Democrats hesitant to pull out
Friday, March 09, 2007
(SNN Washington) House Democrats vowed Thursday to pass legislation that would set a late 2008 deadline for withdrawal. The plan would hinge on removing funding from the Pentagon so that a troop presence of the current size would be impossible.
While a bill like this has a good chance of passing the House, with a large Democratic majority, in the Senate it would be unlikely to even come to a vote as Senators are traditionally more conservative on issues that could cost them their seat.
However, the White House does not support the plan. "It would unnecessarily handcuff our generals on the ground, and it's safe to say it's a nonstarter for the president," said White House spokesman Dan Bartlett. This is true: President Bush always listens to his generals. He fires them if they tell him something he doesn’t want to hear, but he’s never handcuffed one on the ground, probably because they would kick his ass in any hand-to-hand type situation.
At this point, the House Democrat plan seems to be drafting bills that cannot possibly pass in the Senate, which many see as wasting a lot of government time to make a statement. If they keep this up and are quiet on popular domestic issues, the Democrats could achieve a total withdrawal from the House by 2008.
