Posted on 09/23/2010 6:07:53 AM PDT by IbJensen
Do Democrats really believe Americans don't see through their schemes? Apparently they do. Witness the hubbub over the hotly debated military appropriations bill that went down in a procedural vote Tuesday.
The Democrats' ploy, practiced over the years by both parties depending on which one was in power, works this way: You take a bill that addresses a clear need and has strong popular support; in this case, "... a defense bill that provides our troops with the equipment and resources they need to protect themselves and keep our nation safe," as described by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. Then you lard it up with stuff the opposing party assuredly will find unacceptable.
When the voting is done, the majority party can accuse the minority of being a "party of no," or playing partisan politics with important legislation most Americans support.
Everyone knows the Senate would have passed the $726 military appropriations bill, probably unanimously, if it had been submitted solo. But the Democrats added repeal of the don't-ask, don't-tell law banning service by open homosexuals as well as the so-called DREAM Act, which would bestow citizenship upon illegal immigrants' children who attend college or serve in the U.S. armed forces. Critics call this a form of amnesty and won't support it.
The DREAM Act deserves to be debated on its own merits; it clearly does not belong in a military-appropriations bill. And Defense Secretary Robert Gates has made clear he wants Congress not to act on don't-ask, don't-tell at least until after Dec. 1, when the military will complete a study on the law's effects. Meanwhile, President Obama has stirred the pot further by nominating a supporter of don't-ask, don't-tell, Gen. James Amos, to lead the Marine Corps.
Majority Democrats carried a 56-43 procedural vote but needed 60 to continue. Democrats Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas both voted with the Republicans; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid joined them so that he'll be able to bring up the bill later. Sen. Reid's vote signals Democrats might try to push the don't-ask, don't-tell and DREAM Act provisions during a lame-duck session after the Nov. 2 election.
The narrative of this bill is practically indistinguishable from the plot device used in the 1939 film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," in which a dishonest senator slips a bit of graft, in the form of an illicit dam project, into a spending measure most senators support. Angrily denouncing his one-time protege, Sen. Smith, corrupt Sen. Paine declares: "To prevent his expulsion, he'll hold up this deficiency bill — vital to this country, which must be passed today!"
That's all the more reason Americans should not be fooled by the hoary rhetoric surrounding the military-appropriations bill. They should insist it be stripped of irrelevant fluff and partisan gamesmanship, and put to a vote without further delay.
Democrats are progressive?
How about recessive?
and communist dictatorship
No conservative was going to vote for amnisty and the liberals did not want to really take a vote on DADT.
Reid, McCain and played the spin game soley for the sake of distoritions they can take to theri over emotional under intellectual base(es)
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