From the very start, this Iraq resolution that's been making its way through Congress has seemed like a waste of time to me. They're spending hours and hours debating a resolution that is non-binding, no more than a simple expression of the opinion of the Congress that maybe Bush shouldn't be sending 21,000 more troops to Iraq, that Bush has promised to ignore anyway. (And as a side note, why do we keep calling it a "surge" when referring to it? Did a focus group reveal that "increased military presence" sounds too harsh?)
Some conservatives have criticized it as being a transparent attempt to embarrass the president, and for once I completely agree with them. If it had passed, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi could trumpet their success to the American people, because what would the headlines say? "Congress Passes Resolution Against Iraq War." And then in the smaller print in the actual article that nobody actually reads, we see (or don't see) that it's non-binding, won't change a thing, that they spent hours debating over three versions of it with subtle wording differences that may allow politicians an exit if the "surge" somehow actually works, and blah blah blah.
Of course, that's all a moot point now, because it's essentially dead. Perhaps they killed did it for different reasons than I would have done it, but for now, no more time will be spent on the resolutions, and maybe now the Senate can start worrying about things that will actually have an effect on policy, like, say, the $245 billion that the Bush Administration wants for the war.
But here's the funny thing. The Democrats didn't even need to pass the resolution to come out looking good. Check out the headline of that news article:
"Republicans block Senate debate on Iraq"
The Republicans aren't going to win a lot of voters with that, are they?
Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah liberal media blah blah blah. I just think it's amusing.
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