LAT: As War Debate Ignites, Democrats Seek a Unified Message

[DeepModem Mom]

As War Debate Ignites, Democrats Seek a Unified Message
By Ronald Brownstein, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON -- Last week's emotional congressional debates over Iraq demonstrated both the rise of anti-war sentiment among Democrats -- and the challenge the party faces in converting that impulse into a unified alternative to President Bush.

Twin confrontations over Iraq in the House and Senate -- highlighted by a ferocious House debate that followed a call by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., to begin removing U.S. troops immediately -- showed the center of gravity among Democrats is rapidly moving toward proposals to accelerate the withdrawal of American troops from the war.

"The last week has changed everything," said Tom Matzzie, Washington, D.C., director of MoveOn.org, a liberal group opposing the war....But while the week's events demonstrated rising Democratic hostility to the war, they also underscored the party's continuing divisions over what alternative to offer -- and whether even to present a specific alternative at all.

Although some insiders believe a majority of House Democrats ultimately might endorse Murtha's proposal to begin an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, only 13 so far have co-sponsored the resolution embodying it. When House Republicans on Friday forced a vote Friday on a resolution urging immediate withdrawal, only three Democrats voted yes after a ferociously bitter floor debate.

One Democratic source said that Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has dropped plans to seek a vote in early December on adopting a Democratic Conference position in support of Murtha's plan, which Murtha has said could lead to a complete withdrawal of American troops in about six months and the establish of a "quick reaction force in the region." Fearful that the proposal would generate too much opposition among moderate Democrats, Pelosi now plans for the conference only to discuss and debate it, the source said....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-assess20nov20,0,1051267.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[suston96]

1. Out of control....

This debate will not stay in the confines of the Republican controlled Congress.

It will reach, it has already spread to the people.

And the people will eventually vote on it on machinery that cannot be recalibrated by Republican technonuts.

[Burried News]

2. There are no alternatives until Bush is removed. He cannot be trusted

to implement a strategy coherently or in good faith. The Democrats can outline general principles of dealing with Iraq but there is no algorithm that will ensure success. Peace is a process - a process that Bush and the GOP as it presently operates, is definitely incapable of engaging in.

One could fairly argue that regardless of who leads our government, the US has soured things to the extent that it can't implement a peace process in the near term.

[bemildred]

3. Weasel weasel weasel.

"Fearful that the proposal would generate too much opposition among moderate Democrats"

Yeah, right, we are all going to be horrified at the thought of following Murtha's plan. What bullshit.