Rep House calls Dem House’s bluff (MINI-LIVEBLOGGING)

Via AP:

WASHINGTON Nov 18, 2005 — House Republicans, sensing an opportunity for political advantage, maneuvered for a quick vote and swift rejection Friday of a Democratic lawmaker’s call for an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq.

“We want to make sure that we support our troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. “We will not retreat.”

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi had no immediate reaction to the planned vote.

The GOP leadership decided to act little more than 24 hours after Rep. Jack Murtha, a hawkish Democrat with close ties to the military, said the time had come to pull out the troops. By forcing the issue to a vote, Republicans placed many Democrats in a politically unappealing position whether to side with Murtha and expose themselves to attacks from the White House and congressional Republicans, or whether to oppose him and risk angering the voters that polls show want an end to the conflict.

Murtha’s resolution would force the president to withdrawal the nearly 160,000 troops in Iraq “at the earliest predictable date.”

Most Republicans oppose Murtha’s plan, and even some Democrats have been reluctant to back his position. Republicans were seeking to force Democrats to stand with the respected 30-year congressman or go on the record against his proposal.

The House isn’t playing around. It’s time to put up or shut up for the cut and run wing of the Democratic party.

Note also the first part of the first sentence in the article: “House Republicans, sensing an opportunity for political advantage” …. uh huh. Now, what would be more accurate is for articles in which Demcratic House and Senate members who are accusing the President of “lying” about the Iraq war to include this: “Democrats, sensing an opportunity for political advantage, accused the President of lying and deliberately misleading Americans about the rationale for the war in Iraq.” Will we see such brutal honesty from the MSM? Nope.

CSPAN will be on tonight at la casa de ST. Should be very interesting to see.

Update: LOL! I love the Republican calls I’ve heard on CSPAN so far

Update II: Michelle Malkin has links to several bloggers liveblogging this showdown.

Update III: PLEASE watch this video of US Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) who got shouted down on the floor of the House for telling it like it is:

“Cowards cut and run, Marines never do.”

More Updates:

5 – 7:54pm EDT: They are reshowing earlier comments on the floor: Of course the usual suspects were waxing indignant about this call for a vote by Republicans, lecturing about “cheap political stunts” – HYPOCRITES.

8:04 PM: Rep Slaughter, D-NY – questioning the patriotism of Bush, Cheney, etc because they haven’t served like Murtha. Cheap shots, of course. It’s good we’re getting these cut and run speeches on record. Says “attacks” on Murtha give more credibility to what he has to say.

8:08 PM: Rep Pitts (R-PA) Vietnam vet – calling it like it is. Says the Dems are doing the same thing they did during Vietnam.

8:11 PM: Rep. Skelton (D-MO) touting Murtha’s defense credentials.

8:13PM: Rep. Barrett (R-SC) speaking (and I just got a phone call) – taping the specches, though.

10:47PM: Just got off the phone, rewatching the debate, I see the Dems are looking more and more pathetic. I need to check some live blogs of this to see what has been said.

11:00PM: Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) decorated war veteran, Vietnam POW: KICKING bootie! I love it. This guy makes so much sense – talking about the liberal media who won’t report on the good news from Iraq. GO! Also saying that the Dems are doing the same thing now that they did in Vietnam.

11:08PM: The vote is on. Thank you Republicans in the House for taking this strong stand. Iraq needs to know we won’t cut and run, and most importantly, our troops need to know it. I hope this debate is taken up in the Senate as well. Let them get on record!

11:16PM: This resolution is going to fail. I see one Republican has voted yes for it. I’d like to know who he/she is.

11:25PM: A second Republican has voted yes. Who?

11:27PM: The record has been corrected-no Republicans have voted in favor of this (whew!).

11:33PM: Yays 3, Nays 403. Resolution NOT adopted.

Related Toldjah So post:

• Dem House Representative calls for immediate troop withdrawal