Democrats Finally Do the Right Thing on Iraq

Posted by Guest Blogger at 1:00 PM on July 17, 2007.

This post, written by Christy Hardin Smith, originally appeared on FIreDogLake

I'm with Bill Scher on this one:

...loud and proud obstructionism of popular initiatives carries big risks. Either public pressure will push enough Republicans to the majority camp to break those filibusters. Or, voters will seek to remove those who obstruct what they want at the ballot box next year.

Either way, exposing the obstructionists will eventually lead to better legislative results than what we've seen the past six months. In other words, fighting for good legislation is responsible governing.

Perhaps the punditocracy will try to pillory Reid for embracing those insidious bloggers and those awful opponents of indefinite occupation (who comprise the majority of voters).

But Reid's bold move is no evidence of political pandering. Senate leaders were not pandering to the punditocracy when they took its advice for the last six months. They just thought the pundits gave good advice.

And Senate leaders are not pandering now. They just realize the pundits were wrong.

Unlike the White House and the conservative minority, these Senate leaders are able to recognize when a strategy isn't working.

Exactly so. Good on the Democratic leadership to change course from a failed strategy. Would that the entire Republican party could do the same, given their vast track record of failure...but I'm not exactly holding my breath on that one.

Bob Geiger has a piece today on Harry Reid that is worth some reading. And Digby hits this one squarely:

This is a good start. The American people are not aware that the Republicans are standing in the way of every piece of important legislation before the nation and the press is, as usual, failing to tell them. Indeed, the Democrats in congress are being blamed for the GOP's obstruction. The Dems need to draw them a picture and this is one way to do it.

As Rick Perlstein notes here, the last time the wingnuts felt something was so important they were willing to go to the floor and talk till they turned blue was a long, long time ago:

History buffs, and those with long memories, will recall the last time conservatives found something important enough to stand up and obstruct all night long: the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The one that outlawed discrimination in public accomodations.

We'll have to see if protecting their lame-duck loser's Iraq policy is as important to them as Jim Crow was to an earlier generation. You never know with these people, it just might be.

Good on the Democratic leadership for calling the Grand Obstruction Party's bluff on this one. Let them stand and defend continued failure and an egotistical refusal to make necessary changes. And let them stand and defend the Bush Administration's failure to provide our troops with necessary equipment -- which led to the loss of more than 600 lives of our soldiers through their continued negligence.

Republicans stand up for failure. News at eleven...

PS -- Please keep making those calls on behalf of habeas restoration. Thanks so much for all your efforts!

UPDATE: A CALL TO ACTION by CANDLE LIGHT

TELL PRESIDENT BUSH & SENATE REPUBLICANS: 'STOP OBSTRUCTING AN END TO THE WAR'

Americans United for Change, VoteVets.org, MoveOn.org,

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Leaders

Members of Congress

Iraq War Veterans and Family Members

Join us Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 at 8:30PM for a Solemn Event

Upper Senate Park, Constitution and Delaware, NW
(Across from the U.S. Capitol and next to the Russell Senate Office Building)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged that Senate Republicans will filibuster - obstruct - an up or down vote on a timetable to safely and responsibly end the war in Iraq.

In response, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called the Senate into an historic, emergency around clock session - up to 30 hours of continuous debate on Iraq beginning Tuesday night - to demand an up or down vote - and he needs your support.

Please join Members of the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Iraq War Veterans and Family Members at Upper Senate Park, Constitution and Delaware NW at 8:30 PM on July 17th, 2007 and demand that the Republicans end their obstruction of a vote in the Senate to safely end the war.

The vast majority of Americans and a solid majority in Congress want a change of course in Iraq to safely end the war - but President Bush and a stubborn minority in the U.S. Senate loyal to him are standing in the way. Please attend the "Call to Action by Candle Light" and Demand that Republicans stop obstructing the will of the American People.

For More Information Please Call 202-263-4577

Tagged as: congress, iraq war, reid, filibuster

Christy Hardin Smith is a former attorney, who earned her undergraduate degree at Smith College, in American Studies and Government, concentrating in American Foreign Policy.