Cooling Saucer Slows Down Dem Hotheads

Maybe Chucky Schumer was right after all about the "cooling saucer" function of the Senate. While the hotheads in the House of Representatives wasted several days (Dems wasting time is a good thing) to complete their resolution against Bush's troop surge, the GOP in the Senate have once again spiked the ball back in Harry Reid's face. After all we can't have the Senate rushing into anything. Things must take a slow and deliberate course with many sessions of back and forth debate and several rounds of failure before moving the bar an inch or two.

The Dems should look on the bright side. While it is too late for the Dems in the house to keep from having egg on their face, the Dems in the Senate may very well be happy about this result. After all, it will not take a huge turn of events in Iraq. Any measurable improvement after the troop surge can be claimed by Bush as a step in the right direction and that the Dems were wrong. If the situation improves, Bush can say, "They criticized my comments on staying the course. They demanded we take a new direction in Iraq. After much consultation and a shakeup in leadership we proposed a new direction in Iraq and the Dems rejected their own demand. We stood up to them and now we are beginning to see the fruits of those decisions...".

The Dems now have themselves so boxed into a corner that John Murtha is suggesting sleight of hand gimmics to pull the rug out from under our campaign in Iraq. They are beginning to become frantic and realize the only option is to sabotage Iraq. A pullout before things get any better is their only hope of saving face. The Washington Post has slammed Murtha's idea in an editorial:

Mr. Murtha has a different idea. He would stop the surge by crudely hamstringing the ability of military commanders to deploy troops. In an interview carried Thursday by the Web site MoveCongress.org, Mr. Murtha said he would attach language to a war funding bill that would prohibit the redeployment of units that have been at home for less than a year, stop the extension of tours beyond 12 months, and prohibit units from shipping out if they do not train with all of their equipment. His aim, he made clear, is not to improve readiness but to "stop the surge." So why not straightforwardly strip the money out of the appropriations bill -- an action Congress is clearly empowered to take -- rather than try to micromanage the Army in a way that may be unconstitutional? Because, Mr. Murtha said, it will deflect accusations that he is trying to do what he is trying to do. "What we are saying will be very hard to find fault with," he said.

The article also points out that this disgusting approach does not stop with Murtha, but does represent the Dems viewpoint:

It would be nice to believe that Mr. Murtha does not represent the mainstream of the Democratic Party or the thinking of its leadership. Yet when asked about Mr. Murtha's remarks Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered her support. Does Ms. Pelosi really believe that the debate she orchestrated this week was not "the real vote"? If the answer is yes, she is maneuvering her party in a way that can only do it harm.

I am sure the reports of Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki describing recent activities in Iraq as a "dazzling success" have given more than one Dem a Maalox moment. The closing of the Iranian and Syrian borders combined with al-Sadr taking a vacation in Iran is a sure recipe for an improvement. Yes, the cooling saucer may have saved Senate Dems a small measure of embarrassment. Their votes that did not take place cannot be held against them, but many know the real story and hopefull will remember. If not, there are a lot of bloggers that will be there to remind them.