What difference does it make to the dead,
the orphans and the homeless,
whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism,
or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
....Mahatma Gandhi

WHAT A JOKE!!! THE DEMOCRATS HAVE NO PLAN OTHER THAN POINT THEIR FINGER. IF ONE SOLDER DIES BECAUSE OF THE DEMS LITTLE PEA IDEA, I HOPR THEY ALL BURN IN HELL.
IF HILLARY IS ELECTED PRESIDENT(GOD FORBID)WILL SHE RETURN ALL THE THINGS SHE AND BILL TOOK FROM THE WHITE HOUSE OR HAS SHE ALREADY SOLD THEM. BY THE WAY I HAVE BEEN A DEM FOR 50 YEARS AND AS OF THIS MOMENT THEY MAKE ME SICK

PELOSI

the arrogant SOB is probably going to veto it.
the next step should be for us to completely cut the funding for this war. have you seen Newsweek this week? it's a whole issue full of letters from soldiers who didn't make it home to their families. THEY DIED FOR NO REASON. THEY DIED FOR GEORGE BUSH'S EGO. NONE OF THEM HAD TO DIE. I saw a bit of him at the correspondents dinner last night. what a pathetic bastard. he is a national disgrace. he was basically mocking the people who have died for this shit. he is not an American. he is guilty of treason. how can we not impeach him? he is mentally unstable. I'm telling you- we have to completely cut the funding and bring the troops home. the war is over and we have lost.

Posted by PELOSI on March 29, 2007 at 05:44 PM

you are an idiot.
bush digs a hole to hell and then it's up to the Dems to find some magic potion to get us out? I think we should drop bush and people like you off over there and let you figure it out. you are not a Democrat now and you probably never were.

so many people are dead because of bush.
so many lives broken.
ever since the start of the war, I realize how small my personal problems are. college tuition, healthcare, bills on top of bills...BUT I'M NOT IN IRAQ. and now even bush's buddy the king is pissed. people are dying because of bush. not because of this bill.

the majority of the American people see that the emperor has no clothes. and the 20% who still support him are as crazy as he is. we have to impeach him. if we don't- it is a national disgrace.

gotta go rant somewhere else!
cross your fingers that the little chimp will feel the pressure and NOT veto this bill. maybe his poor pathetic wife has one ounce of dignity left and will persuade him to allow it to pass. I think we should get out NOW- not in 2008.
Iraq is a blood bath.

No, our kids won't be home, they'll be over there stuck with busted equipment and short of supplies. The contractors will be home by the 4th. They won't stay if they aren't paid.
The uncaring Bushies and their rubber-stamp Republican neo-con clones will hold these kids for ransom and not think twice about it. Our military will be left to rot by the uncaring Bushies, and then they'll try to blame the Democrats.

Sadie, please don't respond to trolling flamers like 'pelosi'. You know you are writing to an idiot, you said so. You just wasting keystrokes and giving idiot what idiot wants.

I have worked for a DoD contractor, and seen the waste and abuse of our money first hand. I sat in a damned cubicle for a year, racking up at hours at a low wage, while the company charged big bucks for my services. What services? They never gave me a damned thing to do, except fill out my time sheet, so that they would be sure to complete the act of taxpayer rape!

Posted by TracyPhillips on March 30, 2007 at 07:21 AM

sometimes I just can't help myself.
why do that fading 20% want to hang out here>?

My goodness, how vitriolic the comments on this thread
are. Are all the democrat sites this devoid of peaceful
reflective discussion? One would think it is a foregone conclusion that timelines for withdrawal should be set --
and that such was/is the will of the people to such a
degree that no one could in good faith disagree.

Is that not the very type of arrogance that we condemn in Bush?

The reality is that last November Americans expressed great dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war, particularly with the weakness of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi security forces riddled with death squad members.

Under General Petraeus, the reality of troop deployments is exactly the opposite from the methods used at the time of
the election. The American people did not ask for a 'Murtha change of course,' nor a 'Harry Reid change of course.' They asked for 'a' change of course. We have one. To then add timelines to a bill for funding is a micromanaging of the war that a great many Democrats are not comfortable with.

There are in fact already two timelines: one is that of Petraeus and Gates already expressed, should this
'surge' not be enough to get the Iraqi government to put
its act together.

A second deadline is built into the system: Bush leaves office in January, 2009. From my perspective as a Democrat for neary half a century, you can take it to the bank that no other deadlines will be tolerated by the American people. For what? A couple months difference?

Hi,

I just wanted to say the first thing the democrats should do when President Bush vetoes this bill is call him out for not funding the troops. Those bill contain funding just with restrictions. The American people want a draw dwon in Iraq. Maybe not a complete withdrawl, but a drawdown so we are serving a secondary function over there. If the democrats call him out for vetoing a bill to support the troops he will look very bad and will need to compromise.

Cheers,

sorbonne: It's the principle of the thing.
If we don't do anything about the Bushiato's corruption now, the voters will think the Democrats don't care and feel justified in the perception that there's little difference between the two parties, and it will uncover, in advance of the campaign, much of the Republican lies that they will try to use during the next campaign.
Besides, who knows, if we uncover enough shit, the few Republicans of conscience will be embarrassed enough to vote with the Democrats on impeachment.
The abuse of military personnel goes a lot deeper than just "funding the troops".
Some of the abuses have already surfaced in the treatment of soldiers at Fort Carson, and at Walter Reed, but, believe me, it's just the tip of the iceberg, and goes to the heart of the system. I saw it start in January 2001 when Rumsfeld became Secretary of Defense, and it hasn't changed.
While the soldiers suffer, the contractors rake in the bucks.
These are our kids, they have stepped up when they were told they were needed. They have been lied to, disrespected and neglected, and amends need to be made.
The first step is uncovering the pile of corruption the Bushies keep trying to hide.

Now it's time for the DNC to turn the tables on the WH. Do not allow the WH to call the DNC unpatriotic and unsupportive of the troops. If he vetos the bill, then GW himself is unsupportive. Place some light on his selfishness and show how he is willing to hurt the troops only to push forward his personal agenda. Even the conservatives can agree to this. Now that you have the power, use it to sway the other side. There are still a lot of people sitting on the fence...I should know, I was one of them.

And why doesn't the DNC market some magnetic yellow ribbons that say "Support our Troops, Bring them HOME!!!"

Agreed, we have to hold WH's feet to the fire. He's doing his usual job of trying to confuse people; apparently he thinks we are all as ignorant as those who simply parrot the conservative right-wingers!!! But, we are not!!!!

On another note, I believe it is well past time for some real campaign reform. I think the Democratic party should be a frontrunner and come out solidly for term limits. I think term limits is a wonderful way to cut down on the power lock that lobbyists and others have on our representatives.

I'd like to know the Democratic Party's position on this.

I would also like to see us standing up to WH and his supporters and firing back like Speaker Pelosi did about him needing to calm down.. geez, he sounds like a bully-boy for sure, throwing a major temper tantrum over being told "no".

Let's do that a lot -- let's all get together and tell him and his buddies - "NO" and mean it.

Let me make this as clear as I can. I have a son in Iraq. He is dedicated to this country and his job. He is putting his life on the line to defend your right to behave like children out of control at a daycare called CONGRESS.

STOP using my sons life and sacrifice as a platform for your political postering. STOP using the war in IRAQ and every soldiers life and sacrifice for your childish stunts. STOP using our tax money to fund ridiculous bills that you KNOW are going to be veto’d. Did you expect the President of the United States to send you a warm and fuzzy THANK YOU for messing around in something you have no business in!!!!!!!! STOP wasting time in Congress talking about The President firing US Attorneys, CLINTON fired 32 US Attorneys while in office. IT'S A PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTED POSITION, key words, Presidential Appointed.

Just because the opinion poll shows that we don’t like the war doesn’t mean we’re stupid enough to want you to cut off funding our troops!!!!! We Democrats are acting like sharks on feeding day going after every stupid little breadcrumb of publicity you think will get us elected to the White House. Did you all just WAKE up after election in November and decide to do your job!!!! Where was your outrage for the last 4 years our children have been at war?????

Do something grown-up, like READ a resolution for War BEFORE you vote for it. COME UP WITH A WAY TO WIN THE WAR instead of retreat.

THIS PETTY CHILDISH FINGER POINTING IS NOT GOING TO WIN THE WHITEHOUSE. DO SOMETHING DECENT WE CAN BE PROUD OF LIKE SOLVING THE PROBLEM INSTEAD OF CALLING NAMES.

You make me sick and you dishonor my sons life. I am at the end of my rope with this. For God's Sake try to at least sound grown up instead of like children saying, it's not my fault???
Don't you get it? We don't CARE whos fault it is, we just want a decent solution.

It looks like President Bush is scared. So far, this President hasn't had to even consider the possibility of bringing the troops home. Each time the Warplan achieved it's goal, President Bush kept adding new goals and evolving the conflict to give the troops something more to do in Iraq.

There is a name for leaders who strand troops in the field with no exit strategy. What I see is Democrats forcing this President & Pentagon to draft a plan for that distant future when the soldiers are withdrawn.

Exiting Iraq Without A Plan? It's called Cutting & Running.