Posted on 09/11/2006 5:02:39 AM PDT by radar101
It is probably fair to say that when Sen. Barbara Boxer makes a racket about something, it does not necessarily follow that all her colleagues will listen.
After all, California Democrat Boxer is prone to loud announcements and speeches that sometimes call for the politically impossible – goals that are too left of center, too removed from the congressional mainstream.
So it is with some interest that observers watched the former Marin County activist lead a charge last week to oust Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Democrats long have expressed frustration with the war in Iraq, saying the Bush administration lacked a clear strategy before going in, grossly underestimated the length and cost of the effort and sent troops into the region unprepared and ill-equipped.
Democrats, and even some Republicans, often have blamed the defense secretary for what they call the war's mismanagement. But recently, when Rumsfeld compared critics of Bush's Iraq policies with those who wanted to appease Nazis before World War II, Democrats elevated Rumsfeld into a true public punching bag for their frustration.
Boxer, who saw Rumsfeld's remarks as an attack on Americans who oppose the war, was the first to propose a resolution of “no confidence” in the defense secretary's ability to perform his job. From the start, it was merely a symbolic effort: The resolution did not carry the force of law, as the president is free to select his Cabinet. And it wasn't going to pass.
RUMSFELD: CAMPAIGN ISSUE Then Harry Reid of Nevada, who leads Senate Democrats, seized on the idea: Here was a villain for their complaints about continued turmoil in Iraq more than three years after the U.S.-led invasion. For Americans growing impatient with the war, here was a face to visualize.
In other words, here was someone who might help Reid translate that impatience into a Democratic majority in Congress when voters hit the polls in November.
So Reid and Democratic leaders offered a broader amendment to the Defense Department appropriations bill that expressed “no confidence” in the Bush administration's Iraq policy and in Rumsfeld's leadership. Joining the effort was California's other senator, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, who first publicly called for Rumsfeld's resignation six months ago.
It was somewhat humorous that when it came time to debate the resolution last Wednesday, Boxer stood to first “call for the immediate replacement of” Rumsfeld, and then to “surely wish him a speedy recovery” from his recent rotator cuff surgery.
“The Department of Defense can no longer be led by a secretary who refuses to take advice – to work with those who do not share his false views on the state of affairs in Iraq – to change course in the face of a policy that becomes a larger failure each and every day, and who insists on spending his time defending the past rather than coming up with innovative ways to move forward,” Boxer told her colleagues.
LATTE LIBERALS? Meanwhile, Republicans such as Rep. Duncan Hunter of Alpine – chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a staunch supporter of Bush policies in Iraq – faulted Democrats for “decrying the state of the world.”
“As the Democrats sip their lattes and find themselves very comfortable in what they describe as a very uncomfortable world, the reason they are able to be here having enjoyed almost five years – with no further attacks – is partly because we had a president with an aggressive, forward-leaning policy against terrorism – with the leadership of Don Rumsfeld,” Hunter said.
The effort to bring the no-confidence resolution to a vote failed, with Senate Republican leaders blocking it. But it was a win for Democrats that the resolution got that far at all.
And it was a win for Boxer: Thanks to a coming election and growing American dissatisfaction with the nation's involvement in Iraq, her effort was salvaged from becoming the lonely quest of one liberal Democrat, and instead became a tool for Democrats to draw days of national attention to their message.
Needs a projectile barf alert.
APf
However, it is rather stupid to pick one of the most popular of the Bush team for their targe target, but then if they had brains they would not be Leftists.
I wouldn't call this news.
Rumsfeld for president...
Barbara Boxer is the stupidest woman in Congress.
Boxer is the stupidest Senator.
Biden is the stupidest man in the Senate. He thanks God every day that Boxer is there to take the heat off of him.
McKinney is still in office for a few more months.
McKinney is still in office for a few more months.
Is Dana Wilke a Democratic Committee member? If not, did she copy/paste on of their campaign handouts?
Good grief, what shallow reporting...
Is Dana Wilke a Democratic Committee member? If not, did she copy/paste on of their campaign handouts?
Good grief, what shallow reporting...
"McKinney is still in office for a few more months."
So is Maxine Waters!!!
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