Democrat Congress Backs Down, Gives Bush What He Wants On Defense And Iraq
Perhaps the surest sign that things are going well in Iraq is that the Democrat-controlled Congress, unlike previous years that didn’t even feature an impending election, isn’t interested in a fight with the President over the war.
WASHINGTON – Troops would get a pay raise in a defense bill that Congress sent President Bush on Saturday. Even before passage, lawmakers had backed away from an election-season showdown with the administration over Iraq.
Legislation approved by a voice vote in the Senate would increase pay by 3.9 percent, extend bonuses and provide money for family housing, tuition assistance and other programs.
The bill, which maps $612 billion in defense spending next year, shows how lawmakers would rather go home and campaign than wage a prolonged battle in Washington with Bush over Iraq policy.
Democrats don’t want a fight with Bush on the war because there’s no political advantage to such a scuffle any more. There is no denying that things are going well in Iraq now, and so by getting into high-profile fisticuffs over the war is only going to highlight for the public just how wrong the left has been about Iraq.
And that’s not something the liberals want in an election year. They’re better off trying to convince the public that the current financial fiasco is exclusively the fault of Republicans – something that’s not even a little bit true – than fighting their losing battle with Bush over Iraq.
