The Democratic Leader Who Cried Wolf

Unfortunately, I've seen this too many times this year to believe it absent real action.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that Democrats won't approve more money for the Iraq war this year unless President Bush agrees to begin bringing troops home.

By the end of the week, the House and Senate planned to vote on a $50 billion measure for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would require Bush to initiate troop withdrawals immediately with the goal of ending combat by December 2008.

If Bush vetoes the bill, "then the president won't get his $50 billion," Reid, D-Nev., told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., made a similar statement last week in a closed-door caucus meeting.

It's clear that this is the way you SHOULD negotiate, but not at all clear that this is how they WILL, especially after another barrage of "Democrats hate our troops" rhetoric. The real loss here was a few months back, when they didn't effectively combat the hardening narrative that "we're winning!!1!" in Iraq, so any definitive action now will be met by copious amounts of "Democrats are stabbing the soldiers in the back" rhetoric to add onto the hate the troops rhetoric.

I am happy with this line, however:

"We will and we must pay for whatever cost to protect the American people," said House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. "But tragically, unfortunately, incredibly, the war is not making us safer."

If they're going to believe the "we must support the troops by sending them off to die" hype, at least they can turn it on its head by rightly alleging that the war isn't making us safer.