Netroots and Exiting Iraq: The New Version of Sit Down and Shut Up

By Big Tent Democrat, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Mon Mar 19, 2007 at 11:09:42 AM EST
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In a typically very good post, Atrios reminds us of the years of pronouncements from the Wise Men on Iraq:

. . . [T]he Very Serious People in Washington, as represented by Fred Hiatt, are still all for sending other people off to die to find the pony they know is there. The editorial the Post had out yesterday will be recycled for next year's anniversary, with little changed.
And on and on.

...A year ago, David Ignatius told us in the Post:

[. . .] [T]his is the way this war is supposed to be going. It's a few years late, but the new U.S. strategy is moving in the right direction.

. . . Jim Hoagland told us:

[. . .] U.S. troops will be moving out of Iraq's streets and then out of Iraq's cities by the end of this year as part of a coordinated drawing down and concentration of all foreign forces. . . . This is what Bush calls Iraqis standing up to allow Americans to stand down.

But I have a nit to pick with Atrios and the Netroots generally. Which I will do on the other side.

While public opinion has shifted immensely, and large numbers of Democrats in Congress are pushing for us to get out . . .

But what are "large numbers of Democrats" doing to get us out Atrios? Lemme guess, 'they don't have the votes' to overcome veto/filibuster/Blue Dogs.

But as I have explained, there is a way to do it without dealing with filibusters and vetoes. And Dems will not do THAT.

It is easy to criticize, Lord knows I did it for years and years, Bush, the GOP, the Wise Men, et al., but the Dems deserve some criticsim too on this.

But we get instead from the Left blogs are nasty attacks on Idiot Liberals:

Anyhow, she is doing the best she can walking those halls of power and corruption day in and day out.
“The best she can” is not going to cut it. I believe she is doing more harm than good.

The point is the Dem leadership has not tried very hard to get the 218 votes.

Bulls[p]it. Jerrold Nadler — who for years has been one of the staunchest and most reliably progressive members of Congress — believes that if the Dems push too far they’ll get nothing. If Nadler says this, you can take it to the bank.Pelosi is pushing a proposal that she believes has a shot at passage. The proposal may be imperfect, but it’s way better than nothing.
Both of you — go home. Please. Let people who know what’s actually going on walk the halls of power and corruption.

(Bolding mine.)

Let the people who know what's going on tell us what to do? Like they told us to go to war in Iraq? And who are these people pray tell Mahablog? The DLC says the same about you.

I thought this Netroots thing was about PEOPLE POWER. Apparently it is just a new version of sit down and shut up. What a terrible thing to write.

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Netroots and Exiting Iraq: The New Version of Sit Down and Shut Up | 7 comments (7 topical)

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I'm becoming certain The Repubs (5.00 / 3) (#1)
by Ben Masel on Mon Mar 19, 2007 at 11:21:38 AM EST

will ensure just enough votes for passage, and Bush will sign the supplemental as currently written.

You get handed a satchel of cash, you take it. Why bother even reading the scribblings on the outside of the envelope?

Passing funding he'd veto was a clever idea, but the compromises made to bring in the Blue Dogs have changed the balance.

If a supplemental must be passed, make it short-term. With every passing month, there'll be at least a few more Republican Representatives ready to pull the plug.

The AP is spinning (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by andgarden on Mon Mar 19, 2007 at 01:41:26 PM EST

and claiming that Bush will threaten to veto. I think that might kill the bill in the house. Frankly, I agree with you, Bush will sign the bill in its current form.


: yep, would be the perfect rovian ploy nt (none / 0) (#7)
by conchita on Mon Mar 19, 2007 at 07:47:02 PM EST

Difficult times (5.00 / 2) (#2)
by vcmvo2 on Mon Mar 19, 2007 at 12:00:11 PM EST

I always knew that getting elected to the majority was only the beginning of the battle. It's been such a relief to see actual oversight and challenges to Bush on a daily basis that I've been less anxious than I was in October of 2006.

But I have wanted to be out of Iraq now since the summer of 2005. I expected that we would have problems getting out of Iraq but I never thought about the mechanism by which we would do that. But Thomas Jefferson knew...

And thus Jefferson observed: "We have given, in example, one effectual check to the dog of war, by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body, from those who are to spend to those who are to pay

Sounds like Jefferson would have gone with defunding; that is after he'd gotten over the shock of the kind of power that Congress had ceded to the Executive.

: Hmmm.... (none / 0) (#4)
by vcmvo2 on Mon Mar 19, 2007 at 12:10:51 PM EST

I tried to include a link to that quote from Jefferson- let me try again
http://www.law.duke.edu/publiclaw/vanAlstyne.html

my patience is gone (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by profmarcus on Mon Mar 19, 2007 at 01:01:00 PM EST

it disappeared around the holidays, 2002...

what's your take on feingold's amendment...?

And, yes, I DO take it personally

Be patient. We are on the job. (none / 0) (#3)
by cal11 voter on Mon Mar 19, 2007 at 12:07:31 PM EST

Won't you let us do our jobs. We know what we are doing. We know how to count and how to deal with those that don't agree entirely with us. Be patient...