Vote No

Despite the fact that there's no rewriting what happened yesterday on Iraq, the best thing that can happen now is to get an overwhelming majority of rank and file Democratic votes against this blank check. And this is not purely a lefty blogger rabble position: the mainstream DC Democratic Think Progress, run by Clinton's former chief of staff John Podesta, is calling on Congress to reject the toothless supplemental.

MoveOn is whipping the vote. At least individual Congressmen can save face and stand firm against the sell-out from the leadership.

The president has played political brinksmanship over the war in Iraq time and time again. He refuses to acknowledge the futility of his approach, disregards the clear message sent by the American people last fall, and falsely claims that the only way for Congress to support the troops is to prolong the war. That's just not true. Congress can support the troops and end the war, which is exactly what the bill they sent the president last month would have done. When the president vetoed that bill, it was the president alone who was blocking support for the troops. Nobody else.

Any compromise that funds the war through the end of the fiscal year isn't a compromise at all, it's a capitulation. As I have said repeatedly, Congress should send the president the same bill he vetoed again and again until he realizes he has no choice but to start bringing our troops home.

To say that "Congress had to fund the troops before Memorial Day" is a media creation. Out in the country people don't want to see stories like this anymore. If the Democrats were going to listen to the pundits instead of the people they should have given the money to begin with. There is no short-term redemption for them; but individuals can show where they stand by voting no on the supplemental.

UPDATE: Biden put it succinctly on Hardball: you can either vote with the President or vote with the troops. Of course, he'll probably go ahead and vote for this bill.