This may be old news, but it is new to me.
Greg Sargent over at TPM wrote an article based on info he received from his sources: Reid Allowed Vote On Mukasey In Exchange For Military Funding Bill.
According to sources inside and outside the Democratic leadership, Harry Reid allowed a vote on Mukasey because in exchange the Republican leadership agreed to allow a vote on the big Defense Appropriations Bill, which contains $459 billion in military spending but doesn’t fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Reid had wanted to get this bill passed before the end of this week, and in fact, the defense bill did come up for a vote late last night and was passed after the Mukasey vote.
One key reason Dem leaders wanted this defense approps bill passed, sources tell me, is that they wanted to be able to argue that they had sent a bill to the President funding the military, if not the war itself. The idea was that doing this would allow them to protect themselves in the days ahead when the battle over Iraq funding heats up and Republicans inevitably charge that Dems are refusing to fund the troops.
In other words….Reid GAVE Bush Mukasey, in exchange for….
A mere HEDGE against The Republicans saying that the Democrats don’t support the troops.
Everyone who thinks that The Republicans will now give up their boogeyman, their most effective weapon, their ONLY remaining strategy on continuing the Occupation….
Raise your hand.
Yeah, I thought so.
Reid gives up $450 Billion Dollars AND confirmation of a Torture Denier…..so the Republicans won’t call the Democrats names.
“This lets us argue, `Hey, we just sent $450 billion to the military,” one leadership source tells me.
Argue with whom?
Sean O’Reilly?
Reid has given up TWO huge bargaining chips….for nothing more than the PROSPECT of good press. Reid has given up TWO huge bargaining chips, to prevent the Republicans from doing what they will still do anyway, say Dems don’t support the troops if they try to not fund.
Everyone who now thinks that this means Harry Reid will adamantly oppose funding the Occupation because he has the cover of sending $450 Billion to the Pentagon…iow, everyone who thinks he won’t cave…. raise your hand.
Yeah, I thought so.
I want to sell Harry Reid a used car. I’d be set for life.
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This has seriously affected my thinking on how to deal with the Dems….stay tuned!
Of course, it’s not just Reid–the arrangement was agreed to by unanimous consent within the Senate.
he’s made so many deals that got double crossed that he is Bush’s Fool Me Twice Man.
Negotiations require good faith by all parties and standing by your word. Reid and the incumbent Dems and the GOP all lying a**hats together.
No more money to incumbents…
Just… wow.
who needs enemies. Its a lot of work being a thinking, non bind Democrat. Sometime I feel like the holdout character in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, it must be nice to just go to sleep and wake up not knowing or caring. Anarchy sounds good about now! As Lewis Black says no wonder Democrats lose when the voter is presented with a choice between two steaming bowls of shit! Sorry for the inelegance but this is becoming so overtly a one party, no choice, rigged joke I find it impossible to be anything but lowdown.
isn’t it worth it just to know that the david broders of the world won’t write something mean about the partisan dems?!
…& I don’t even really know how to play poker. The man has NO ability to negotiate, bluff, accurately determine odds, apply pressure when needed, or stand his ground–In short, not only would he be a horrible poker player–He IS a Horrible “Leader”.
Frank Rich’s Column: The Coup at Home is a good summation of how the Democrats have assisted the Bush/Cheney regime to pull off a “Silent Coup” here in America.
Amazingly, the only people who don’t understand how much their complicity, their lack of courage, and their “Wait till 2008” (even if it means letting everything else go to hell in the meantime) “strategy” has cost the country and them personally–are the Congressional Dems, especially the woefully inadequate and incompetent “leadership”. As Rich points out:
He sold his soul to the neocons and got paid for it with something equally worthless.
What fu*king idiot… Jesus Christ.
Enough of this shit.
It’s time to make a choice. There are only two directions left to choose from.
It’s either this way:
Or this way:
I think I’ll go look at hiking boots today…
unless………
Why couldn’t he simply have tried to pass the military funding bill anyway?
Then, when the Goopers tried to stop it, Reid could have blamed them for not support the troops?
Enough with this permanent defensive crouch. Aren’t there any Dems in DC who know how to play offense?
that were pet projects, like Pelosi’s Presidio Trust 2.5 million dollar parade staging area, funded with almost 100% ‘AYES’ says it all. If I was a US Soldier, I would be very upset right about now.