If There’s Much Ado, Is It Nothing?
I’ve been watching numerous people on liberal/progressive blogs get worked up over the Senate Democrats’ proposal for a nonbinding resolution against Bush’s escalation plan, arguing that it was a purely cosmetic bill that accomplished nothing.
The weird thing is, today, Senate Republicans filibustered the nonbinding resolutions. The Republicans who sponsored the bills even joined the filibuster. Now, if this nonbinding resolution is no big deal, why would the Republican leadership go to such great lengths to stop it? Yeah, it’s mainly a PR stunt. But perception becomes reality so often in politics, maybe PR matters.
That said, the big confrontation is going to come up when Congress has to take action on Bush’s request for more funding for Iraq and Afghanistan. If Congress is going to substantially affect Iraq policy before 2008, funding measures are probably the only they’re possibly going to be able to get past filibusters and presidential vetoes. We’ll see who gets tagged as an obstructionist then.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.
Tuesday, February 6th 2007 at 2:24 pm |
It is not the resolution, it is the fact that the GOP is stalling the debate on Iraq. And the Democrats are not helping — at all.
It goes deeper than you would think…see here.
Wednesday, February 7th 2007 at 11:42 pm |
Hello clearthought, and welcome to Not News.
I owe you a longer, more detailed reply, but if the Post reporting on the negotiations was correct, I don’t particularly have a problem with the Dems’ parliamentary stance.
Not sure I get your “not the resolution, but the debate” distinction. I don’t think debate on the Senate floor is what counts as a substantial debate. Getting people on the record, that’s a step toward substantial debate. And for that, you need the resolution, just for starters.