Who'll Blink First? President Bush plays chicken with the Democratic Congress

[babylonsister]

http://www.slate.com/id/2163410/fr/flyout

Who'll Blink First?
President Bush plays chicken with the Democratic Congress.
By Fred Kaplan
Posted Tuesday, April 3, 2007, at 6:07 PM ET

George W. Bush faces a real predicament over the congressional challenges to the war in Iraq, and it is one entirely of his own making.

This is what happens when a president dashes to war on shaky premises and false pretenses; when he buys into a theory of warfare that promises instant victory with startlingly few resources; when he demands such iron party discipline that skeptics are hounded and oversight is banned.

What happens is that, when the theory proves wrong, the war goes bad, and the opposition party wins back Congress (mainly because the war's gone bad), skeptics rise to the fore, oversight returns, a few erstwhile stalwarts jump ship—and, if he wants to keep his war going, he has to put up a convincing case for once, he has to drop the bluster in favor of bargaining and persuasion.

The thing is, this president tends to believe that bargaining and persuasion are signs of weakness and appeasement, whether the foe across the table is Kim Jong-il or Nancy Pelosi. Condoleezza Rice finally got him to make a deal with Kim Jong-il. Will he do the same with Pelosi?

In the end, he may have no choice. When the House and Senate Democrats attached a timetable for troop withdrawal into the $96 billion emergency-spending bill that funds military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Bush threatened to veto the entire bill, thus saddling the Democrats with charges of abandoning the troops.

Such threats used to send shivers down what remained of lawmakers' spines—but, at least so far, not this time. House Speaker Pelosi told the president to calm down, acknowledge that there's a new Congress in town, and deal with it. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid upped the ante, saying that if Bush vetoes the bill, he will urge Congress to pass a more radical measure—sponsored by Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold—that would not only impose a timetable for withdrawal but start to cut off funding now.

more...

[aquart]

1. Gosh, who will be the first to show cowardice? LOL!

[earthside]

2. Every 45 Days

At the very least, the Dems should only appropriate enough funds to cover 45 days of the occupation of Iraq.

Make Bush come back to Congress every month and a half to ask for billions more dollars -- force Bush to make his whiny arguments for this senseless war every single day.

If the Democrats adopt this tactic, the radical Republicans in Congress will cave in short order -- they will not be able to endure the pressure from constitutents when the spending of billions and billions of dollars has to be debated every 45 days.

[chelsea0011]

3. Bush just about dared them to come back from vacation.

The vacationest President ever asking them to cut short vacation.:wtf:

[babylonsister]

4. That would be useless because he's leaving tomorrow for his vacation.

He's just being his usual petulant self.

[Demeter]

9. Bush Cut His Vacation To 5 Days--NPR

Only 5 days! How will the man cope? (This is what sank in when the alarm went off this morning--if I got it wrong, I apologise)

[Esra Star]

5. He did state once that he intended to spend his "political capital".

Now that he has pissed it up against a wall, he has nothing
left but bluster and trickery.
We've seen the bluster. Now what?
:popcorn:

[Possumpoint]

6. I Don't Agree

Bush must be told here is the money, here are the terms, sign here. No sign no money. Terms don't change. Try going to a bank and forcing them to change their terms. Every time Bush screams the Democrats are denying him the money point out to him and the public it is Bush that is turning down the money.

[Esra Star]

7. I totally agree. Decisions must be made by the reps on the

floor of the house.
Then through the senate, then on to the
signing into law.
Definite flaw in the system having a political president.

[tom_paine]

8. The Democrats had BETTER stand and be true!

There is so much at stake here, not just all those soldiers, not just getting Bin Laden's Buddy out of the Oval Office, not just de-Sovietizing/Bushie-izing the Executive Branch, not JUST whether or not we will have a Sovietized Supreme Court, but perhaps whether or not the American Experiment survives.

Do NOT blink from this cowardly murderer and his legion of Flying Wingnut Monkeys, Democrats! There is TOO MUCH at stake!