Democrats Say They'll Get Their Way on Iraq

NYT/AP: Dems Say They'll Get Their Way on Iraq
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 14, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats know they might lose this month's showdown with President Bush on legislation to pull troops out of Iraq. But with 2008 elections in mind, majority Democrats says it is only a matter of time before they will get their way.

Senior Democrats are calculating that if they keep the pressure on, eventually more Republicans will jump ship and challenge the president -- or lose their seats to Democratic contenders.

''It's at least my belief that they are going to have to break because they're going to look extinction, some of them, in the eye,'' said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of his Republican colleagues.

Added Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.: ''We're going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war.''

The House and Senate are expected to negotiate war spending legislation this week. The Democratic proposal would approve $96 billion in military money, mostly for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and set a timetable for troop withdrawal.

The House wants to end combat operations before September 2008; senators voted to set a nonbinding goal of ending combat by March 31, 2008.

As the final bill is negotiated, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Reid plan to meet with President Bush at the White House on Wednesday. They are expected to talk past each other, with Bush refusing to negotiate a timetable and Democrats insisting on one....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-Iraq.html

send it back. Just keep demanding an UP OR DOWN VOTE. Let the RePIGS vote with the people or go down on/with the shrub.

For what? The W Bushbots ought to get sentences for treason for killing our kids without justification.

Wow! The end is getting closer all the time. How intuitive and effective. Just wait for the next election and all will change. In the meantime....

I thought Reid/Pelosi were correct in refusing to meet with Bush over the bill last week. IMHO it is a total waste of time to go "meet" with anybody who has already indicated his/her total unwillingness to make any meaningful compromises. However, if Reid/Pelosi go meet with Bush and then decide to give him another blank check, I will be SORELY disappointed. We NEED to force this issue if nothing else. If we are truly committed to ending this "war", I believe that it is ESSENTIAL that we establish SOME kind of guidelines/benchmarks/conditions/endgame for continuing to fund it. Bush has had a "blank check" ever since the start of this "war" and it hasn't gotten our country, our soldiers, or the Iraqis anywhere good. This whole endeavor has dragged on far longer than they told us it would, it has killed more soliders and innocent Iraqis than they said it would, it has COST our country more than they ever said it would, and we never found ANYTHING that they said we would that would've justified (if only in a small way) the whole reason we're over there. Oh, and our troops have had less candy and flowers thrown at them by the Iraqis than what was predicted by our "leaders". ;-) If we are not going to stop this "war" now we AT LEAST need to inject SOME kind of accountability (which the GOP used to care about a lot at one point in time) into the situation. Reid hit all the right notes last week when he emphatically refused to meet with Bush as he is NOT leaving any room for meaningful negotiation. It is basically "my way or the highway" with him and Reid correctly called him on it. I wonder what has changed to make Reid/Pelosi want to meet with Bush? Surely, there has been no indications that Bush is going to change his mind on the matter? I would imagine that hell would freeze over faster than Bush changing his mind about something, especially Iraq. Are they meeting with him just to prove to all of the dittoheads and pundits out there that they ARE willing to meet with him just so that they can't continue to use that against us?:shrug:

the quote by Reid makes this sound way too political, which is exactly what McCain is accusing the Dem majority of as we speak.

While I certainly hope we can gain secure majorities in both houses, I would be careful not to place Iraq at the center of that success. If we learn nothing else from Don Imus, we must learn to choose our words wisely.

positions on Iraq. If Dems can't stop the war now, Dems will definitely have the power to stop it after 2008.

"Dems say they will do the people's bidding on Iraq"