they'll cave, they always cave

Sucker.

Their going up against "George You are such a Man Washington Bush" may be tough.

Sadly it's only going to make them look bad. The media this past week has already declared the war won. It's complete bullshit because people are still dying. but the war has been won. I'm going home.

Here we go again.

Pelosi won't allow this. The war must go on.

Maybe she's aiming at a VP run with one of those thug slimeballs. Along with DiFi, Schumer, and Rahm.

Feh. Nancy will fold like a cheap tent this time next week.

Bit NOLA @ 11:

Pelosi won't allow this. The war must go on.

Maybe she's aiming at a VP run with one of those thug slimeballs. Along with DiFi, Schumer, and Rahm.

all the more reason to disbelieve these phonies. I am suppressing the urge to scream at the top of my lungs.

wouldn't it be something if they actually did something right....I'm so used to them caving in.....I can't get my mind around this possibility.It's kinda like the 49rs winning......nope.

how soon before boosh suspends congress and ends the mystery?
will pelosi and reid want to caucus with boosh after that?

inquiring minds want to know.

Dave Obey rocks. Whay more exprience than money boy. too bad no one listens to him.

They will cave... their Democrats, its what they always do, atleast their consistent. Anyone want to take bets on how long it takes before they bow down to King Bush, I say they cave within a 10 days. I pray that they stand up and do what they were elected to do, which was to end the war; however we all know their track record on standing up to King Bush.

mudshark: don't hold your breath. been there a million times since 2000.

Ozymandias @ 20:
you're right, it's off topic. why bring it up now?

the DEMS are going to grow a pair?

nawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

CRUSH. No, really. Like the motherfucking Incredible Hulk. DEMOCRATS SMASH! WAR NO GOOD. BUSH A BAD LIAR!

Ok. I'm done now.

CoIntelPro @ 12:

oops!
cherr = cheer
thi = this

I am pissed. that's why. I can't type straight through my anger sometimes.

I can always typo straite thru my anger.

They will most certainly cave, and end up looking even more foolish.

I agree...how in the hell did Harry Reid get elected, much less become the voice of the Senate? I've seen youth pastors with a more forceful presence. (Apologies to all the youth pastors out there, but you're SUPPOSED to be nice. I want my majority party spokesperson to spit fire and gravel).

Anyone here ever consider that the Democrats might be waiting for us to stand up and be corageous? It is easy to sit on the side and criticize but we can't see who's arms are being twisted (i am certain there is a lot of it going on). I agree wholeheartedly that these folks have let us down, but i am sure we can't really see why.

Blackmail and treason go hand in hand. This Administration will stop at nothing unless there is something that shuts them down completely.

xoites defends Constitution @ 37:

Anyone here ever consider that the Democrats might be waiting for us to stand up and be corageous? It is easy to sit on the side and criticize but we can't see who's arms are being twisted (i am certain there is a lot of it going on). I agree wholeheartedly that these folks have let us down, but i am sure we can't really see why.

Blackmail and treason go hand in hand. This Administration will stop at nothing unless there is something that shuts them down completely.

after they stopped the feinstein censure, I'm supposed to believe what?
maybe the repugs dug up dirt on the dems by bugging their phones?

Janet @ 36:

They better stick to the plan. This Scott McClellan story has legs and the republicans are gonna run from bush like he was on fire.

Legs like this!

I like how you used a question mark to imply that something might happen that we all know isn't going to happen. I like it more when Fox News uses it though.

medlakeguy @ 1:

they'll cave, they always cave

Because of attitudes like that. Why not give 'em a call and let them know you appreciate them taking a stand instead of being a jackass about it? Perhaps a little support from the people will encourage them to make bigger steps.

So.... like...

What the hell happened? Did they discover a box of their discarded testicles down at the DNC? Not that I don't appreciate Obey and Reid suddenly deciding they've had enough. It really should have happened in 2006 to be honest. Better late then never I guess. But seriously, is there something in the water?

I'm going to e-mail Sen Mitch McConnell's phone number to Bush, just in case he wants the money.

Fools on the Hill @ 49:

I'm going to e-mail Sen Mitch McConnell's phone number to Bush, just in case he wants the money.

Haha, love it.

mudshark @ 32:

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/20/murtha-dod-furloughs/#comments this has some interesting info in it.

like rumsfeld, allegedly resigned, still has an office in the pentagon, which has always been known but rarely mentioned?

JJohnson @ 50:

I hope your last two sentences are true!

It's about frikkin TIME!!!! Jeebus guys, where ya been? I know they may cave, but at least they are finally getting the message.

Thing Fish @ 56:

I registered democratic for that very reason.
No DLC, DSCC, DCCC.
KOOCH all the way!

Kucinich says the money's in the pipeline to bring the troops home. Don't let another bill onto the floor

It's amazing how quickly politicians find their spines as they get closer to an election that will determine their fates.

You really are gonna let me kick the football this time Lucy?

Look, I can understand those who say we shouldn't expect another cave, that we should have a little hope.

When 40 of 93 Senators voted against confirming Mukasey and not one had the balls to filibuster, sorry, I gave up hope. NOT ONE!

They are going to have to show me something before I give them the slightest credibility. There was no excuse - there can be no excuse for allowing that confirmation go through when they had the votes to sustain a filibuster!

I heard the excuses - Bush would only appoint somebody worse. Maybe somebody who won't admit waterboarding is torture, who is a member of the Federalist Society that believes that the President is above the law, that presided over the case of a US citizen arrested without access to lawyers, access to the courts, basic rights guaranteed by the constitution - and ruled that it was perfectly OK? Oh yeah, that was Mukasey. What was Bush gonna do - resurrect Eichmann?

Another goodie was "It never occurred to me that we could do that." (I swear one of em said words to that effect.) Entirely too stupid to live.

There have been too many empty gestures - and that was the one indisputable case when they could have stood up and made a difference. Forgive me if they have exactly zero credibility with me.

medlakeguy @ 1:

they'll cave, they always cave

You'll predict they'll cave. You always do.

There has been no funding cave-in. There has been no direct funding for Iraq since May's veto. And Leader Reid just agreed to the House strategy. No funding discussions until February. That's nearly a year of no direct funding, as the House leadership has tried to shake R loose from the R en block cowardice (with little success).

It's an accomplishment, but they'll never get credit for that around here.

Ozymandias @ 20 "David Obey is a great guy, but watch the clip and listen to how poorly he speaks."

Chairman Obey has been working his rear off crunching numbers that would give you a cerebral hemmorhage. He's a VERY smart man, but you try wading in those waters for an hour, much less the decades he has. You'll drown without a peep.

"Harry Reid is even worse."

Leader Reid has a one-vote majority. If you expect a firebrand in such a setting, you're nuts. He has no real power other than the agenda, so he has to be soft-spoken.

"What happened to that Iraq vet from Ohio that was replaced by Sherrod Brown?"

"Replaced" by S. Brown? The Senate seat was Brown's for the taking -- that vet, Hackett, was a momentary flash in the pan. Sherrod Brown has worked for that Senate seat for decades, and he is a HUGE improvement over DeWine.

coleshack @ 63:

It's amazing how quickly politicians find their spines as they get closer to an election that will determine their fates.

That's nonsense. NONE of the House leadership faces any significant challenge in 2008.

Chairman Obey is the third longest serving Congressman in the US gov't. He has been elected easily EIGHTEEN times (so far).

Paul in LA @ 70:

UnEasyOne @ 65:

When 40 of 93 Senators voted against confirming Mukasey and not one had the balls to filibuster, sorry, I gave up hope.

Chairman Obey is in the House.

Mukasey was confirmed by the Senate.

Two different Houses; the same useless generalizing.

Oh excuse me, I thought both houses were part of the congress.

I will cheer when the Dems actually put the brakes on Bush. Fact is, they were elected to stop the war - the war continues. That specific enough? Fact is the Dems hold a majority - the war is funded. Fact is that congress is less popular than Bush with only 11% support, because nobody buys the excuses anymore. Fact is, not one red cent of funding for this war could have been passed this year without Democratic complicity.

Specific enough for you?

I would be more impressed by the fact that some Democrats have stood their ground (and some have) if they weren't marginalized by their own party.

How is this for specific? Show me less troops in Iraq than the day the Democrats "took power" in congress.

I have had enough hand-wringing apologists, excuses and cowardice to last a lifetime. When they give me results, I will believe.

UnEasyOne @ 73 "Oh excuse me, I thought both houses were part of the congress."

They do not function as a Congress in the sense that somehow Speaker Pelosi is responsible for advice and consent. She's not. It's not her job; she had nothing to do with it. To insert her into your complaint about Mukasey is gratuitous.

"I will cheer when the Dems actually put the brakes on Bush."

Gee, you'll be all alone on that day, right? What person here doesn't want Bush stopped? What makes you more righteous in that desire than the Speaker? She's working her ass off trying to find a solution, while you are throwing tomatoes.

"Fact is, they were elected to stop the war"

They were not. This LIE does not improve with age. Name the Democrat you put in office in order to stop the war, who wasn't an incumbent ANYHOW. My Representative, Diane Watson, supports immediate impeachment, and immediate withdrawal, but she was reelected because of those views -- not because she could somehow magically snap her fingers and stop a coup.

We need to stop this fake war! The surge isn’t really working. We are paying off the insurgents. Our tax money is going to the insurgents. We are being fed a load of lies!! We are paying them off for not shooting our troops.

Democrats to King George: "That's it! We are serious this time!"

King George to Democrats: "Boo! Now roll over and play dead!"

Democrats: "Woof Woof!"

Dems never draw lines in the sand they just run around in circles.

Now, children of 'The Prince of Peace', let's all get together and pray that the tide stays out so the incoming waves don't wash away the 'Line in the Sand'.

the washington post headline:
"Pentagon Warns of Civilian Layoffs If Congress Delays War Funding"

How is that for a change up, they aren't going to hold the soldiers hostage anymore, they are going after the civilians back stateside.

The post Should be ashamed for the hyperbole, but its all about the corporate agenda anyway...feh

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/20/AR200711...

you gotta love it!!! there's the dem talking point right there in black and white....

"the money is there, call the repubs and tell them to stop blocking it"

don't add anything, don't take anything away...

Terrible @ 54:

mudshark @ 8:

#4.....well said.....I smell an alert coming........BOOOOO!

Remember the military airways cleared for commercial traffic??? I'd say the traitors in the bush maladministration are planning something with that. Seems obvious to me since it isn't being done to actually make air travel any smoother.

I was thinking that very thing this morning...it doesn't make any sense...I've never heard of that being done before.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071121/ts_nm/afghanistan_taliban_report_dc;...

Sacrificing Afghanistan for Iraq. This is how Bush defines success in the war on terror.

"Dems drawing a line in the sand over Iraq funding?'

I wish I could day yes definitely... I wish.... we'll see.......JD

meanwhile, your tax dollars are being used to tell the troops that furloughs, closings are possible without supplemental funding, AND IED Research will be held up by this bill

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48196

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48159

Reader; we have a government sponsored press service, informing soldiers of what the government wants them to believe.

Lawrence Korb already stated the Pentagon has enough funding to last well into the 2nd fiscalquarter, but your servicemembers out there on the front lines are being primed to blame congress for any percieved short comings in supplies, logistics, armor and training.

In essence, these articles are telling DOD personnel they are at risk from the "Democratic Controlled Congress", with the intent of politically isolating them from their lgislative representatives . That isolation is a result of the subliminal meme "The Democratic congress doesn't Care about you, nor your dead buddy, "

This government provided news service is "supposed" to provide an equal representation
of the facts uncolored by partisan hyperbole. read the articles, weigh in on what you know the facts are, then write your representative that this kind of propaganda will not stand. American Servicemembers deserve better.

The Dems and "libruuls" need to stick to their guns on this one and not cave. We had better speak with one voice loud and clear and tell the country Boosh does not want the funding --- and it is there for the taking. All he and that weakling Mcconnell has to do is allow it to go through and sign it.

Besides... how much have we put into this rat-hole so far? 500 billion? 800 billion? Where the fuck is all of that money going? I am supposed to believe that bullets and body armor are that expensive? BULLSHIT! Republican fat-cats are lining their pockets over this one and the 190 billion requested is the last hurrah as the GOP knows the days of their bullshit war are numbered and they want to pocket as much tax dollars through this Iraq funnel as possible. That is what is really going on here.

The fresh prince of Blackwater had better find a new line of work. His goose is cooked when the truth comes out about his no-bid contract.

DEMS DO NOT CAVE!

THESE CORRUPT CONSERVATIVES WILL USE THE SAME RHETORIC AGAINST YOU ANYWAY --- APPROVAL OF THIS FUNDING SCAM OR NOT! FUCK THEM!

DO NOT CAVE!

Mr Amato, and the keeper of the blog keys,
ITs been brought to my attention the links I posted to the dod site did not work.

AS its important to understand what story is being fed to the DOD personnel
I submit them here in there entirety.

Feel free to edit as you see fit.

The bottom line is , we can have all the press conferences, and murtha can have all the speechs he wants, but these are the articles that are getting released tothe troops.

sorry I have to do this:

Furloughs, Closings Possible Without Supplemental Funding, Gates Warns
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2007 – There is no “wiggle room” in the Defense Department budget, and Congress must pass the emergency supplemental spending bill as soon as possible to avoid halting operations and furloughing civilian employees, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today. (Video)
During a Pentagon news conference, Gates reinforced the message he delivered to Congress yesterday, when he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Capitol Hill and briefed members of both houses.

Gates strongly urged Congress to pass a global war on terror funding bill that the president would sign, he said.

The secretary said the president’s signing of the 2008 National Defense Appropriations Act into law earlier this week caused some misperceptions. One misperception is that the Defense Department can continue funding troops in the field for an indefinite period of time through accounting maneuvers -- “that we can shuffle money around the department.”

“This is a serious misconception,” the secretary said.

The Defense Department has significantly less funding flexibility than it had in the spring, he said. In the fall of 2006, Congress provided a bridge fund of $70 billion until passage of the full war supplemental bill, which did not pass until late May 2007.

This year, the Defense Department was operating under a continuing resolution. “Now that the regular appropriations bill has been enacted, we are left with no bridge fund and only our base budget to support normal war operations,” Gates said. “Further, Congress has provided very limited flexibility to deal with this funding shortage.”

Restrictions on the budget mean that the department can transfer only $3.7 billion, which amounts to just a little over one week’s worth of war expenses, he said.

All this leaves the department with only undesirable options to continue operations with the absence of a bridge fund, the secretary said.

“The path we believe is least undesirable fiscally and militarily would involve the following: The military would cease operations at all Army bases by mid-February next year,” he said. “This would result in the furloughing of about 100,000 government employees and a like number of contractor employees at Army bases.

“These layoffs would have a cascading effect on depots and procurement,” he continued. “Similar actions would follow for the Marine Corps about a month later.”

The department must notify certain union employees 60 days in advance of any layoff or furlough, so the department will need to send the notices to affected employees in mid-December.

“If the Congress does not provide bridge funding this week on a bill the president will sign, and given the uncertainty of future action in December, by the end of this week -- as a prudent manager -- I will be obliged to take a series of anticipatory steps,” Gates said.

The secretary said he will submit an urgent reprogramming request for funds to Congress. He also will direct the Army and Marine Corps to develop a plan to furlough employees, terminate contracts and prepare bases for reduced operations. “These plans would begin to be implemented in mid-December,” he said.

Even if Congress acts, the president signs a bill, and the department receives $50 billion in bridge funding now, this will fund war operations only through about the end of February, Gates said.

“So we would be back in this situation immediately after the Congress reconvenes in late January,” the secretary said. “The high degree of uncertainty on funding for the war is immensely complicating this task and will have tremendous consequences for this department and the men and women in uniform.”

Gates said the issue before Congress is not one of principle, but pacing. He said Congress asked the president to draw down the troops in Iraq, set a date for when the drawdowns would begin, set a timetable for the drawdowns and then to transfer the security mission to Iraqis.

“The president has moved in all four of these areas: He has announced there will be drawdowns; the drawdowns have already started,” Gates said. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of Multinational Force Iraq, has announced a timetable at least for the first five brigade combat teams, and the mission of transition begins in December when the first brigade comes out, he said.

“What I told members of Congress yesterday, for those who allege that the views of the generals were not sufficiently taken into account at the front end of the war, now you have a recommendation from the commander in the field, the commander of Central Command, from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on what makes sense in terms of pacing so we don’t put at risk the gains we’ve already made,” Gates said.

“It seems to me that there ought to be some deference to those who are running the war -- the generals -- at the pace at which this drawdown should take place,” the secretary said. “However one feels about how we’ve got to this point, the reality is we have had some significant success due to the efforts of our men and women in uniform and their sacrifices.

“We don’t want to sacrifice their success,” he continued. “So how do we get the next phase of this conflict right? Because the consequences of getting it wrong are potentially high"

and here is the other article..

Lack of Supplemental Funding May Lead to Civilian Furloughs
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2007 – The Defense Department is developing plans to send furlough notices to some civilian workers as early as mid-December if Congress doesn’t pass the $178 billion emergency supplemental funding bill quickly, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters today. (Video)
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates notified Congress today that the Defense Department will need to borrow – or “reprogram” – funds from the Navy and Air Force and the working capital fund to cover ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Morrell said.

“Without dedicated funding for the global war on terror, we have been forced to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with money from the budgets of each of the services,” he said. As a result, the Army’s operations and maintenance budget is expected to dry up in early February, and the Marine Corps’ O&M money will run out in early March.

In addition, the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, which tests new projects, ideas, ways of doing business and equipment to counter IEDs, “won’t make it into the new year,” Morrell said. Retired Army Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, the JIEDDO director, told reporters yesterday his funds will be depleted Dec. 1.

Gates’ reprogramming request will shift $3.7 billion from the Navy and Air Force payrolls and an $800 million excess in the working capital fund to Army, Marine Corps and JIEDDO operations. The reprogramming will sustain JIEEDO for a few more months, “but we can only keep the Army and Marines afloat for a couple of additional weeks,” Morrell said.

The reprogramming is the department’s only remaining option to keep afloat the Army and Marine Corps, which have been keeping up their war efforts at the expense of their own operations and maintenance budgets, Morrell said. “This is the last such move Congress will allow us to make,” he said.

Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters earlier today the Defense Department’s hands are tied with respect to legal constraints on shifting funds to cover shortfalls. “Those who think that we have some sort of flexibility here simply are misinformed,” he said. “We have very little reprogramming authority, very little. … You can’t do more than what they allow you to reprogram.”

As a result, Gates directed the Army and Marine Corps to begin planning to reduce operations at all Army bases by mid-February and all Marine installations by mid-March, Morrell said. “At that point, the bases will be all but shut down, able to provide only the most basic safety and security measures for those who reside there,” he said.

In addition, the department will begin notifying about 200,000 civilian employees and contractors “we can no longer afford their services and that, absent additional funding, they will be furloughed or temporarily laid off within a matter of weeks,” Morrell said.

He noted that some civilian employees’ contracts require 60 days’ notice of an upcoming furlough. As a result, Army employees whose paychecks won’t be covered after mid-February will begin getting notice in mid-December of an imminent furlough.

Morrell insisted that the plans “aren’t scare tactics” designed to prod Congress to move supplemental legislation. President Bush has insisted he will not accept legislation that has strings attached that include timelines for troop withdrawals from Iraq.

“These are the facts,” Morrell said. “We are not out to scare anybody. We are not out to issue propaganda. We are out to adequately fund our troops who are in battle right now, and we are only dealing with the facts here.”

The Defense Department considers the pending budget crisis “a very dire situation” and is taking all steps necessary to ensure its uniformed force doesn’t go wanting while operating in harm’s way, Morrell said. America’s troops on the battlefield “deserve to be treated right,” he said. “They deserve to have the money needed to support their operations.”

I wish the naysayers would just shut up and leave my favorite team, the Congressional Democrats, alone while they wax opposition and posture to buy time and confuse their constituency....

Oops, gotta run...I think professional wrestling is coming on the tee vee in a minute...Batista and Undertaker are supposed to finally put an end to their rivalry tonight!!

Oh... maybe those Republican defense workers who could be laid off should have taken their dear hero's advice during the 2004 election and "prepared for the jobs of the 21st century" (as those jobs are outsourced overseas) and not continue to sponge off of the taxpayers for their paycheck.