Dodge Ball

There's been some interesting developments on Iraq. Not in Iraq itself, that's still an orgy of bloodshed, where deputy Prime Ministers are under constant threat of assassination; where US soldiers are still sitting ducks; where the Turks are beginning to intervene in Kurdistan, threatening a wider war; where Marine reserves get trapped in the net and must return; where returning veterans must fight for the health care they deserve; and where the country of Iraq itself is running out of safe water (an unbelievable tragedy).

No, this development is happening in the US Senate, where the Republicans won't stand in the way of the veto by the President, preferring instead to yoke the war on his neck and get out of the way:

Unwilling to do the White House's heavy lifting on Iraq, Senate Republicans are prepared to step aside to allow language requiring troop withdrawals to reach President Bush, forcing him to face down Democratic adversaries with his veto pen.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) announced the shift in strategy yesterday, as the chamber took up a $122 billion war spending package that includes a target date of March 31, 2008, for ending most U.S. combat operations in Iraq. The provision, along with a similar House effort, represents the Democrats' boldest challenge on the war, setting the stage for a dramatic showdown with Bush over an otherwise popular bill to keep vital military funds flowing.

No matter the outcome of the Senate vote, McConnell is looking ahead, assuming House Democrats will insist that withdrawal conditions be included when a final bill is sent to Bush. If so, McConnell said, Republicans would forgo the parliamentary tactics they used to block antiwar legislation that had forced Democrats to amass an insurmountable 60 votes to prevail.

"We need to get the bill on down to the president and get the veto out of the way," McConnell said.

The Republicans want nothing to do with this President and his policies, especially on Iraq. They're not stupid. They know that they will need to be re-elected at some point, and they have seen the numbers.



So they're trying to blame everything wrong in the country on the President, and letting him battle the Democrats on his own. It's a classic incompetence dodge, blaming the messenger (Bush) rather than the message (conservative ideology and governance). But as Nitpicker demonstrates, the problem isn't Bush.

So, while it's good to see Congress finally chipping away at the crust surrounding the Bushies warm, gooey center of corruption, it's important to make clear that this isn't simply a rogue, incompetent administration. This is a rogue, incompetent administration which is, nevertheless, following the exact recipes Republicans have written over the last thirty years. Americans need to understand that, in one sense, Bush hasn't failed. He implemented core Republican principles and they failed. And they always will.

The resolution on Iraq in the Senate sets an earlier deadline, but is nonbinding. It's anyone's guess what will come out of conference committee. But whatever it is, the Republicans don't want any part of it. After cheerleading from this war for over four years, they want to act like they had nothing to do with it, even though it strikes at the core of modern Republican ideology.

They're not going to get away with it.

UPDATE - If it was only about Bush, then support for government programs and cratering support for "social conservatism" wouldn't be seen in the Pew poll as well. It isn't just these people, it's the whole ideology.

UPDATE II - Yglesias:

The irony in all this, at some level, is that if the Bush administration had spent less time thinking about ways to abuse their power for electoral gain and more time thinking about ways to govern the country in a non-disastrous manner, they probably would have done much better in the midterms. At some level, there's no substitute for knowing how to do your job properly.

But the standard operating procedure of the Republicans in the 21st century is to use power for electoral (and financial) gain. That's their entire theory of government.