Dec 22 2007
Democrats Revolt Against Leadership On Iraq
As long as Iraq looked like an unending failure there was a chance the Dems could cause the GOP to revolt against President Bush and finalize a defeat for America. That was their uber political fantasy when they took over Congress this year.
But when the Surge and Awakening transformed Iraq into a probable success for America and shattering defeat for al-Qaeda (which is now the enemy of Iraqi Muslims, not the future) the Democrat Leadership should have realized their fantasies had been destroyed. But they did not realize the tide has turned and now their strategy has backfired on them!
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, despite their pledges to continue pushing to end the war in Iraq, face growing pressure from their rank-and-file Democrats to focus more attention on domestic, “pocketbook†issues in the upcoming election year.
Junior Democrats describe an “Iraq fatigue†setting in among some members after dozens of successful withdrawal votes failed to drive a wedge between Republicans and President Bush on the war strategy.
The restless Democrats acknowledge the war issue remains critically important for the country, but they would like to see their leaders tone down the rhetoric and avoid showdowns with Bush over the war, wherever possible.
As one person at The Swamp noted this will not go over very well with the Dems rabid anti-war base:
Will this be enough to satisfy MoveOn.org, CodePink and other aggressively antiwar groups? No, not even close.
The backfire on this lame strategy is clear. Instead of making the GOP suffer a debilitating split and creating infighting on the right, it is the Democrats who will be the ones who “eat slugs” they attempted to hoist on Bush and the GOP!
The are a lot of states with Blue Dog Dems who are split away from the Out of Iraq Now Caucasus (yes there is a group by that name headed up by Maxine Waters).
They had their best shot a year or more ago before the surge was even considered and blew it.
The left most blogs are in a tizzy and screaming for the Dems to stand and fight.
They are finally realizing it won’t happen unless there is a major reversal of fortune in Iraq.
So now they are putting together a slate of ‘progressive’ candidates (Lamont 2.0) and plan to challenge the Dems plus run in any open seats that are not very strong Republican districts.
Here is a partial list of their slate they are working on
Donna Edwards (MD 04)
Mark Schauer (MI 07)
Mark Pera (IL 03)
Howard Shanker (AZ 01)
Rabbi Dennis Shulman (NJ 05)
Andrew Rice (OK Sen)
Larry Kissell (NC 08)
Ron Shepston (CA 42)
Jim Himes (CT 04)
Barry Welsh (IN 06)
Darcy Burner (WA 08)
Russ Warner (CA 26)
Jon Powers (NY 26)
Tom Allen (ME Sen)
John Laesch (IL 14)
Eric Massa (NY-29)
Charlie Brown (CA 04)
Gary Trauner (WY 01)
Dan Seals (IL 10)
Dan Maffei (NY 25)
Al Franken (MN Sen)
Don’t forget Bozo the Clown and Bigfoot.Although I suspect Bigfoot is a conservative.
Unfortunately for MoveOn et al, buying a party is like getting protection via your friends in the Mafia, you have to keep paying and paying.