I have often said in discussing the Iraq Debacle that if you want to be a pure political cynic, then what you must to do is consider what your positions and actions will look like to voters on the days they are going to vote. Don't think about what your poll numbers will look like the day after you do something, think about what they will look like the day of the election. Thus, despite murky polling, in early 2005 and throughtout the next two years, I urged a strong Democratic opposition to the Iraq Debacle, arguing then that since Iraq WAS a Debacle and Bush was not going to turn it around, better to opposing it as soon as possible. Today Digby and Matt Yglesias make similar points. Yglesias discusses today's Iraq Supplemental vote:

President Bush:

President Bush said he supports a $120 billion war spending bill on track to pass Thursday, ending weeks of wrangling with Democrats on whether to end the war.

The bill funds the war through September as Bush wanted and does not set a date for U.S. troop withdrawals. . . . "By voting for this bill, members of both parties can show our troops and the Iraqis and the enemy that our country will support our service men and women in harm's way," Bush said in a Rose Garden news conference.

Translation, all of you will sign onto my GOP Debacle. I chuckled at this reaction from Rep. David "There Is No Deal" Obey:

"I hate this agreement," said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

Vote against it then Congressman. The bill cleared the procedural motion by 218-201. There will a vote on the motion adopting the Senate Amendment later today. Let's see who wants to rubberstamp President Bush this afternoon.

From CBS News:

As President Bush and Congress hammer out an Iraq war funding bill, a CBS News/New York Times poll shows the number of Americans who say the war is going badly has reached a new high, rising 10 percent this month to 76 percent.

And another pony for Holden:

BUSH’S JOB APPROVAL RATING
Approve 30%
Disapprove 63%

But Congress is headed in that direction:

APPROVAL OF CONGRESS
Approve 36%
Disapprove 52%

I wonder why? Could it be . . . rubberstamping the Iraq Debacle?

Since J, Chris and LNILR seem otherwise engaged, and I have only Iraq on the brain, I thought I'd give an Open Thread with some links to other topics:

NYTImes and WaPo thunder against Goodling and Bush Justice Dep't.

Kevin Drum on bush and Iran.

FDL reviews ACLU President Anthony Romero's book "In Defense of Our America."

Avedon Carol has a nice roundup, featuring especially some sharp words for Gonzo and his "innocent discussions" with Monica Goodling.

Don't forget the diaries listed in the right hand column. Good stuff from John Horse, Scribe, as always, peaches and many others.

The backdrop of today's vote of the GOP/Blue Dog Iraq Supplemental Alternative, is the Beltway delusion that come September, as Greenwald outlines:

The single greatest and most transparent delusion in our public discourse right now -- and that is a distinction for which there is always an intense competition -- is that Something Weighty and Significant is Going to Happen In September with regard to the Iraq War.

September, you see, is the real turning point, the real Day of Reckoning. . . . That is the read deadline for George W. Bush.

. . . But all that is going to happen In September is that we are going to await with baited breath for General David Petraeus -- he of infallible wisdom, judgment and honesty, and unquestionable objectivity -- to descend upon Washington and reveal whether there is Real Progress being made (by him) in Iraq.

. . . And, needless to say, General Petraeus will, cautiously though emphatically, declare that progress is being made, though there is much work that remains to be done. And therefore we must redouble our resolve and stay until The Job is Done.

Well my friends, if Democrats REALLY BELIEVE this September nonsense, then we are doomed. Greenwald says "The central unyielding truth in our political landscape is that -- no matter what -- the War in Iraq is not going to end before the end of the Bush presidency." If that is true, then we will be debating Iraq in 2010, and likely 2012 as well. Democratic or Republican, the next President will not want to "lose Iraq."

Via Stoller, and Matt, it is good to see you back in first rate form, this story adds to my theory that there is something in the water in DC:

Democrats said this week they would have jeopardized their fall bargaining position if they had insisted on keeping withdrawal timelines in the current supplemental spending bill (HR 2206). Persisting now would likely have resulted in another veto and would have handed Republicans talking points for the Memorial Day recess about which party supports the troops in the field.

Begging the question, if this is true, why did you pick the fight in the House Iraq Supplemental? Did you NOT know this day was coming? Either Dems are stupid now or they were stupid then. They can't have been smart both times.

[N]ot funding it is going to be the de facto Democratic stance by the end of the year for all of those that want the Democratic nomination, if not sooner.

-Jerome Armstrong

It should be the de facto stance for all Dems in Congress now. And the developments on the Iraq Supplemental demonstrate why,

The Democratic Congress passed a horrendous Iraq Supplemental bill. I opposed it because, in my opinion, it did nothing to get us closer to ending the war. From the unacceptable House bill, the one Move On loved, to the predictably stripped down nonbinding version that emerged from the conference report, the one the President vetoed, these were all bad bills that did nothing to further the fight to end the Iraq Debacle.

China and the U.S. have agreed to double the number of commercial air flights between the two countries.

To be honest, I never new they were restricted. I've been to Shanghai twice (and blogged from there both times)and all of the flights and customs were a breeze.

My next trip will either be to Beijing or Vietnam (I've already been to Bangkok, Hong Kong and Phuket.)

Asia, particularly Shanghai, is awesome. I'd go back in a heartbeat. Luxury hotel rooms are much cheaper than in the U.S. and Europe, the hotels provide extras, like sending a driver and a translator to pick you up at the airport in a Mercedes, and they arrange travel guides and similar transportation to take you to all the sights you'd like to visit. Again, for far less than you'd pay here.

I think Shanghai is one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world. They build things now they know they won't use for ten years in the future. The art museum, the Bund, and the side trips are time very well spent.

I hope with the greater availability of flights, more people will take the trip.

The New York Times today praises the bill passed this week by the Connecticut Senate that keeps juvenile offenders in juvenile rather than adult court.

The issue:

Connecticut is one of only three states — along with New York and North Carolina — that automatically try 16-year-olds as adults. Embarrassed by that fact, last year state lawmakers in Connecticut established a commission that was instructed to bring the state’s correction laws into line with humane and sensible practices.

The Times:

This bill is the welcome result. It is also backed by a substantial body of research showing that children who are processed through adult courts and who do time in adult jails fare worse in life — and commit much more violent crime — than children handled in juvenile courts. Once saddled with adult convictions, these young offenders are typically barred from all kinds of jobs and confined to the very margins of society.

The new legislation, which calls for juveniles to be closely supervised and provided with extensive mental health, educational and re-entry services, will cost Connecticut more money initially. But the law would more than pay for itself by cutting down on recidivism and by giving troubled young people a real chance to become productive, law-abiding adults.

40 states allow for some juveniles to be charged and sentenced as adults. Some are revising the policy. All of them should.

If we can text message to pick the American Idol, and 74 million did, why can't we text message to end the war? I have no idea, but I wish someone would set it up.

Back to American Idol, for once I agree with the voters. With Melinda Doolittle gone, Jordin Sparks was clearly the winner over Blake Lewis. The voters agreed.

I watched the entire two hour finale. I didn't know most of those singing, since I only started watching a few weeks ago. I tried to watch at the end of last year, but Taylor Hicks, who ended up winning, was so white-bread mayonnaise I kept changing the channel.

The higlights tonight, in my opinion.

More....

The title is a joke. Based on his special comment tonight (C&L has the video):

Few men or women elected in our history—whether executive or legislative, state or national—have been sent into office with a mandate more obvious, nor instructions more clear:

Get us out of Iraq. Yet after six months of preparation and execution—half a year gathering the strands of public support; translating into action, the collective will of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who reject this War of Lies, the Democrats have managed only this:

The Democratic leadership has surrendered to a president—if not the worst president, then easily the most selfish, in our history—who happily blackmails his own people, and uses his own military personnel as hostages to his asinine demand, that the Democrats “give the troops their money”;

. . . You, the men and women elected with the simplest of directions—Stop The War—have traded your strength, your bargaining position, and the uniform support of those who elected you… for a handful of magic beans.

Fair enough but time to keep working. Voting no on the cavein bill is what good Democrats should do. Let the GOP and the Blue Dogs pass it. Then, announce a date certain for NOt funding the Iraq Debacle.

Sen. Tom Harkin has introduced The Guantanamo Closure Act of 2007. From the ACLU:

The ACLU today welcomed Senator Tom Harkin's (D-IA) introduction of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility Closure Act of 2007, a bill that would close the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The bill cuts off funds for everything except sending charged or sentenced detainees to Fort Leavenworth and transferring the remaining detainees to their home countries or other countries that will not torture or abuse them. The bill would effectively end the practice of indefinite detention without charge or due process for detainees who have been held for as long as five years without charge and without knowing the reason for their detention. It will also provide an incentive for the government to finally charge those detainees the government believes are guilty of crimes against the United States.

More...