Get To The Point

The Senate was in session when I went to sleep last night (C-SPAN2 had coverage) and when I got up this morning at 4:00 a.m. I was greeted by Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN); not exactly the guy I want to wake up to, trust me.

The issue, of course, is the Levin-Reed amendment which would institute a 120-day-later start date for withdrawing troops from Iraq with the goal of bringing them all out by April of 2008. Of course the amendment won't pass, and even if it did, the president would veto it. Of course the Republicans will call it a publicity stunt and theatrics. They should know; when it comes to publicity stunts and theatrics, just remember Teri Schiavo.

So what's the point? The point is to make the point that Americans want this war to end -- or at the very least they want our involvement in the civil war in Iraq to end. The majority of Americans believe it was a mistake to invade Iraq in the first place and they see it as a lost cause now. The Republicans -- and Joe Lieberman -- with a few notable exceptions are doing what the White House tells them and pulling out all the old canards: "cut and run," "slow bleed," blah blah blah.

You have to give a little credit to the Democrats for making this move. It's better than their caving in back in May when they were afraid that if they stood their ground on the Iraq appropriations bill and demanded that the bill include a timetable that they would be held up to ridicule by the White House and the Orcosphere. Guess what; they caved and they still got ridiculed by the White House, the Orcosphere, and those of us who are tired of seeing the the Democrats cringe in the corner. So this time around, futile as it may be, it's good to see them get a little backbone. And as long as there's the slightest chance that this all-night session gets some Republican to perhaps think that it is time to end the madness, that's worth the accusations of the GOP machine and a few hours of lost sleep.