It's El Presidente George W. Bush during his national address tonight, where he tried to justify his veto of the Iraq War funding bill. I don't imagine anyone cares what he says anymore. As we've all learned by now, when George Bush opens his mouth, a lie comes out:
“Setting a deadline for withdrawal is setting a date for failure, and that would be irresponsible,” Mr. Bush said. He said the measure would “impose impossible conditions on our commanders in combat” by forcing them to “take fighting directions from politicians 6,000 miles away in Washington, D.C.”
Dishonest El Presidente confusing strategy and tactics again. The new strategy, the one the American people support, is to declare victory and for major combat units to start leaving by the end of this year, finishing by this time next year.
Jonathan Singer, on MyDD, gets it exactly right:
The fact that it was President Bush, not the Congress, who made the decision to withhold funding for American troops in Iraq cannot be left unsaid. The Democratic Congress provided the necessary funds for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan to do their jobs and it was President Bush, trying to make the political statement that he favors an unending American presence in Iraq, who is keeping those funds from the troops.
To underscore another point above, George W. Bush, through his veto, is sending a statement to Iraqis, Americans and the rest of the world that he intends for the United States to remain in Iraq indefinitely -- not until some particular goal is achieved but effectively forever.
While the President, in his address, was able to make the case for his policies, in doing so he may have in fact strengthened the hand of the Democrats. By repeatedly underscoring the substance of the legislation passed by Congress -- to set a timeline for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, a position that is backed by the vast majority of Americans -- the President immediately places himself on the wrong side of the issue and the Democrats on the right side.
Now the Dems have to hang together. Maybe Sen. Feingold's tougher bill is next. Maybe they negotiate with Congressional Republicans to get a super majority. Per Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV):
“In the coming days we will continue to reach out to the President. And we hope Congressional Republicans who have remained silent through this debate will work with us as well.
“But if the President thinks that by vetoing this bill, he will stop us from working to change the direction of this war, he is mistaken.”
Let's hope Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) can stay strong. This should be a moment to rally Congress against such Presidential impudence. They seem up to it; I just hope they can successfully make this critical hurdle, their biggest test so far.
Pelosi, as always, has my favorite quote:
The president wants a blank check. The Congress is not going to give it to him.
Is El Presidente as strong as he thinks? Do Reid and Pelosi have something up their sleeves to finish the job of initializing an end this Long War?
Mission Commencing.
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