Democrats and Dissention in the Ranks
The American people have spoken and have elected a new Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate. I hope the independent and moderate Republican voters who placed the Democrats in power realize what they have accomplished by their vote. They have voted into power a group of legislators who will cut-and-run from Iraq, who will spend money like there is not tomorrow, and who will raise taxes on a vibrant economy. If these voters wanted change, they will get it.
The issues which elected the new majority is not the one the Democrats are insisting brought them to the dance. In the run up to the election and afterwards, the MSM misread their own polls and declared the vote for the Democrats was motivated by the American people wanting to withdraw out of Iraq. After all the carping by the Dems and MSM, it will not be long before that is exactly what the people will have thought they voted for. (Here I discuss a very confusing poll which came out right before the election) It is obvious the turnout of the election, judging by the polls, was not over Iraq. I think most Americans know that if the US leaves before the Iraqis can fend for themselves, the country will become a safe haven for terrorists and become yet another launching pad for attacks on the US and US interests around the world. Unfortunately the Democrats have severely misread what was being said by the people. It is obvious people wanted a change in direction in Washington, not an immediate pull out of Iraq as the Democrats are saying.
But look at how the Dems are reacting and who they are placing in leadership positions.
Democrats vowed Sunday to press Mr. Bush for troop redeployment to begin within months. Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, who is in line to chair the Armed Services Committee in January, urged that the shift begin as soon as March. Other Democrats called for more flexibility, as Mr. Bush has insisted is necessary.
John Murtha who is next in line to become House Majority Leader has called for the immediate pull out of troops from Iraq. A lot is riding on what the Dems do once they are in power. A very liberal base is demanding the US leave Iraq and leave right now. If they do not announce a withdrawal from Iraq and soon, they may suffer the fate of the Republican Party two years from now as voters display their displeasure with the new majority.
Not all Democrats agree with Murtha and Levin. With so many groups taking credit for the new majority in Congress, all will want Nancy Pelosi to push their liberal agendas, including pulling our troops out of Iraq before the job is finished.
Democrats returned to Capitol Hill on Monday to prepare for a transfer of power in Congress, but their postelection emphasis on unity quickly dissolved into power struggles and jockeying over the spoils of victory.
Another factor in Pelosi’s quest to appoint new loyal leaders in the House is what to do with the freshmen Democrats. Most are conservative and ran on change rather than withdrawing from Iraq.
Pelosi may have another problem. As the crop of freshly elected Democrats — including many younger ones who campaigned to the right of the party line — came to Capitol Hill for orientation Monday, they encountered a leadership dominated by mostly liberal, old-school Democrats.
Cardoza, a leader of the conservative coalition in the House known as the Blue Dogs, warned that Democratic cohesion would suffer if the liberals in line to head many of the chamber’s key committees don’t take party moderates into account. “We have to try to build a consensus, and it’s not going to be an automatic, top-down way, or we’ll have conflict on the floor,” Cardoza said.
Conservative Democrats have often sided with Republicans many issues including national security, the war in Iraq and spending. This will certainly lead to a fractious Democratic Party for the next two years. Unfortunately, this is not something the Republicans seem to be able take advantage of. They are pointing fingers of blame for the election loss rather than seeking to return to their conservative roots. That is one thing which hurt them this election. With the Dems already planning on raising taxes and withdrawing from Iraq, this should be an easy call for all conservatives. John Murtha is not only a dove on the war, but he is also the master of earmarks. He is a big spending liberal.
As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, Murtha has been an unapologetic master of “earmarking” money for local projects — a practice the critics say invites corruption.
“John Murtha is not the right poster child” for a message that stresses ethics, said Thomas Mann, an expert on Congress at the centrist Brookings Institution think tank.
The freshman class of Democrats may find the liberal agenda of the Democratic leadership a bit hard to swallow. Some may break ranks and vote with the Republicans, though I would expect most will follow the way of Senator Lieberman and vote party line on all issues except for war and fiscal issues. But this will still be very difficult to do. The extreme liberals are calling for a lot of things which may be hard for the freshmen to buy: raising taxes, cut-and-run from Iraq, impeach President Bush, and raising the minimum wage. They may find themselves having to chose between conservatism and supporting their liberal leaders.
Posts
