The Dems drubbed the R's last month, right...?
right...??
why have i been feeling like gates' confirmation is a foregone conclusion...? i had to ask myself that question today as the senate armed services committee voted 21-0 to recommend his approval... the answer, sadly, is that, in my gut, i simply don't believe the dems, flush from their election victory as they are, have yet mustered the necessary huevos to face down george bush and give someone like gates the grilling he so richly deserves... sure enough, they didn't...
if democratic "bipartisanship" means turning a blind eye to the constitutional abuses and criminal activities of the bush administration and putting someone like gates in as secdef without performing due diligence, i wonder what difference taking back the house and senate is really going to make... Submit To Propeller
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Democrats Cave on Gates Nomination
Though the Democrats won the Nov. 7 elections largely because of public anger over the Iraq War, President George W. Bush has prevailed in the first post-election showdown over Iraq. He got the Senate Armed Services Committee to unanimously approve his new choice of Robert M. Gates as Defense Secretary, with Democrats failing to nail Gates down on any substantive point about war strategy. In effect, Bush has bought himself at least several months to continue his "stay-until-victory" plan, even as more American soldiers and Iraqis die.
why have i been feeling like gates' confirmation is a foregone conclusion...? i had to ask myself that question today as the senate armed services committee voted 21-0 to recommend his approval... the answer, sadly, is that, in my gut, i simply don't believe the dems, flush from their election victory as they are, have yet mustered the necessary huevos to face down george bush and give someone like gates the grilling he so richly deserves... sure enough, they didn't...
Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee floundered though inept questioning of former CIA Director Robert M. Gates, Bush’s new choice for Defense Secretary, failing to nail down the nominee’s precise thinking on any aspect of the war strategy or even to secure a guarantee that the Pentagon would turn over documents for future oversight hearings.
Among many gaps in the questioning, the Democrats didn’t press Gates on whether he shared the neoconservative vision of violently remaking the Middle East, whether he endorsed the Military Commissions Act’s elimination of habeas corpus rights to fair trials, whether he supports warrantless eavesdropping by the Pentagon’s National Security Agency, whether he agrees with Bush’s claim of “plenary” – or unlimited – powers as a Commander in Chief who can override laws and the U.S. Constitution.
When Gates did stake out substantive positions, he almost invariably lined up with Bush’s “stay-until-victory” plan in Iraq. Though insisting that “all the options are on the table,” Gates rejected any timetable for military withdrawal as some Democrats have recommended. He also echoed Bush’s argument that an American pullout would lead to a regional cataclysm.
if democratic "bipartisanship" means turning a blind eye to the constitutional abuses and criminal activities of the bush administration and putting someone like gates in as secdef without performing due diligence, i wonder what difference taking back the house and senate is really going to make... Submit To Propeller
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posted by profmarcus at
12/05/2006
