Decision ‘08

Dirty Harry The Self-Indulgent

One of the signs of either (a) the delusional true believer, or (b) the complete hack is the unwillingness to accept reality as it is. Many have accused our Commander-in-Chief of this flaw, but it certainly applies to his opponents. Witness the reaction from the lefty blogosphere’s leading lights to the latest Republican victory over Harry Reid in the seemingly endless votes on Iraq.

First, though, here’s how the NY Times called it: Democrats Fail to Force Vote on Iraq Pullout.

The Washington Post:

The Republican success, using the power of the filibuster, came after a marathon all-night debate on an amendment to the defense bill. The 52-47 tally left Democrats eight votes short of the 60 necessary to force a vote on the measure.

The Los Angeles Times: Senate Rejects Democrats’ Bid to Pull Troops from Iraq.

Clearly, these are not partisan conservative outlets, and they all see today for what it was: a legislative victory for Republicans over Democrats, using the power the Senate gives to the minority.

So what does Harry Reid do? He petulantly yanks the defense authorization bill from the floor in another useless gesture (the money has been appropriated and will be spent anyway - this is just symbolism to motivate the base - and it worked!

Here’s how TPMCafe reported the ‘breaking’ news: Reid Yanks Defense Authorization Bill to Force GOP’s Hand.

To force the GOP’s hand? How so? Even the TPMCafe piece implicitly acknowledges the futility of Reid’s gesture, after contemplating the overwrought celebratory nature of its initial reaction:

It should be noted that the Defense authorization bill doesn’t have to pass in order for the Defense appropriations bill to become law. While the authorization bill set priorities for things like weapons systems in the defense budget, only the appropriations bill actually funds those priorities — and, unlike what we said earlier it’s not strictly necessary to pass the authorization first, though it is customary.

In short, from the perspective of Pentagon operations, the lack of an authorization bill “isn’t a problem, period, as long as an appropriations bill is passed,” says Steve Koziack of the Center on Strategic and Budgetary Priorities.

Don’t tell that to Bob Gieger:

In an in-your-face response to Republicans continuing to block a full Senate vote on withdrawing American troops from Iraq, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) just moments ago set aside the pending Defense Authorization Bill until the Senate’s Republican leadership stops defying the will of the majority of Congress and the American people and allows votes on the Iraq occupation.

*Cough* (hack!) *cough*…way to dictate from the Reid campaign staff, Bob! I just love that ‘in-your-face’ bit…because what we really need in Washington is more adolescents.

Harry Reid - a man for our times…

…unfortunately.,,

15 Responses to “Dirty Harry The Self-Indulgent”

1 too many steves Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 5:42 am
I am a huge fan of Congressional gridlock. Congress is operating at its best when it does nothing.
2 Chris J. Breisch Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 7:03 am
Harry’s just spending some of that political capital he’s earned:
http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/2007/07/18/worst-congress-ever/
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1339
3 Fargus Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 7:32 am
The Democratic Congress has been unable to implement a lot of the legislation they’ve proposed, which enjoys vast popular support, because of Republican obstructionism. The whole Congress’s numbers are suffering for it because the public doesn’t understand that the Republicans have basically forced a 60-vote threshold (a standard which, when used against them, was threatened with a wholesale discarding of the option altogether) on all but the most mundane matters. They won’t even let ethics reform go to conference, and it passed the Senate with 97 votes. The popularity of Congress has to be viewed through the lens of what’s going on.

Also, there’s the curious phenomenon that most people approve of their Congressmen, but disapprove sharply of Congress as a whole.
4 too many steves Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 8:25 am
That contradiction is very interesting.

A small point, I recall that the Republican threat to eliminate the filibuster was focused only on judicial nomination approvals - is that correct? You can call it obstructionism if you like, but I prefer to call it “doing their job”. If they believe the legislation is flawed, wrong, or otherwise not good for the Nation then I see that they have an obligation to obstruct it.
5 Chris J. Breisch Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 8:44 am
too many steves is correct regarding judicial nominations.

Fargus,
If you were correct, we’d see higher support for Democrats from Democrats and Independents, and abysmally low numbers for Republicans from Democrats and Independents. That’s not what the poll numbers show at all. They show a nation that as a whole is disgusted with their Congress, both Democrats and Republicans. See the Zogby link I posted above for specifics.

I heard an interview with Zogby yesterday on this subject. Zogby says that it’s an overwhelming distrust of government from all sides that started with Katrina. He says that the recent “immigration reform” debacle was another example of this, and why the numbers have sunk even lower. His research shows that the anger over the bill wasn’t so much about “amnesty” but about the lack of belief that Congress was willing to do anything about securing the borders. His research showed that both conservatives and liberals were willing to accept many compromises on the amnesty front if Congress had been willing to do something about security.

Now, you can claim that there was a lot about security in the bill, and that it was misrepresented by opponents. I disagree on that matter, but it doesn’t really matter what either one of us think. As Zogby has said, what mattered is that the people didn’t (and don’t) trust Congress to implement that security. Basically because they don’t trust government at all.
6 Ryan Bonneville Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
I think it should be perfectly clear why everyone is disgusted with the Democrats: failure to end the war. The average American isn’t going to take the time to sort out how filibusters work and how the Democrats don’t have the votes, which is why Hillary and Biden have spent so much time talking about it during the debates. They need people to understand that the Republicans are stonewalling this stuff.

My guess is that’s not going to work. That’s politics: truth is no match for spin. And as long as the Republicans can continue this perverse charade everyone suffers for it. It would be funny if it weren’t getting people killed. I hope we remember this next time Republicans say ANYTHING deserves an “up or down” vote.
7 Gulf Coast Bandit Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
“It would be funny if it weren’t getting people killed.”

And the Levin-Reed amendment that they were talk-a-thoning the other night would lead to a precipitous withdrawal such that the UN Sec-Gen (and don’t ask when I started listening to the Secretary-General, it was about the time the other side started ignoring him) warned against it… and just how many people would that kill? Dropping an entire country into chaos would be funny if it weren’t for the people getting killed.

Bush lied, people died. Maybe. But at this point, how we got into Iraq is irrelevant. It’s not like we want people to die. Everybody wants to get out of Iraq. Nobody wants indefinite occupation. The question is, how are we best going to extricate ourselves from this situation?

We have a strategy. It’s called the surge. We’re going to hear from General Petraeus in September, a general who was unanimously approved by the Senate to take over in Iraq, about whether or not this surge is working. If it’s not working, then we can re-evaluate the situation.

But for the love of everything remotely strategic, why in the hell are the Democrats attempting to undermine a strategy just implemented 2 months ago?

It would be funny if it wouldn’t lead to getting people killed.
8 peter Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
1) The surge started in February, nearly six months ago.

2) The stated purpose of the surge was to provide enough breathing room for the Iraqi government to do the things it was asked to do. Few (if any) of these things have been done: in fact, they are going on vacation next month. Even if the surge has shown military success — which is at best uncertain — the complete lack of progress from the Iraqis shows that the policy behind it is flawed. I’m not sure what Patreus’s report can do to avoid this central fact, or why we ought to wait any further before scaling down our involvement in this sorry mess.

3) “The question is, how are we best going to extricate ourselves from this situation?” Absolutely correct. The House voted on a bill which answers that question. It’s regrettable that the Senate Republicans prevented an up-or-down vote on the same bill. If they truly believe that we ought to continue our involvement in Iraq, they ought to have the courage to stand up and be counted.
9 Fargus Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Chris -

The numbers that show 14% approval for Congress are based on polls that ask people their opinion of Congress at large. Everyone has a dismal opinion of Congress at large, but many people don’t have that negative an opinion of their own Congressmen. As Ryan noted, Democrats are pissed because the Congress hasn’t ended the war, and Republicans are pissed because Congress is trying to end the war. As Ryan also said, the Republicans have been stonewalling everything.
10 Mark Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Guys, the Republicans are using the rules of the Senate to push their political agenda. That is their job…period…the Democrats do the same thing when they are in the minority.

It’s not ‘unfair’, it’s how the system was purposely set up…
11 Fargus Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
I never said anything that contradicts that, Mark. But I’d say that in large part, the Republicans are doing it not to pursue their own agenda, but to make it look like the Democrats can’t get anything passed. Why else would they block the overwhelmingly supported Ethics Reform bill?
12 Ryan Bonneville Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Mark, here’s the difference: Democrats have never pretended they were doing anything else. I notice everyone’s opposition to the filibuster was a lot more principled when the Democrats were using it.

GCB: For three years, the President has mismanaged and mangled this war at every opportunity. At best he’s naive and incompetent; at worst he’s completely deranged (see Ross Douthat’s recent discussion of his messiah complex for some perspective). I see no reason to trust Plans B, C, or D at this point. The Iraqi government has failed to meet its objectives, we have failed to secure the country or provide any incentive for the government to do its job, and we’re already standing in the middle of a civil war. On top of that, George Bush isn’t president of Iraq - he’s president of the US. And his duty is to keep Americans - including American soldiers - alive. Iraq is severely frustrating that objective.

Also, while we’re on the topic of Republican hypocrisy, I don’t remember Republicans caring so much about the suffering of others in Kosovo or Darfur. People are dying all over the world and it’s terrible, but we’re supposed to be the realistic ones. It’s time to end this Wilsonian lunacy.
13 Mark Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Yes, cruel-hearted Republicans, never giving billions of dollars to fight AIDS in Africa or…oh, wait. George W. Bush did that, didn’t he? In fact, he gave far more than Clinton. And who was it that called Darfur a genocide? Oh, the Bush administration, that’s right. And who is it who is leading the charge to do MORE about Darfur? Social conservatives, even - gasp! - religious conservatives in the Republican Party.

Yep, we’re heartless bastards, all right…
14 doug Says:
July 20th, 2007 at 5:03 am
The Surge began …key word “began” 6 months ago. Perhaps you believe that these additional 30K soldiers were just beamed down from outer space. The full compliment finally arrived in the past month and have been moved out into the Forward bases. Has the American public become so accustomed to having everything instantly done that they have lost all sense of time and space? General Patreaus’ report is to give an update of the progress to that point in time in Sept. By my calender mid Sept is still almost 2 months away. For all of these people in our esteemed congress to claim it is a failure already, is to be claiming they can know the future.

The security and breathing room is not quite there yet for the Iraqi government to do what it needs to do, but for anyone to think this will ever be achieved if we pull out of here they are deluding themselves. The situation in the city of Baghdad itself is improving. You still wouldn’t want to take a long walk on the wrong side of the river by yourself, but it is getting better.

Our idiots in the congress and the mainstream media need to get off this kick that they have it all figured out and all we need to do to make the bad guys go away is to simply close our eyes and sing happy songs. Might make you feel better for a few days but it won’t make anyone safer.
15 Ryan Bonneville Says:
July 20th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Mark: I notice you changed the subject and responded to something I didn’t even say. Well done.

I didn’t call anyone heartless. I believe the word I used was “realistic”, which the Republican Party is eminently being about Darfur. As much as the left seems to want boots on the ground and regime change there (we’ll save their hypocrisy for another time), the GOP and the President are resisting that call. Granted, they’re tossing around the word “genocide” as a sop to the lazy among us who are happy to take moral outrage as long as there’s no cost to us (both parties have a monopoly on this one, although conservative bloggers have really set a new standard), but I can live with that. American soldiers aren’t dying for a quixotic crusade in Darfur and they didn’t die for one in Kosovo either.