As one who has been critical of the House Dems on Iraq, I believe it is important to give credit where credit is due. Yes, they did provide funding to carry on the war, but they did set a deadline and they did what representative government ought to do, at least occasionally, and reflect what the American people want. We can argue that popular opinion is misshapen by radical rightwing media, and thus the House should have gone further, but I want to applaud their vote as a major step forward, and congratulate Speaker Pelosi on a very tough job done well.
Now, how about doing something that Dems notoriously omit, and use the opportunity to shove this down the throats of the Republicans?
How? The Dems should introduce and quickly bring the following bill up for a vote: "we hereby give an openended commitment to the Iraq War, for as many troops, for as long, and for as much money, as the President wants"...
Then, let us sit back and observe the Republic Party members in the House develop bladder and bowel incontinence as they try to figure out how to vote. Vote for it, and they have telegraphed to the electorate that they want nothing to do with holding Bush accountable, a distinctly unpopular position that they will carry into the next election. Vote against it, and they have implicitly supported the idea of some restrictions/limitations---as Winston Churchill famously remarked to Lady Astor's protest, "what kind of a woman do you think I am?, "we've already established that, we are just arguing over price". Dems, of course, will vote 100% against it to prevent any chance of passage.
Moreover, as this bill fails with a large number of Republic Party "no's", it will become more and more difficult for Bush/Cheney to demand a "clean bill", without restrictions.
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