December 7, 2007

The Surrender This Time

Democrats not only have decided on surrender for Iraq war funding, they have come up with their redeployment strategy. The AP reports that House Democrats will pass an omnibus funding bill without any funds for the mission in Iraq. Senate Democrats will instead add it in and blame Republicans for threatening a filibuster, after which the House will "reluctantly" pass the funding in conference:

Democrats controlling Congress sent the most explicit signals yet on Thursday that they are resigned to providing additional funding for the war in Iraq before Congress adjourns for the year.

Conceding that President Bush is in a strong position as Congress seeks to wrap up its work, Democrats are cooking up a pre-Christmas endgame that would deliver tens of billions of dollars for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan on conditions acceptable to the White House.

The Iraq funding would ultimately be attached by Bush's Senate GOP allies to a $500 billion-plus "omnibus" appropriations bill taking shape in closed-door talks. That's the only way they would let the measure advance through the Senate.

House Democratic leaders, though hardly enthusiastic about the idea, recognize it is the only way for Democrats to have a chance to wrap up their long-unfinished budget work and adjourn just before Christmas.

At least the troops will get funded, but this is a shabby way to escape responsibility for it. The Democrats can't just acknowledge that the new strategy has succeeded in stabilizing Iraq; they can't afford to admit that their defeatist rhetoric was wrong. Instead, they will put on a dog-and-pony show intended to insult the intelligence of their backers by pretending the Republicans forced the funding on them.

I guess this is what happens when an entire political party bets the farm on American defeat. They'll do anything to avoid paying up and admitting their error. Don't expect to hear much about Iraq in the 2008 election -- at least not from Congressional Democrats.

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