This should be interesting. Bush is fixing to veto the supplemental spending bill because it has deadlines for withdrawal from Iraq. This is supposed to set up a situation in which the troops in Iraq will run out of resources. Bush will try to make it look as if he is playing chicken with Congress with the welfare of the troops on the line.
He has the stronger hand here in one sense, because he doesn’t give a crap about the troops. He has already demonstrated his contempt for them in many ways. If it takes getting every last one of them killed to further his agenda and build up his ego, that would be fine by Bush. In fact, he would probably arrange for the first cuts in spending to be sure to result in casualties. Congress, on the other hand, hasn’t yet demonstrated a complete lack of regard for the troops’ welfare, and some of them are going to want to appear to be genuinely concerned for them.
Who will be blamed in the eyes of the people? Will it be Bush with his track record of troop hating and low credibility? Or will it be the Democrats in Congress with their deadlines that reflect the will of the people? You’d think this would be a no brainer, but since the people are also no brainers it is hard to tell where they will come down on this. The lunatic Bushie base will rally behind their Fuehrer no matter what he does, and the Democratic base will stay in line. The ignorant horde of middle of the roaders will decide the issue.
Remember the showdown between Newt and Bill that resulted in the government’s being shut down? I wouldn’t have thought that anyone would have cared if the government took a break from harassing us, but the people were pissed at Newt because of this. Congress got the blame because they wouldn’t pass a spending bill. In this case, the money is on the table so it might be possible to lay the blame on Bush for walking away from the money especially since he can also withdraw the troops and get them out of harm’s way. It’s as if Bush has the military as his hostage to threaten if the people and Congress don’t fall in line with his will.
Will Congress have the guts to see this through even when Bush lets troops get killed and maimed just to make a point?
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The ignorant horde of middle of the roaders will decide the issue.
once again, dependent on the muddle in the middle of america. as pro is the ooposite of con, congress is the opposite of progress. The dems stuck the rural schools act into the package too - so the one piece of legislation that i might actually care about rides on the wrong side of this vote - i hope GW vetoes the bill and the troops find their way home. bad bill, bad government, bad situation. a pox on all their houses.
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