Day two, take two

Workout notes 4 miles of walking on the treadmill (53 minutes); some oh-so-slight sorness in the left IT band (near the hip). Part of it was from lots of slow walking in sandals yesterday.

Politics
The Democrats caved in to President Bush (no surprise); we just are not a united party. Senator Feingold is upset:

This situation is a collapse for Democrats. We had a strong start, pushed back against the President’s failed policy and held our ground that the supplemental should include binding language to end the war. But now, as Congress gets ready to send the President a bill that does nothing to get our troops out of Iraq, we are just folding our cards. As one person commented under Greg Sargent’s great post at TPM cafe, “Send the Congressional Dems over to my place for some poker – I could use a windfall right now.”

This is no time to back down. This fight to end the war isn’t something that we can just put off or kick down the road. As mcjoan pointed out, it doesn’t make any sense to wait until this “mythical September” when Republicans will suddenly decide that we need to get out of Iraq. Why should this wait until September? First Americans had to put up with a Republican Congress that did nothing, and now we are faced with a Democratic Congress that is giving the President exactly what he wants – continuing his failed policy and leaving our troops stuck in the middle of a civil war. Some strategy. We can’t back down when the stakes are so high. I know you’ll keep ratcheting up the pressure, and that’s exactly what we need right now. Now is the time to be pulling out all the stops to end the war.

Many Kossacks see this as the “same old, same old” and are ready to quit backing Democrats. Others are more sympathetic to the realities of politics:

Meteor Blades has a take on the ….new…compromised spending bill…

Unlike many Kossacks, I sympathize with the Democratic leadership when it comes to Iraq. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have difficult situations. You can twist arms, make threats, pressure, cajole and otherwise try to cobble together a majority from Blue Dogs and conservatives like the Nelsons, Pryor, Landrieu and others, but, ultimately, you can’t shout your way to victory

Jane talks about the importance of the vote. The media will report it as a failure of the Democratic Party and there are many that need to be held accountable. TIME is reporting that Nancy Pelosi is not voting for the second amendment of the bill…

The second amendment will, of course, be trickier. It will split the Democratic caucus in half, with as many as 120 Democrats voting no. Among the nays, I’m told, will be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will have negotiated a bill that she thinks is the best option for House Democrats but which she personally can’t support. Most other Democratic leaders are expected to vote in favor. Still, if only 100 Democrats vote yes, the amendment will require at least 118 Republicans in order to pass…

Obey is giving a presser now. I’ll have video soon of it…I knew the Dems didn’t have all the votes needed at this time and that’s sad. We’ll find out who voted where later on. Your thoughts? Michael Tomsky writes: “Cave-in, or smart politics?”

If the celebrated surge hasn’t shown results by September, public opinion will harden even more; people will start demanding timelines and Bush will be in a corner.

As indefensible and tragic as the war is, this is the best Democrats can do right now. De-funding would have handed the Republicans a great argument going into next year’s election – which is, of course, one in which Democrats have their best shot at winning the White House in a long time. Iraq is Bush’s war, and Democrats need to make certain that it stays that way…read on

Go to the Crooks and Liars link to see the other links. Personally, I don’t know enough of the “behind the scenes” stuff to really understand what is going on; I know that I am not going to vote for anyone who wants to continue this idiotic war.