Late last night, the House
passed another war funding measure with strings attached. The current set of strings is a withdrawal by next Christmas, and no torture. The
vote was almost identical to the last round of war funding bills. Two more Republicans voted for funding. Randy Kuhl, almost all the Republicans, and a small group of liberal and conservative Democrats voted against. The measure will be vetoed, apparently after a filibuster in the Senate.
Exile at Rochesterturning also found an
item in Politico that details the Democrats new strategy on S-CHIP. The latest threat is to extend the current program until a month before the 2008 elections, and then force a showdown vote.
The Democrats are clearly betting that the general public will view the Republicans as obstructionists who block legislation that everyone wants. That strategy may work, but I also think the Democrats run the risk of appearing as obstinate and stubborn as Bush, with the added bonus of the reek of impotence. The current leadership doesn't seem to be searching very hard for fault lines in the Republican minority, especially on S-CHIP. And the notion that they are failing to do so because they are standing on principle isn't supported by facts. When you rush a vote to confirm an Attorney General who can't say that waterboarding is torture, and when you're on the verge of giving telecoms immunity from illegal, widespread wiretapping, then your grasp of principle is a little weak.