Blue Crab Boulevard

Losing The Media

Nancy Pelosi and John "Unindicted Co-conspirator" Murtha may have won the battle to get their bill through the House of Representatives, but in the process, they may have lost their media support. Today, the Chicago Tribune joins the chorus of negative commentary that the Washington Post started yesterday.

The House plan puts pressure in the wrong place: on U.S. military commanders. It sets up a series of benchmarks and timetables. Even if President Bush certifies that the Iraqis are making sufficient progress, U.S. combat troops would be redeployed by Sept. 1, 2008, at the latest.

We fervently hope that U.S. combat troops have completed their mission by that date. But the House plan starts to tie the hands of American commanders just when the troop surge seems to be showing the first tentative signs of working.

The 218-212 vote on the House plan showed the deep divide in Congress on this issue. The bill likely won't survive intact in the Senate, which is set to debate a plan for a squishier deadline for withdrawing troops. Even if the House plan did pass the Senate, Bush has vowed to veto it.

A stalemate between the president and Congress on a spending bill of this magnitude–about $124 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan–is not without dangers. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that failure to pass the bill soon "will have a genuinely adverse effect on the readiness of the Army." He said it would force the Army to delay training of units and halt repair of vital equipment. Bush said Friday that if the spending bill is not signed into law by April 15, troops and their families "will face significant disruptions."

The politicians who abandoned their principles to vote for this bill, whether their votes were bought and paid for with pork or whether they were strong-armed by the leadership, are the ones who will end up paying for this. Without media cover, there will be fallout from this bill. By leading the party too far to the left, Pelosi has set herself up for a fall. Others who followed her lead will also find media coverage has turned on them. The media in this country is slanted very, very heavily toward the Democratic party. But I rather suspect they are much more supportive of the centrist Democrats than the far left. Pelosi has veered too far left this time.

Media, Politics, War | Gaius March 24, 2007

By feeblemind, March 24, 2007 @ 10:48 am

I hope you are right, but I don’t share your optimism.
By syn, March 24, 2007 @ 12:02 pm

Those freshman Democrats who won their seats on a campaign of ‘anti-corruption’ will have to come up with some good explanation for having betrayal their constituents.
By crosspatch, March 24, 2007 @ 1:25 pm

I saw a Pelosi staffer at the Big 5 sporting goods frantically searching for a paddle. Wonder what all that was about. Mentioned something about Schidt Creek or something. I couldn’t find it on the map.
By Former Republican, March 25, 2007 @ 3:39 pm

If Pelosi has “veered too far left” why do you think she has done that? If you think that Pelosi is not acting in accordance with what she judges best for the US, but rather for political gain, please explain why her political judgment is so poor. She is not a fool, and I am sure you don’t really think she is in the pay of Al Qaeda.

My own opinion, for what it’s worth, is that she like many other Americans has concluded that the war is doing grave damage to America and that an orderly withdrawal is the least bad solution. No question, pulling out would probably result in disasters. Staying in is probably going to result in disasters. When faced with alternatives that are all bad, it is not helpful to point out that one of the alternatives is bad. You have to decide which alternative is the least bad.

I am sure Pelosi is perfectly aware of the political risks you point out of “veering too far left.” Therefore, IMHO, she is displaying more political courage than we usually see. She has chosen to take the risks, in the best interest of the country.
By Blackhawk, March 26, 2007 @ 7:20 pm

More food for thought:

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.aip?id=10856&page=all

h/t Castle

Former Republican: you might find that article interesting. Also, check this post (also h/t Castle):

http://themiddleground.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-they-have-wrought-what-they-will.html