Saturday, February 17, 2007

A symbolic victory for the white flag crowd.

The Democrats have always been a party of symbolism over substance. Since they can’t actually win elections based on their ideology (i.e. higher taxes, bigger government, weakening national defense, etc.), they merely prattle on with a “Bush lied, kids died, culture of corruption, Halliburton, blah, blah” message.

However, the Dems did indeed seize the House and Senate this past November and now are intent on undermining the President’s role as Commander in Chief of our nation’s military.


The Democratic-controlled House issued a symbolic rejection of President Bush's decision to deploy more troops to Iraq on Friday, opening an epic confrontation between Congress and commander in chief over an unpopular war that has taken the lives of more than 3,100 U.S. troops.

The vote on the nonbinding measure was 246-182, and within minutes, Democrats said their next move would be to challenge Bush's request for $93 billion in new funds for the Pentagon.


Of course, the Democrats don’t have the guts to actually cut off funding for the war. For almost the entire four years of this war, the Democrats have been voicing their opposition in an effort to appease their most prolific contributors, which are the anti-war kooks. It was easy then because the Dems could merely scream from the cheap seats knowing full well that their lack of power would render it impossible to cease financing the war. Now that they are in the majority? They know full well they would be held as accountable as the President if the troops pulled out of Iraq and disaster in the region ensued.

But for those of us who consistently vote Republican, the most disturbing aspect of the House vote was that 17 GOP members voted for this resolution.

If you see your Congressman listed here, contact their office to voice your displeasure. Their contact telephone numbers are listed on the respective web sites.

Mike Castle (DE)
Howard Coble (NC)
Tom Davis (VA)
John Duncan (TN)
Phil English (PA)
Wayne Gilchrest (MD)
Bob Inglis (SC)
Timothy Johnson (IL)
Walter Jones (NC)
Ric Keller (FL)
Mark Kirk (IL)
Steve LaTourette (OH)
Ron Paul (TX)
Thomas Petri (WI)
Jim Ramstad (MN) (MY CONGRESSMAN!!!! GAH!!!)
Fred Upton (MI)
Jim Walsh (NY)

Incidentally, I called Congressman Ramstad’s Washington, DC office this afternoon. Wouldn’t you know it, his voice mailbox was full. However, I was able to get through to his Minnetonka office. I let Mr. Ramstad know in no uncertain terms my displeasure with his vote. He was also put on notice that we would be considering another Republican candidate for Minnesota CD 3 in the 2008 primaries.

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