[Crossposted on Dailykos and Truth 2 Power)
Today President Bush has decided to invite Congressional leaders to the White House for a little chat about the war. Except that it seems he plans to do nearly all the talking, especially the ultimatums.
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday invited Democrats to discuss their standoff over a war-spending bill, but he made clear he would not change his position opposing troop withdrawals. The White House bluntly said the meeting would not be a negotiation.
...
"At this meeting, the leaders in Congress can report on progress on getting an emergency spending bill to my desk," Bush said. "We can discuss the way forward on a bill that is a clean bill, a bill that funds our troops without artificial timetables for withdrawal and without handcuffing our generals on the ground. I'm hopeful we'll see some results soon from the Congress."
That's right, Bush is going to jump up and down until he gets his blank check and try to stare the Democrats nose-to-nose until they finally blink.
But before they take their trip to Bush's would-be wood shed, Harry Reid has a few things to say.
"Iraqi leaders are not willing to take the political risk of governing their own country. That must change," Reid said. "That's what Congress is demanding. That is what the American people, by a large majority, demand. And the president should be leading us in that direction, not threatening to veto funding for our troops unless we rubber stamp his flawed plan."
Nora O'Donnel on MSNBC spoke to Tom Delay in response to Senator Reid asking Who should Blink?
(Not an exact transcript)
Delay: I hope the Democrats do. They're starving the troops, causing them to extend thier tours, not getting them the equipment they need. The American people won't support that.
In point of fact the American People overwhelmingly support a change in direction for the Iraq Conflict.
AP/IPSOS April 2-4:
- 64% of those polled say they "Disapprove" of how George Bush has handled the War in Iraq.
- 59% feel that going to War with Iraq was "A Mistake"
- 50% say the War is "Hopeless"
Newsweek Poll March 28:
- 57% support the Senate's call for a troop withdrawl by March 2008
CBS Poll March 26-27:
- 59% feel that the U.S. should pull all troops out by Sept 2008.
Delay also stated that the President is more popular than Congress now, a point which Nora - rather uncharacteristically - argued with stating that Congress has a 40% approval rating while the President is still in the 30% range. Delay countered that the USA Today poll had the President at 38% and the Congress at 32%.
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