Dems made to look like fools

The Democrats caved in and gave the president everything he asked for with his supplemental Iraq spending bill: no timelines, no benchmarks, no strings attached.

Democrats gave up their demand for troop-withdrawal deadlines in an Iraq war spending package yesterday, abandoning their top goal of bringing U.S. troops home and handing President Bush a victory in a debate that has roiled Congress for months.

They are playing political games with the lives of millions of people. Someone remind me, why exactly did we elect these guys? I know congressional hearings and oversight were desperately needed and I'm thankful that we seem to have some accountability back, but this plus the fact that some Democrats are seriously considering not voting to restore Habeas Corpus is both disheartening and disturbing.

The person I'm most disappointed with is Jon Tester from Montana. I contributed money to his campaign, and he's not even from my state. Not that I'm expecting him to do what I want him to do just because I showed him some love, but his platform included endorsing withdrawal from Iraq:

“It is time for the President to articulate a clear exit strategy for American troops from Iraq. An open-ended occupation is not in the best interests of the United States, the Iraqi people, or the Middle East. The time has come to support our troops by laying out a plan to bring them home.”

So to hear him now reciting the slop from Karl Rove's fax machine is quite unexpected:

"I am doing everything in my power as a U.S. senator to end the war in Iraq, but I will not cast any vote that I believe compromises the safety and security of our troops on the ground," Tester said, also in a prepared statement.

Tester doesn't understand the way the government works, or he's being intentionally obtuse. Neither one makes him look especially good to most of the people who voted for him, and he completely reneged on his campaign promise. He will vote to give the president the open-ended occupation that Tester already said was "not in the best interests of the United States, the Iraqi people, or the Middle East." Mr. Tester: please take Max Baucus with you and spend some quality time with Harry Reid and Russ Feingold. It sounds like the four of you need to have a li'l talk.