Walsh to vote “no” tomorrow on Iraq withdrawl
I’m not a Congressional expert like Rottenchester, just a hack blogger who drinks too much and falls in loves with scandals (geeky movie quote), so I don’t really understand what tomorrow’s vote on the Iraq Accountability Act is about. It’s essentially an amendment to the $124 billion supplemental spending bill to pay for Iraq and Afghanistan for next year that mandates a withdrawl in 2008, but I don’t understand exactly what happens if it fails. But I do know that Walsh is voting against it. I assume Kuhl is too, but there was never much doubt about that. Here’s the word (via TPM):
* GOP Rep. James Walsh, who’s being hammered relentlessly by MoveOn-sponsored ads and blog attacks, is nonetheless going to vote No on the bill tomorrow, his spokesman tells Election Central. The spokesman, Dan Gage, says: “Unless there’s some major change, he’s a No vote. He’s not uncommitted. He’s not undecided.”
Blog attacks? I like that sound of that. Why not join in by calling his office?
Washington, DC Office
(202) 225-4042
What a loser… I can’t wait till I get him on the radio again and ask about how he supports the troops… I bet he’ll lie his butt off again.
Well,
I guess a few town meetings don’t make a difference in the supposed new way Walsh was looking at things.
I mean Pilots get rest after flights. It takes time to refit a unit after combat. Refit includes replacement people, equipment and rest.
Right now, it looks like this vote will have Democratic defections from conservative Democrats (who don’t want to limit funding) and liberal Democrats (who don’t want to vote another dollar for the war). It’s full of pork that has nothing to do with the war, just to buy votes of wavering members.
IMO, this became a pretty safe Republican “no” the minute that they had to start putting pork into the bill to buy votes. The bill’s also overly technical - even the Daily Show made fun of the hard time Pelosi and Obey had explaining all of the checks required to maintain funding, and even then the only teeth in the bill are presidential certifications.
Also, the overheated MoveOn ads were, as is typical of that organization, ill-timed and tone-deaf. They accuse Walsh of lacking backbone by voting against the bill in committee. But John Lewis (D-GA-8) has also said that he’ll vote no. Lewis still has scars from beatings he received from cops during civil rights marches. Does he lack backbone, too? Apparently so, according to MoveOn.
The 25th is much more liberal than the 29th — these ads, no matter how heavyhanded, will probably work in that district.
I also think that Lewis et al. are pretty likely to come around. I’m not sure there will really be so many liberal defections (there may be a few) — I think to some extent it’s a game to keep the bill from getting watered down further for the “Blue Dogs”.