Scwood Again

CNN reports that the Democrats are on board to provide almost $70 billion in war funding to Bush – score another one for the lame duck. Democrats are patting themselves on the back:

“What is for sure is he will not get all $200 billion,” said one senior Democratic lawmaker. “Whatever number it is, it is much less than what the president asked for. For the first time in this war, he has received less than his request.”

That’s reassuring I suppose, except for what the White House has to say:

How to read this? It’s popular to say that Democrats lack a spine, but I question how spitting on your own base equates with cowardice. Every time the Dems capitulate to Bush, there is hell to pay. Of course, that hell is only paid to liberals, and we know how much Democrats care what liberals think.

I think it far more basic – the job of the Democratic Party is to corral dissent and cut off its balls. The Democrats give Bush what he wants because they are on board. Yes, it’s difficult to continue funding an unpopular war, but Democrats voted for that war, by and large, and did so knowing the why’s, if not the how’s. They are, formally anyway, the opposition party, but what they are in reality is more akin to hired Quislings.

But that’s their job. Foreign policy in this country is bipartisan, always has been. The key is for liberals and progressive to understand that Democrats are attune to what we think. They’re not going to do anything about it, but they do know what we think. They tell us that every two years.

But that’s as far as they are willing to go. They view their job as marshaling us as resources to get them elected, but not to give us what we want. That’s a high wire act. I marvel at how liberals respond when screwed – they tell us that we can’t always get what we want, but that we have no alternative but to support Democrats. See below.