganized is being proven every day:

In the battle for control of the Democratic Party, the George Soros-MoveOn.org crowd is used to getting its way. So it's revealing to watch the consternation in those precincts to the Congressional Black Caucus decision to co-sponsor a pair of Presidential primary debates this year with Fox News.

Liberal activists are livid, to say the least, with one anti-Fox pressure group condemning the Black Caucus for "dancing with the devil." Color of Change, a coalition of black online activists, says the collaboration promulgates "bigoted, hate-filled worldviews." Markos Moulitsas, the DailyKos front man, calls the CBC "corrupt and compromised" for "doing Fox's bidding." His implication is that Black Caucus Members have somehow been bought off, though there is no evidence to support the slur. This is to say nothing of some of the more vicious blog chatter, much of it carrying racial connotations.

It'll be interesting to see how far this fracture grows. Perhaps the Kos Kiddies and their 15% of the electorate can start their own party and let the Democrats move back towards the center-left.

Democrats Fracturing on Iraq Troop Funding

Well, that didn't take long.

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), Chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee, is now contradicting what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said.

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Sunday that the Senate would not cut off funding for the Iraq war but would keep pressing President Bush for a settlement among Iraqi leaders to end the violence.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), appearing on ABC's "This Week," disagreed with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who said last week that he would co-sponsor legislation to cut off almost all money for the war in Iraq by next March.

"Well, we're not going to vote to cut funding, period," Levin said. "Even Harry Reid acknowledged that that's not going to happen."

Reid acknowledged that that's not going to happen? That's not what Reid himself said less than a week ago.

Looks like the more reasonable Democrats are starting to separate from their rabid frothing-at-the-mouth anti-war Democrats. This could be good or bad, depending on which side eventually wins. However, one thing it will be is entertaining, watching Democrats contradict each other and hopefully ending up in-fighting and getting nothing done.

Hat Tip: Captain's Quarters.

Ready, Aim (at Own Foot), and FIRE!

Looks like the Kos Kiddies may get their wish after all. Harry Reid is threatening to cut off funds to the troops.

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday he wants to cut off money for the Iraq war next year, making clear for the first time that Democrats are willing to pull out all the stops to end U.S. involvement.

[snip]

"In the face of the administration's stubborn unwillingness to change course, the Senate has no choice but to force a change of course," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who signed on Monday as a co-sponsor of Reid's proposal with Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

I gotta agree with Uncle Jimbo of BlackFive... please, Harry, do it! Show the American voters how the Party of the Donkey "supports the troops."

A bit of history for those educated in public schools: Since the last time that Congress cut off funding for a war (Vietnam), there have been eight Presidential elections. Democrats have won three of those, and each of those can be tied to a Republican screw-up (Watergate, "Read My Lips," and the idiocy of nominating the lackluster Bob Dole to go against the admittedly charismatic Bill Clinton).

And now the Democrats want to do it again. I say, bring it on! Show the American voting public once again why you can't be trusted with national security.

Show us that you can walk the lefty anti-war walk instead of just talking the talk, Harry.

Obama Between Rock and Hard Place

Barack Obama is apparently starting to feel the discomfort that comes from being between a rock and a hard place:

If President Bush vetoes an Iraq war spending bill as promised, Congress quickly will provide the money without the withdrawal timeline the White House objects to because no lawmaker "wants to play chicken with our troops," Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday.

"My expectation is that we will continue to try to ratchet up the pressure on the president to change course," the Democratic presidential candidate said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't think that we will see a majority of the Senate vote to cut off funding at this stage."

Welcome, Senator, to the uncomfortable place between the voters that don't want to cut-and-run from Iraq, and the MoveOn/DailyKos/Cindy Sheehan folks that want to cut and run immediately, if not sooner.

According to Little Green Footballs, where Mr. Johnson apparently has the balls to go where I won't, namely into the bowels of Kosville, the frothing-at-the-mouth lefties are already starting to foam:

Markos “Screw Them” Moulitsas, on the other hand, is all about playing chicken with our troops. And he’s really seething at Obama: Daily Kos: Obama caves to Bush. (Hat tip: Ron.)

What a ridiculous thing to say. Not only is it bad policy, not only is it bad politics, it’s also a terrible negotiating approach.

Instead of threatening Bush with even more restrictions and daring him to veto funding for the troops out of pique, Barack just surrendered to him.

Let me repeat that — Obama just surrendered to Bush.

It's gonna be an interesting year and a half till election time, especially with the surge apparently starting to work. Now that victory looks possible, calls for retreat look, well, cowardly. But we already knew that anti-war folks are, at heart, cowards, didn't we?