Congress Just Says "No"
Congress somehow found a spine over the weekend. In response to the irresponsible suggestion by Rep. John Murtha that troops be withdrawn from Iraq immediately. The Republicans said, in effect, fine, let's vote on it. The organized a vote on exactly Murtha's suggestion, a yes or not vote over whether troops should withdraw. The measure was defeated 403-3.

This was actually an excellent strategy on the part of the Republicans. Instead of allowing moderate Democrats to cosy up to the Cindy Sheehan/Moveon.org anti-war crowd, they forced a vote. Democrats were, of course, incensed. Base10 gets a kick out of Democrats shrill cry that Republicans are playing politics with national security. What the Dems fail to see is that they got out-played. Maybe this turn of events will cause the tone of anti-war politics to go down a bit, but I doubt it.

UPDATE: Tom Bevan has an interesing comment here. Apparently, only three Democrats voted their conscience.
- posted by Base10 @ 4:18 PM