Sunday, July 8, 2007

NYT: Increasingly Confident Reid Will Press To End The War!

The New York Times editorial board (as diaried by andgarden) are not the only ones who now understand that the war must end. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is now ready to push legislation forcing the issue. As a Times article now reports:
Mr. Reid said he now saw ending the war as a moral duty, and even if the Senate again falls short, he said, he would turn again and again to Iraq until either the president relents or enough Republicans join Democrats to overrule Mr. Bush.
Votes on defunding and withdrawal will now be a recurring part of the Senate agenda.

Sensing momentum from the new Republican defections, Mr. Reid and other leading Democrats intend to force a series of votes over the next two weeks on proposals to withdraw troops and limit spending. Democrats are increasingly confident they can assemble majority opposition to administration policies.
Senator Reid's previous efforts to end the war were stymied by the Democrats' minimal majority.
“Senator Reid was not able to get it done, but ultimately it is the Republicans who are obstructing passage,” said Moira Mack, a spokeswoman for Americans Against Escalation in Iraq.
Exactly. We haven't had the votes. But the article points to imploding Congressional approval ratings, and emphasizes that the Democrats now believe they can keep the pressure on, forcing the Republicans to stop running cover for Bush. Senator Christopher Dodd says that the public- particularly Democrats- and he should have said particularly those crazy left-wing bloggers- have been well ahead of the Senate, on this issue. It's clear that Senate Democrats understand it's time they caught up.

This could finally be the turning point. Senator Reid is going to get aggressive. The Republicans are losing both the ability and the will to stop him.

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