Quote(s) of the Day

Today is anti-escalation (non-binding) resolution day in the House. Tomorrow, the Senate drags themselves in on the weekend to pick up where they leave off. I already made my feelings on all this known the other day, so today I'll share two takes on this I found compelling.

First up, Glenn Greenwald takes on the tired 'endangering our troops' rhetoric of the GOP-

[T]he standard corruption that infects our political discourse has rendered the de-funding option truly radioactive. Republicans and the media have propagated -- and Democrats have frequently affirmed -- the proposition that to de-fund a war is to endanger the "troops in the field."

This unbelievably irrational, even stupid, concept has arisen and has now taken root -- that to cut off funds for the war means that, one day, our troops are going to be in the middle of a vicious fire-fight and suddenly they will run out of bullets -- or run out of gas or armor -- because Nancy Pelosi refused to pay for the things they need to protect themselves, and so they are going to find themselves in the middle of the Iraq war with no supplies and no money to pay for what they need. That is just one of those grossly distorting, idiotic myths the media allows to become immovably lodged in our political discourse and which infects our political analysis and prevents any sort of rational examination of our options.

That is why virtually all political figures run away as fast and desperately as possible from the idea of de-funding a war -- it's as though they have to strongly repudiate de-funding options because de-funding has become tantamount to "endangering our troops" (notwithstanding the fact that Congress has de-funded wars in the past and it is obviously done in coordination with the military and over a scheduled time frame so as to avoid "endangering the troops").

Someone needs to remind the Democrats that they won the election this past November by finally not falling for the GOP's false constructions. They stood their ground, made their case, and won. And now, with that victory behind them, they're falling back into the GOP's trap. And the GOP here is using the cheapest trick in the book... an invoking of 'the troops' to defend even the most insane actions (see also: Bush's rhetoric toward Iran). The public knows how hollow that is; why don't the Democrats?

FYI: Even a Fox News poll shows that a majority supports defunding the escalation.

Next, John Cole tells Democrats to drop the rhetoric and tell it like it is-

If I hear one more Democrat or Democratic talking head (as I am right now on Hardball) utter some variation of the following, I am going to blow my gasket:

The reason we support the non-binding resolution is because the voters sent a clear message…

Steve McMahon, some strategist for the Democrats, just said this a few times, and I almost threw my remote at the television. In short, Steve (and the rest of you), NO NO NO NO NO!

The reason to support the non-binding resolution is to do anything you can without cutting off funding to get this President to seriously confront the problem in Iraq. The reason to support the resolution is because this administration didn’t even listen to the people who came up with the idea and are now half-ass implementing it. The reason to support the resolution is to acknowledge that right now, with this President and this administration, we are probably doing little more than throwing more good lives down the drain.

Some contradiction between the two quotes. But the general sentiment is right.