All dressed up and no one to compromise with

September 19, 2007

The last couple of weeks have been disappointing for opponents of the president’s war policy, at least as far as congressional action is concerned. While progressive activists have been hoping to see Democratic leaders fight aggressively for withdrawal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid & Co. indicated that they’re willing to compromise with Senate Republicans on partial measures, even if that means funding the war without timetables.

The goal, as it was described, was to find measures that could change Bush’s policy, albeit mildly, with bipartisan support. Dems couldn’t get what they want, so they’d take what they could get.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the compromise — Republicans failed to show up. As a result, Reid is going back to Plan A.

Unable to garner enough Republican support, Senate Democratic leaders said yesterday that they are abandoning a bipartisan effort to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq by next spring.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said that Democrats had been willing to make the troop withdrawal a “goal” in order to attract GOP support, but it never materialized. Instead, Reid will again push for a firm deadline, this time June 2008, along with a stronger effort at cutting off war funding.

“It’s all definite timelines,” Reid said.

I guess one could blame Reid for trying to reach out to Republicans in good faith, but I won’t. He thought there were enough reasonable GOP lawmakers to change a policy that doesn’t work, so he gave compromise a shot. Republicans apparently weren’t interested. Indeed, John McCain taunted Dems for even trying to be reasonable: “They’ve lost the momentum,” McCain said. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t want to sit down with Republicans and negotiate a different resolution.”

So, instead of a toothless compromise, we’ll see a more meaningful fight over withdrawal. In fact, describing his reluctant decision to forgo a compromise, Reid told reporters yesterday that his GOP colleagues are apparently anxious to claim Bush’s policy as their own: “I think they’ve decided definitely they want this to be the Senate Republicans’ war, not just Bush’s. They’re jealous.”

The Senate debate today will shift to the Webb amendment.

As regular readers know, Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) is championing a common-sense measure that would require the Bush administration to give units returning from Iraq as much time at home as they had spent in Iraq. In other words, serve for a year in Iraq, spend a year in the U.S. Republicans filibustered the measure during the last funding fight, and though a majority supported the bill, Dems came a few votes shy of ending the GOP obstructionism.

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), who voted for the Webb amendment the last time, was going to help lead the way to 60 votes this week. As is too often the case with Senate Republicans, he indicated yesterday that he might let the nation down.

In what could be a serious setback for Senate Democrats, Republican Sen. John Warner says he is “reconsidering” his support of a defense amendment requiring all U.S. troops returning from Iraq be guaranteed more time at home before their next deployment overseas….

[I]n an interview Tuesday, the senator said he is “reconsidering his position” in light of the administration’s willingness to move closer to him on expediting some reduction in U.S. troop levels this year in Iraq. “It took a lot of convincing to make the first units come home before Christmas,” Mr. Warner said. “There is a lot of importance in that.”

That really doesn’t make any sense. Warner didn’t “convince” Bush to bring home 5,000 troops by Christmas; those troops were coming home anyway.

The Senate is expected to vote on the Webb measure this afternoon. For more on the amendment, Digby has an excellent post on the subject and Warner’s perfidy.

Stay tuned.

although i’ll believe it when i see it, i hope the democrats stick to their guns this time. after the petrayus fiasco, and bush’s idiotic announcement to bring home troops already scheduled to come home, i think more of the public is sick enough of this war to get behind the democrats and support their timelines. i think the risk of being (successfully) labeled as against the troops has greatly diminished. now may be the time to hang in there.

  • Last I knew, the various Democratic party and campaign committees were blowing their Repub counterparts away. So I don’t really understand why some of that cash isn’t being used to coordinate with the Senate agenda. If we really are goingto debate the Webb Amendment — which I think is both great policy and great politics — why do I have to read blogs to know about it, to understand it, and to realize that the adults in the room tried to work in a responsible bipartisan way but were rejected? Why aren’t TV spots running in prime time, reaching out to the communities whose citizens are on their third extended tour in Iraq, paid for by the DNC, DSCC, and DCCC?

    It is my fervent hope that, maybe, if I wish on enough stars, before the moment of opportunity has completely passed, the Democratic Party will learn the first thing about messaging.

    Hey Dems, if a populist amendment is offered in the forest and nobody hears it does it make a political sound?

  • Warner is retiring at the end of his term, so he doesn’t need future favors from his Republican colleagues – not that they are going to have enough influence to grant favors anyway. Same with Hagel. If they were ever going to vote their consciences, this is the time. But the “party loyalty” habit dies hard. Especially in the Republican party.

  • “They’ve lost the momentum,” McCain said. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t want to sit down with Republicans and negotiate a different resolution.”

    Funny this is one of the rationales the Shia politicians use when skirting the issue of reaching a compromise (political reconciliation) with the Sunni tribes.

  • The Democrats need to realize that the Republicans are on a sinking ship and rather than taking a life preserver they are lashing themselves to the mast. Screw ’em all, let them sink. The Dems need to maintain their firm commitment to end Bush’s silly adventure because America is sick of it too, and the longer Republicans show how delusional they are the more voters will want them out of office.

    I don’t believe there are the votes to end this fiasco before Bush is kicked out of the White House, but the Democrats can either play the role of loyal enabler or be the loyal opposition. If voters see no differences in the parties they may not vote for Dems in ’08. Give voters a legitimate reason to hand as many seats as possible to the Democrats by sticking resolutely to anti-war positions.

  • Republicans feel that compromise is for weaklings and negotiation is for suckers. This flows right on down from the administration which has so comprehensively demonstrated those views on almost every front.

    Maybe now Reid understands that. Perhaps the Democratic Party will, in time, come to understand that the people who have been throwing shit at you for two decades will not stop no matter what you say or do.

  • Well I suppose there was always a chance — and there may still be for that matter — that there might actually be some middle ground to be found with Republicans. But as I said at the time when Reid announced his intention to try and find a compromise, he had gone to too much trouble to set up a fight this month to turn around and not have one. So while there was at least a chance compromise, I had no expectation that Reid would just take any deal offered. If no compromise was forthcoming it still threw Republicans off balance a little by pulling when they were expecting a push, made it possible to say “Hey, we tried to work with them,” if he needed to take a harder line later, and possibly allowed him to get inside their guard and set them up for something unexpected. I suspect it probably also satisfied a sportsmanlike desire to touch gloves before a fight, Reid being a former golden gloves middleweight boxer.

    But as I also said before, I don’t expect Democrats to win outright this time around. The Republicans’ position is still simply too strong and they know it. Also MoveOn did them a huge favor by providing a welcome diversion from the beating they should have taken in the opening round. But I do expect Democrats to come away with at least something to show, cut one or two more Republicans out of the heard, make the rest wear their war out in public for a month and set up the next fight. Ted Kennedy basically telegraphed their six months ago that this was going to be a long hard slog. But with Reid, I’ve also learned to expect the unexpected. You just never know what he’s going to pull out of his hat with one hand when all eyes are on his other. Should be interesting.

  • …progressive activists have been hoping to see Democratic leaders fight aggressively for withdrawal…

    “progressive activists”?

    From the polling I’ve seen, the vast majority of Democrats, and most independent voters are also hoping to see Democratic leaders fight aggressively for withdrawal.

    Withdrawal. It’s not just for the DFHs anymore.

    And I’m prett sure Reid knows that it’s the independent voters who decide the elections, usually. That is, when The Lobby isn’t fucking with us.

  • Speaking of John McCain and Jim Webb, McCain should really go give the constitution a read if he’s going to be shooting off his mouth about it in public. For example in section 8, Powers of Congress, what parts of “To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces” and “To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States…” doesn’t he get?

  • That’s a GREAT way to barter….

    “I want 10000 shekels for that thing”

    “I want to pay you 2000”

    “it’s 10000”

    “look…let’s comprimise, okay? What would you say if I said 9,500?”

    “still 10000”

    “Okay, that’s it, I’m ONLY paying 2000…what do you say to that?”

    etc,

  • petorado #6, you said you “don’t believe there are the votes to end this fiasco before Bush is kicked out of the White House”. On a simple up down basis that may be true, but Mark Kleinman sees it differently. He points out that by offering the Webb Amendment when the Defense Appropriation bill comes up there can be no votes on the bill itself as long as the amendment is on the floor. If the Democrats are serious about changing direction on Iraq then they have a considerable arsenal of procedural tricks at their disposal to make that happen. Kleinman analyzes and elaborates on these options and tactics in an interesting and persuasive. You might want to take a look at it and see if you agree.

  • Pingback: The Detroit Times » Democrats pull back on Iraq

  • Thing is, a majority of the public is behind timetables–and they have been for quite awhile. Yet the blame for inaction lies entirely with those who are supposed to represent the people.

    After all of this time, and poll after poll indicating quite clearly that the people support withdrawal and firm timetables tied to funding, our representatives do not represent. What, exactly, do our ‘representatives’ need to hear, and from what quarter, before they will take a stand? I am beyond tired of this. Especially after the most recent ‘ram up the kiester’ evidenced in the expanded wiretapping capitulation, reasonable people would think that our ‘representatives’ would get a clue.

    As stated above, I’ll believe it when I see it. We have heard this before, many, many times. Wake me when they actually do what they say they will do; wake me when they actually make the stand that they proclaim they’re going to make.

  • Everyone wants timetables. Almost no one, maybe three in ten, support locking up funding altogether if we can’t get them. That’s the conundrum. As long as Republicans can keep it to a binary option, there’s not a hell of a lot that can be done except to a) keep trying to wear them down until you can peel away enough of them to get to 60 votes and b) make damned sure there are less Republicans in the next Congress.

  • Heh, nice work Reid! Very, very smart.

    OK, I’ll take back all the bitching I did about spineless Dems. Well, some of it at least.

    Reid is a wrestler. He just flipped the Repugs over, and now it looks like he is going to pin their shoulders to the mat. Good work.

    Man I want to see them do this a lot, because it is the strong way to bring back bipartisanship and the rule of law: offer compromise, offer to be reasonable and to negotiate in good faith, and then do so if the offer is accepted. But if the offer is rebuffed, then fuck them up the ass. No mercy. OK you wanna play hardball, here it is. It was your choice.

    I hope the Repugs filibuster and I hope that Reid and the Senate Dems are able to make it an absolutely humiliating experience for them. So much so, that the next time Reid makes an offer to compromise, the Repugs jump all over it and take it up eagerly.

    It sucks having to be this way, but it seems to be the only thing that works.

  • Reid will do whatever the repubs tell him to do…no point in even showing up. They can always call their demands in later.
    “Yeah Reid, put us down for your famous chicken salad sandwiches, and a funding bill where we promise to look into sometime soon and maybe think about withdrawing the troops. Some pickles with that too.”

    How many times must Reid be snubbed by these republicans before he realizes that they want to dump this war off on the dems to end so they can blame them for all the problems involved with ending it and maybe win the WH back again in 2012. Dems claim this is Bush’s war but will do nothing to force him to end it and will wind up being blamed for all problems associated with straightening out Bush’s mess. They need to force Bush to deal with his own mess. Stop funding the damn thing…this is the power you have and have not used. The majority of Americans support you on ending the funding. The press reports to the contrary are lies. Stop funding anything but a troop withdrawal.

    Reid must understand this ain’t no boxing match with rules and referees and rounds and fair fights. This is tag team with no ref or rules or time limits. These same repubs are even voting against the constitution by filibustering the restore habeas corpus act. They do not support a democracy or our constitutional freedoms. They are the true enemies to democracy…stop being polite to them and never assume they will be cooperative for moral reasons.

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