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In the wishful thinking department Senator Mitch McConnell points out to the President who his friends really are.

“Frankly, what’s developing here is his biggest problem is with his own party, the Democratic Party, which seems to be drifting away from what he said he wanted, which was for the package to include at least 40 percent tax relief and to be earmark-free.”

“So he could, ironically, end up with better supporters in trying to achieve the kind of stimulus package—which would be timely, targeted and temporary— from us than he’s getting from the Democratic majority, at least so far here in the Congress.”

“Listening to what he said he wanted, we think we may be closer to that, oddly enough, than the Democratic majority, which seems to be pulling in the direction of fewer tax — less tax relief and things like fixing up the [National] Mall. You know, most people don’t think that’s the way we ought to spend stimulus money.”

Obama heads to Capitol Hill today to address GOP lawmakers. Let’s see if Obama shows them some post-partisan love or reminds them that he “WON.”

Hugh Hewitt: Senate’s Resolution Frenzy Over: Democrats Flee Debate

Congrats to Mitch McConnell and the Republican caucus which stuck to its demands for fairness, and forced the Democrats to flee from the prospect of voting on the Gregg resolution. The whole sorry circus has now pulled up stakes and left town, and NRSC Pledge signers are free to resume contributions to the NRSC though, I suspect, they will wait a while to see if the new signs of spine in the Republicans on the Hill carry over until March, April, and beyond.

Sorry, Hugh, not so fast…….

Washington Post: 7 GOP senators back war debate

Senate Republicans who earlier this week helped block deliberations on a resolution opposing President Bush’s new troop deployments in Iraq changed course yesterday and vowed to use every tactic at their disposal to ensure a full and open debate.

In a letter distributed yesterday evening to Senate leaders, John W. Warner (Va.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and five other GOP supporters of the resolution threatened to attach their measure to any bill sent to the floor in the coming weeks. Noting that the war is the “most pressing issue of our time,” the senators declared: “We will explore all of our options under the Senate procedures and practices to ensure a full and open debate.”

And the other five?

The other Republican senators who signed the letter were Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, Norm Coleman (Minn.), Gordon Smith (Ore.), and George V. Voinovich (Ohio).

The PLEDGE lives on.

Tell these 7 Senators to GET IT RIGHT OR GET OUT.

Tell them that you support the pledge.

No, Hugh it is NOT over……..

Previous:

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: Get It Right or Get OUT Part 2

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: Get It Right or Get OUT

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: The McCain Resolution

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: Take the Pledge Part VIII

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: Take the Pledge Part VII

Iraq War Senate Resolution Watch: Take the Pledge Part VI

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

Readers: Please Vote in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

In this photo provided by CBS, Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., right, listens to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., before appearing on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’ in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007.

Hugh Hewitt: McConnell On Cloture And The Dance Of The Resolutions

Senator Mitch McConnell’s appearance on Face the Nation signaled clear victory for the victory Republicans. No resolution –not Biden’s, Warner’s or McCain’s– will advance without 60 votes for cloture. The Minority Leader also reminded the audience that General Petraeus made it clear he’d prefer no resolution. And after some nice words about Senator Warner. McConnell also announced he’d be voting against Warner’s resolution.

The Pledge is nearing 30,000 signatures, and poll questions have been added on whether Senator Warner should step aside in ’08 and on presidential preference among Pledge takers. The key for victory Repubicans is to communicate with the Senate that they expect Republicans to support the troops, General Petraeus and victory, and that such support cannot be demonstrated by posturing through hair-splitting resolutions.

This is good news.

But, this is not the time to be complacent.

Please make your calls, faxes and e-mails today to the following:

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.

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.

And Senator Warner – time to retire, sir.

There WILL be a GOP Primary election challenge.

The transcript of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Face The Nation yesterday is here.

Stay tuned…….

Previous:

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

Readers: Please Vote in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

Hugh Hewitt: Memo To The Hill: Take Off The Beltway Earmuffs

It’s not “nearly 10,000″ signatures. It’s 16,000+ signatures.

And while your reporter couldn’t get a comment from the NRSC, the NRSC’s Chairman John Ensign was interviewed at length, by me, on yesterday’s program and the transcript posted on the web.

In fact, over the past 40 hours, I have conducted five interviews with Republican senators on the absurd dance of the resolutions underway in the Senate: Norm Coleman, John Cornyn, John Ensign, Jon Kyl and John Thune. All the transcripts are posted. Together they provide the most comprehensive coverage of the Republican internal debate over how the war will supported or the enemy encouraged. The posts at my site, Powerline, Instapundit, CaptainsQuarters, Misha, RightWingNews, Blackfive etc are a systematic and serious discussion of the war and the consequences that would flow from the embrace of any defeatist memorandum from the Senate, even one signed on to by the previously reliable-on-the-war John McCain.

Now it is, 16,712 and is increasing as Flap writes.

Flap heard Senator Ensign’s interview yesterday. The good Senator from neighboring Nevada has alot of work to do to persuade Flap and other conservatives to EVER contribute to a national GOP committee again. He was not impressive – so why bother?

Hugh has a new contact list. It is difficult to call the Senate offices but please keep trying. It seems if you are not from the Senator’s particular state they really don’t give a darn. Pretty poor treatment of fellow Americans in my book – but Flap is taking notes and will make sure none of my time or money will EVER aid those particular politicians for ANYTHING again.

The List:

Please tell the candidates in the ’08 cycle especially –Alexander, Collins, Coleman and Smith and would be presidential nominees McCain and Brownback—that a vote for the Warner resolution is the end of support for them and the NRSC.

Readers: Please Vote in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

Washington Post: Warner Backs Resolution Opposing Troop Increase

House GOP Seeks Monthly Accounting of Results in Iraq

Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, yesterday endorsed a new resolution opposing President Bush’s buildup of troops in Baghdad, as even some of the most loyal Republicans scrambled to register their concerns and distance themselves from an unpopular policy.

The resolution, unveiled the day before the president’s State of the Union address, is expected to garner the support of many Senate Republicans — especially those facing reelection next year. The measure appeals to many rank-and-file Republicans because it allows them to voice their differences with the administration without embracing the highly critical language of another bipartisan resolution co-sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), one of the sharpest critics of the administration’s Iraq policy.

Senator Warner, grow a damn backbone would you?

Don’t you want the United States to suceed in Iraq? Why are you undercutting the efforts of our troops?

We are at war, sir.

Hugh Hewitt has A Letter To Senator Warner

Republican senators voting for the Warner resolution will never –never– repair the damage they are doing with their Republican base and serious-minded independents, and it is not because of any “disloyalty” to the party or the president. It is because of the injury they are dealing the troops and the war effort.

Flap urges everyone to call or fax Senator Warner: (202) 224-2023 Fax: (202) 224-6295

and GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: (202) 224-2541 Fax: (202) 224-2499

Tell them they are harming the Iraq War effort. Tell them respectfully and tell them often.

Update:

Shame on Senator Warner

The “compromise” resolution is in fact a “vote of no confidence” in the war, and an encouragement to our enemies, as General Petraeus bluntly declared today.

Call the senators: 202-225-3121. Demand that they support the troops and the war, and tell them to listen to General Petraeus and the president.

Take the Pledge:

If the United States Senate passes a resolution, non-binding or otherwise, that criticizes the commitment of additional troops to Iraq that General Petraeus has asked for and that the president has pledged, and if the Senate does so after the testimony  of General Petraeus on January 23 that such a resolution will be an encouragement to the enemy, I will not contribute to any Republican senator who voted for the resolution.  Further, if any Republican senator who votes for such a resolution is a candidate for re-election in 2008, I will not contribute to the National Republican Senatorial Committee unless the Chairman of that Committee, Senator Ensign, commits in writing that none of the funds of the NRSC will go to support the re-election of any senator supporting the non-binding resolution.

Take the pledge, and tell the NRSC:

NRSC
Ronald Reagan Republican Center
425 2nd Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202.675.6000
webmaster@gopsenators.com

Then e-mail Senator McConnell and Senator Ensign, and tell them too.  Senator McConnell’s phone number is  (202) 224-2541. Senator Ensign’s phone number is (202) 224-6244.

GOP activists and donors built the GOP senate delegation, as well as the majority that was punted away.  They can disassemble it as well, and GOP support for a neoappeasement resolution is exactly the way to start that process.

The Congressional GOP has to realize it cannot have it both ways –you can’t be for victory after you were against it.

And GOP senators –alone or as a group– definitely cannot count on the support of the base if any of them vote for appeasement.

Flap urges all GOP activists/bloggers /citizens to TAKE THE PLEDGE.

Flap does. 

Previous:

The Michael Ramirez files