WASHINGTON, June 15 — The Senate overwhelmingly rejected a call this afternoon for withdrawal of most American combat troops from Iraq by the end of the year as debates in both houses of Congress mixed high emotion with calculated maneuvering.In the House, an emotional debate on a Republican-sponsored resolution that backs the administration’s war effort began at midday today and continued into the evening. A vote is expected on Friday.
Today’s 93-to-6 Senate vote came after a maneuver by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the second-ranking Republican, who introduced a measure that he said was taken from a proposal by Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, calling for President Bush to agree with the new Iraqi government on a timetable to withdraw most troops by Dec. 31.
Mr. Kerry has not yet offered his own measure because, he said, language is still being worked out. He and other Democrats accused Republicans of gamesmanship by engineering a surprise vote today, according to The Associated Press, and said they would push for an authentic debate next week. The vote was to table a proposal that only those forces essential to completing the mission of “standing up” the Iraqi security forces remain in the country in 2007, and it reflected a deep reluctance in both parties to commit to a firm withdrawal schedule.
The six “no” votes were cast by Senators Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy, also of Massachusetts; Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, Barbara Boxer of California, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, all Democrats.
That “authentic debate” on the Iraq war in the Senate next week should be very entertaining. Keep the popcorn handy.
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“Mr. Kerry has not yet offered his own measure because, he said, language is still being worked out.”
- Or could it be his fellow Democratic Senators are begging him not to make a total fool of himself, something he seems uniquely good at.
- The whole point of the exercise is so the Reps can make the Dems look even weaker on the WOT. Lurch, in his astute statesmanship, would set them up for 10 times more embarrassment, when all they really want is to get it all to go away. I shudder everytime I realize this goofball could have actually been president, then I remember Cartah, and its a little better, but not by much…. *snort*
- Bang
Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 6/15/2006 - 11:20 pm
Maybe we need to edit that a little bit…..
“Mr. Kerry has not yet offered his own Form 180 because, he said, language is still being worked out.”
Comment by sanity @ 6/15/2006 - 11:28 pm
Now we know who supports the WOT and who supports the terrorists.
Comment by stackja1945 @ 6/16/2006 - 8:03 am
Well sure. The language must b carefully crafted so that it can mean anything he wants it to mean in the future.
Comment by Dave in CO @ 6/16/2006 - 11:28 am
- Well, just too add to the Jihadicrats woes, 43 Democrats broke with their party leadership and voted for the resolution to stay the course in Iraq. the final tally was 256-153 in favor of the presidents plan. The Dems are in disarray, once again caught on the exact opposite side of the fence from most American’s.
- This will be the perfect time for Lurch to submit his “keep the embarrassment going” resolution, calling for an “immediate cut and run policy in Iraq”. Countdown starts in 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1…..Later he’ll claim he was lied too, and that there were no WMD’s in the House of representatives….
- Bang
Comment by Big Bang Hunter @ 6/16/2006 - 11:31 am
According to scrappleface, Kennedy says this vote just proves that 93 Senators are out of the mainstream.
I would have went with the “43 Democrats mysteriously grow spine” angle, but…
Comment by blogagog @ 6/16/2006 - 12:50 pm
Oops, scrappleface link was wrong (fixed here)
Comment by blogagog @ 6/16/2006 - 12:52 pm