Democrats Dissemble; Reid Resolution Fails to Pass

Update: The Reid Amendment has just failed even to achieve a majority - 50 Nays to 48 Yeas with Senators Lieberman and Pryor (D-Ark) joining the Republicans

The Senate is preparing to vote on the Reid Amendment that sets an amorphous "goal" of being out of Iraq by March, 2008 without any consideration of our national security. Powerline has a good post on the position mapped out by the Democrats:

"On the Senate floor yesterday, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell quoted leading Senate Democrats who have acknolwedged, in the recent past, that setting such a deadline would be destructive and would help the terrorists. He has reproduced his speech on his web site:"

Speaking at the National Press Club in 2005, my good friend the Majority Leader himself said this: "As for setting a timeline, as we learned in the Balkans, that’s not a wise decision, because it only empowers those who don’t want us there, and it doesn’t work well to do that."

Six months after that, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Biden, said this: "A deadline for pulling out … will only encourage our enemies to wait us out" … it would be "a Lebanon in 1985. And God knows where it goes from there." That was our friend, Joe Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

And three months later, Senator Clinton made the same point when she said, "I don’t believe it’s smart to set a date for withdrawal," said Senator Clinton. "I don’t think you should ever telegraph your intentions to the enemy so they can await you." That’s the Majority Leader, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and a prominent Democrat presidential candidate.

Surely Senators Reid, Biden, and Clinton have not changed their minds about who would benefit the most if we set a date certain for withdrawal. They know just as well as I do that this is what the terrorists have been waiting for — and just what our allies in Iraq, and the entire region of the world have feared.

". . . There are only two possibilities. Either the Democrats can articulate some objective conditions that have changed so drastically in the last few months that what was formerly unwise and dangerous has now become necessary, or else they are deliberately trying to undermine our security in exchange for political gain. If I were a reporter, I would be asking the Senate Democrats some hard questions."

Read the remainder of the post here. Acutally, I have sat through the Senate speeches on C-Span today. I have yet to hear a single Democrat address the surge, nor how they think pulling out of Iraq will effect our national security. It's rather painful to listen, actually. As to Powerline, they argue that this Democratic dissimulation is a true scandal that papers should be harping upon. I have to agree, though I will not hold my breath waiting for the NYT news analysis piece on it.