GOP,  Hugh Hewitt,  Iraq,  Iraq War

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: Take the Pledge Part VI

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Senate Iraq Battle Nears Showdown

The political battle over the war in Iraq continued Wednesday on Capitol Hill, where at least seven resolutions are on the table in response to President Bush’s plan for a troop buildup.

With a Senate showdown just days away, No. 2 GOP leader Trent Lott of Mississippi said he had concerns with each of a host of the resolutions introduced so far. If Republican leaders do not rally behind a single proposal, the party could avoid taking a clear, united stance on the widely unpopular Iraq war – a consequence Lott suggested he wouldn’t mind.

“To herd the cat sometimes you have to let them stray,” he said. “Think about that. Keeping them together by letting them stray.”

It sounds like Senator Lott has been listening to the NRSC Pledge folks.

31,484 people have signed The Pledge thus far. Will you?

So, what is happening with the Biden and Warner resolutions?

It appears the original Iraq resolution, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Joe Biden and endorsed by Republican Chuck Hagel, is losing steam, CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports. It expresses symbolic opposition to the president’s troop increase.

“It’s dead, politically,” said one Republican source.

Gaining steam are a similar bipartisan proposal from Repubican Sen. John Warner and a new alternative being drafted by Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

CBS News has learned the McCain-Graham resolution would “allow Republicans cover” by “admitting that the past strategy has failed.” But it would support the president’s troop surge. It would require Iraqi benchmarks like disarming the militia, allowing local community elections. It would not set out consequences because that, says one person close to the negotiations, “would empower the enemy.”

The Biden resolution is DEAD.

But, the GOP has to endure John McCain and Benchmarks?

No Way……..

Robert Novak has some inside poop from his newsletter that will eventually be posted to Human Events:

Iraq Resolution: The saucer phenomenon is most clear with respect to the non-binding resolution being planned to oppose President Bush’s new strategy in Iraq. Democrats had high hopes — and the Bush Administration faced long odds — just last week on the prospect of a strongly worded and bipartisan resolution against a troop surge or “escalation” in Iraq. Somehow the administration dodged a bullet.

  1. The Democratic plan was for Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joseph Biden (D-Del.) to sit down over the weekend with Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) and hammer out a consensus bipartisan resolution opposing the troop surge. But not even the influx of anti-war protesters on Saturday — who vandalized the Capitol and the Capitol South Metro station — could focus the Senate on finishing this work. Warner, who has been making backroom deals for 28 years in the Senate, informed Biden late last Thursday that the “will of the Senate” should be determined in “open” session. This effectively killed the Democrats’ hopes of passing a Biden-crafted anti-surge resolution. Such a proposal now cannot get the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster (and could even fall short of the 50 senators needed for a simple majority). It remains unclear whether any resolution will pass the Senate.
  2. Biden wanted to force through a harsh resolution condemning Bush’s plan, but advisers prevailed on him to meld his proposal with Warner’s milder non-approval language. Biden and his principal Republican co-sponsor, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), said last Wednesday that they would negotiate with Warner. Biden would have accepted most of Warner’s resolution, except for the parts leaving the door open for further troop increases and perhaps its affirmation of the President’s constitutional role as commander in chief. Biden was surprised when Warner and the conservative Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) asserted that “issues set forth in [the resolution] should occur as a consequence of the will of the Senate, working in ‘open’ session.” In other words: no private negotiations.
  3. That stand poses a dilemma for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) because of bipartisan support for Warner’s resolution. Besides Nelson, co-sponsors include Democrat Senators Mary Landrieu (La.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Ken Salazar (Colo.), and Republican Senators Norm Coleman (Minn.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Gordon Smith (Ore.). If they all stick together, Biden cannot change the Warner resolution. With Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine) joining Hagel as the only other Republican backing Biden’s version, it may lack even enough votes for a simple majority. Reid faces a difficult choice: He could crack the whip on Democrats to get a majority to pass the Biden resolution, or he could swallow an unaltered Warner resolution to win a bipartisan vote.
  4. Democrats are learning what Republicans found out after they last regained Senate control in 2002: The U.S. Senate is a sluggish, quirky and madly frustrating body that slows all progress and stops most legislation in its tracks. In the House, Speaker Pelosi has held back quick House passage of an anti-surge resolution, awaiting action in the cooler Senate.
  5. Despite the apparently good result for Bush with regard to the resolution, all is not rosy. Republicans feel withdrawal of troops must begin in the next six months for their party to have any chance at retaining the presidency in 2008. Even if Biden can’t have his way, there is little or no enthusiasm for sending more troops to Iraq.

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Hugh Hewitt is RIGHT:

Senator McCain needs to hear from you, again.

His Senate office phone is: (202) 224-2235

His Senate office fax is: Fax (202)-228-2862

His Senate office e-mail is here.

His campaign phone is: (703) 418-2008

His campaign e-mail is here.

And here is the expanded list of contacts of other key senators:

Senator McConnell: Phone: (202) 224-2541 Fax: (202) 224-2499E-mail here.

Senator Lott: Phone: 202-224-6253 Fax: (202)-224-2262 E-mail here.

Senator Kyl: Phone: (202) 224-4521 Fax: (202) 224-2207 E-mail here.

Senator Ensign: (202)-224-6244 Fax: 202-228-2193. E-mail here.

Senator McCain: Phone: (202)-224-2235 Fax (202)-228-2862. E-mail here.

Senator Warner: Phone: (202) 224-2023 Fax: (202) 224-6295. E-mail here.

Senator Cornyn: Phone:202-224-2934 Fax: 202-228-2856. E-mail here.

Senator Smith: Phone: 202-224-3752 Fax: 202-228-3997. E-mail here.

Senator Coleman: Phone: 202-224-5641 Fax: 202-224-1152.E-mail here.

Finally, here is the contact information for Senator Brownback, who is about to completely dash his already small hopes of becoming the conservative alternative for GOP primary voters if Romney falters. Senator Brownback is not mentioned in the Times’ story, but earlier reports had him somewhere in the Warner/McCain camp. You can contact his presidential campaign here, or call his Senate office at (202) 224-6521.

Call senator McCain and the Senators again.

Ask them to FILIBUSTER or VOTE AGAINST CLOTURE on ALL Iraq War resolutions supporting FAILURE coming to the floor of the Senate tomorrow/this week/the coming week.

Flap is and you will be glad you did.

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Previous:

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: GOP Senators Debate 5 Different Iraq War Resolutions

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: Take the Pledge Part V

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: Take the Pledge Part IV

John McCain Watch: DNC Criticizes McCain Contradictions on Iraq War

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: Take the Pledge Part III

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: Take the Pledge Part II

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: Take the Pledge

The Michael Ramirez files


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