Once again, Counterpunchers have correctly divined the Dem's intentions early on. I read at Counterpunch about two months ago that the Dems had decided that if the war continues through the election, that will get them big votes.

Of course, as a sentimental progressive, I had still been holding on to the hope that the lefties were portraying the Dems as more cynical and Machiavellian than they really are; I was hoping that when push comes to shove, they would put morality and accountability to the people above politics.

It's different now than when Kerry ran in 2004. Then, one could still argue (though not very convincingly that the program of setting up Iraq as a US client state could still be salvaged, and Kerry obviously did want to salvage that. Now, everyone knows that Iraq is "lost". So this is all about domestic politics, not empire management.

The Clintons represent the Republican wing of the Democratic party.

The Dems own this war as much as they president does. They voted for it at the outset, and they have backed down from even symbolic efforts to end it.

What we are witnessing, I am afraid, is the complete and total failure of the American political system. The Founders designed a good system, but no system is strong enough to withstand total corruption on the other hand, and cowardly mendacity on the other.

---Cthulhu for President: Why vote for the lesser evil?

what a dick.

once this plays out, and that's the frustrating aspect of the problem. Not only are the Dems abandoning peace, they're once again playing the whimps and hurting their 2008 chances by ever more clearly co-owning the war.

I still hope that they decide to fund in 3-4 month increments. Not that I expect it, but that at least would be something.

I'm important, and everyone else is too. G.K. Chesterton

God help us all.

Not that we deserve it.

...I'm with you on this. There are things one just doesn't need to say, and "We're totally going to be the ones to blink!" is definitely on that list.

It's not like it is something Bush doesn't already know.  that is what gets me about the broohaha made last week when Obama said the same thing.  I kept thinking, why is everyone so hyper.  It's not like it's something the other side has not known.  Really.
The plan is to keep introducing versions of the bills and build up pressure.
Does anyone honestly think there was a chance with a one vote majority?  Does anyone understand that it is going to take alot of time and positioning?
Bush does not want to leave.  He will fight tooth and nail.  Throw everything to keep the war from ending.
McConnels job is to make sure there isn't the votes needed to end the war.
This is politics.

Grrrrr!

If you want things to get better, be prepared to deal with change.

a national party or to have a leadership role.  

We're staring down the barrel of WWIII because we have a mentally unstable President and god knows what for a Vice President.

This is not a time for careful deliberation or strategic chess games of move/counter move.

It's time for strong leadership.  It's time for the Jim Webb's and Jon Tester's to kick these old fucking establishment losers out of the way in a freshman revolt and speak directly to the American people about the consequences of continued executive appeasement.

To take a hint or a lead from the House and Nancy Pelosi.  Yeah I know, that's not how it's done, tradition, deliberation, yada, yada yada.

If the democrats don't lead and don't force a stop to this madness it's time to vote None of the Above in 2008.

Signed:

An elected Democratic State Party Committee Member

Not that I'm happy with Levin for preemptively folding on funding the occupation, but I don't think that's where the showdown should be anyway.  Booman, you've said yourself no country has ever suffered a catastrophic failure of a military adventure and then entrusted those who engineered the failure to oversee the subsequent withdrawal.  The Dems could pass all the resolutions and benchmarks and timetables and deadlines they want.  Does anyone really believe the Bush administration would comply with any of them?  I don't.  The slow motion disaster in Iraq will continue essentially unchanged as long as Bush and Cheney are driving this bus.  That is the real problem.  I think that is where our efforts should be focused.  We need to take away their keys.

We need wall to wall investigations.  Everybody who is anybody in this administration needs to explain their part in this disaster.  On the record and under oath.  There are a truck load of smoking guns laying around.  We need to find enough of them to make the case for impeachment the inevitable consensus.  We need the Republicans to feel the heat for defending this administration.  Never mind the Dems wanting them out, we need Republicans pushing too.

Yeah, that's going to take time.  Does anyone think rehashing vetoed funding bills will be any faster?  I don't.

Have I ever told you about my poor memory?

Why are people shocked that Dems aren't going to cut off funds for the war?  Did they promise that in the 2006 elections?  No.  They were careful not to get branded that way.

Don't be mad at Carl Levin, be mad at the people that can actually turn the tide, and that is GOP moderates on the Hill.  More of them need to vote with their conscience and not just back Bush.

Look, Bush isn't leaving Iraq on his own will.  Everyone understand that.  Bush, Cheney, McCain, and Lieberman would never leave.  But there are plenty of GOPers on the Hill that have had enough.  They are just scared to defy Bush.  Once they go with their conscience (or fear of 2008 election), we will be able to pass a veto proof bill.  

And I don't see why bloggers want their dem leaders to be coy about whether or not they are going to fund the troops.  To mess with Bush's mind?  What does that gain?  You want the MSM to have the chance for weeks to talk about how the Dems may not fund the troops?  Bring back a bunch of stories about Vietnam and relive the way dems have been framed for 30 years?  You really want it 'up in the air' that your party may not fund the troops?  Remember, this is gonna be played out in the MSM, not in blogger land.  

Levin is doing a smart move.  Keep the pressure on the GOPers on the Hill who know we need to start withdrawing and know that they are heading for more bloodshed in 2008 if they back Bush over the will of the American people.

"There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it. Always." -- Mahatma Gandhi

The resurrection will not be televised.

Now I'm a dirty radical peacenik loonycrat.