Redstate

Posted at 4:07pm on May 15, 2008 Breaking: No Money For The War, Leave Iraq In 30 Days, Fix The Levees And HelpThe Unemployed

By haystack

The Democrat strategy of sneaking a bill to the floor they had over 450 days to get through Committee and Amendment and debate has succeeded. Obey and the Democrats have given Pelosi her trophy.

Using three votes on H R 2642 (Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act) this is how things turned out.

On funding 162 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan:

Yeas 141, Nays 149, "Present" 132, Not Voting 12

On troop withdrawal in 30 days:

Yeas 227, Nays 196, Not Voting 11

On spending 21 billion on levees in New Orleans, extending Unemployment Insurance, and Taxing small business:

Yeas 256, Nays 166, Not Voting 12

Decorum...and site posting rules preclude my adding any personal commentary on this news...the title speaks it more cleanly than I can muster within this post.

Posted in Congress | Democrats | Iraq Funding | Surrender to win — Comments (23)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:35am on May 15, 2008 They're Not Going to Miss It

By haystack

There's been a great deal of talk about the state of Conservatism in America these days and what (if anything) that may have to DO with the state of the GOP. For the sake of argument let's pretend ideological "purity" is irrelevant for the moment, and focus on the matter at hand; winning elections is all that matters in 2008...and let's all just get over it.

Like it or not OUR Political heroes are only focused on winning, and if you get after them about what they stand for you'll be ignored; "elect me no matter what I say because my opponent is worse than I am." Such is the state of politics now, and when you consider the most recent Gallup Poll that tags Congressional approval at 18%, they are ALL right - they ALL suck and we face the choices of "suck or suck less."

In a Karl Rove op-ed over at the WSJ, pay close attention to this quote:

No Congress has fallen as far and as fast as the Nancy Pelosi/Harry Reid-led House and Senate. Unlike President Bush, congressional Democrats will be on the ballot this fall, and can do little to improve their lackluster record before then.

The thing to remember here, folks, is that none of the candidates running for President have been around to actually vote on very much of the trash that's come from the Halls of Nancy and Harry™. The election in November may be "about" electing a President, but what will matter in our daily lives is who we put in Congress, and those decisions are not very hard to make. One need only consider Blue Dog leader Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark. and his thoughts on the effects of raising taxes on millionaires to pay for new Veteran benefits (not asked for by the President in this particular bill) via the Iraq Supplemental bait and switch trash headed for a veto:

"What we're talking about is a one-half percent income tax surcharge on incomes above $1 million," said Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., a leader of the Blue Dog group. "So someone who earns $2 million a year would pay $5,000. ... They're not going to miss it."

More below the "it's not really hard to vote Republican" fold..

Posted in 2008 | GOP Freefall | Iraq Funding | Liberals | Tax and Spend — Comments (12)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:25pm on May 11, 2008 The Government That Fails Them

By haystack

The problem with our Government is not Democrats or Republicans, per se, but with the collective need to do whatever it takes to get and keep power. This never-ending opportunistic positioning on issues, with little regard for any who might suffer from the effects, fails all of "we the People" and the Government should be ashamed of itself...though we have a better chance of finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow than ever seeing sincere humility and embarrassment come from any of our Political Heroes in Washington.

The political football that is Iraq is being as poorly handled as any issue in my memory, and our Warfighters and Veterans (those we should most concern ourselves with) are being failed on almost every level. I blame the President. I blame the Department of Defense. I blame Veterans Affairs. Most of all, I blame Congress. While most of these issues with Soldiers and Veterans lie squarely in the lap of the DoD and the VA, Congress owns the lion's share of blame for not fixing this mess because they hold the checkbook and they aren't doing what needs doing: writing the damn checks.

Let's start with the New York Times piece, The Suffering of Soldiers:

Several years into a pair of wars, the Department of Veterans Affairs is struggling to cope with a task for which it was tragically unready: the care of soldiers who left Afghanistan and Iraq with an extra burden of brain injury and psychic anguish. The last thing they need is the toxic blend of secrecy, arrogance and heedlessness that helped to send many of them into harm’s way.

Quick cheap shot at the President aside, the NYT's Editorial board is on to something. But, before we look at the rest of this "opinion" piece, let's pile on a few more things for emphasis.

More below the fold...

Posted in Congress | Iraq Funding | veterans — Comments (32) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:14am on May 9, 2008 Harry Reid Has A Message For Warfighters And Consumers

Our goal is to stick it to all of you...equally

By haystack

[image via AZ Resistance ]

It's been a hectic few days for Harry the Dolt™, but his priorities have become abundantly clear: Soldiers are no big deal...there's no rush to help them...what matters is taxing big oil and lining the pockets of rich farmers.

As I mentioned here, our Warfighters are being held hostage over Reid and Pelosi's power struggle with the President. I also mentioned here that these clowns are willing to let Soldiers go unpaid unless and until they got all their own little shiny objects thrown in to the supplemental...which, by the way is an emergency supplemental spending bill that hasn't gotten done for over 440 days (and counting).

More below the fold...

Posted in Energy Bill | Farm Bill | Harry Reid | Iraq Funding | Liberals — Comments (35)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:42am on May 7, 2008 Democrats: Pay The Unemployed, Stiff The Warfighters

By haystack

Well, gang...the fix is in...

Obey and his pals have come up with a 3-pronged approach for getting an Iraq supplemental to the floor of "the People's House" and very little of it has anything to do with winning the war, or succeeding in Iraq, or whatever our Political heroes like to call it these days. It has a great deal to do with what we can hand out to our fellow citizens while simultaneously sticking it to the men and women risking their lives for ALL of us (including Democrats)....but given the election cycle these scumbags stand in fear of, there is little surprise in this news:

Read on . . .

Posted in Iraq Funding | Liberals | Shameless Pandering Democrats — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:30pm on Dec. 5, 2007 Democrats New Iraq Strategy: Declare Victory

They Couldn’t Beat Bush So Now They Plan to Join Him

By Mark I

Predictably, but no less unbelievably, Congressional Democrats are considering a new approach in dealing with the burgeoning success in Iraq. Michael O’Hanlon, of the Brookings Institution and author of a now famous New York Times op-ed that was one of the first to claim that the surge was working, has another opinion piece in today’s USA Today. O’Hanlon argues that Democrats are due a large share of the credit for the surge’s apparent success.

Rarely in U.S. history has a political party diagnosed a major failure in the country's approach to a crucial issue of the day, led a national referendum on the failing policy, forced a change in that policy that led to major substantive benefits for the nation — and then categorically refused to take any credit whatsoever for doing so.

The Washington Post characterizes O’Hanlon’s thesis as a first airing of a possible shift in strategy by House Democrats over funding for the Iraq war. Democrats are considering dropping timeframes for troop withdrawal altogether in favor of timelines on political progress. This strategy says O’Hanlon, will allow Democrats to acknowledge the success of our troops while maintaining opposition to the war.

Read on…

Posted in Democratic Party | Democrats | Iraq | Iraq Funding | Michael O'Hanlon — Comments (25)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:45pm on Nov. 6, 2007 A Fine Layer Of Scum Forms On Murtha's Barroom Swill Bucket

By haystack

Democrats may have their undies all in a bundle over waterboarding foreign combatants and ruthless terrorist thugs, but they have no compunction about the drip-drip of this Chinese water torture they continue to exact on Americans at any opportunity to find new and ever-creative ways of ending a war without really ending it...or de-funding it without really de-funding it.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Posted in Congress | Democrats | Iraq Funding | Politicizing Soldiers — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Read More »