Draft Proposal Falls on Deaf Ears, Pelosi Faces Angry Base
The Democrats are coming out against the draft as proposed by New York representative Charlie Rangel.
A prominent Democrat’s call for reinstating a military draft got a cold reception Monday as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were quick to denounce any notion of a return to military conscription.
Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), who will become chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, pledged on CBS’ “Face the Nation” to introduce legislation that would reinstate conscription. Rangel’s previous attempts at bringing back the draft have drawn opposition, and the reaction this week is much the same.
Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said Monday that she did not support a draft and that the Democratic leadership would not support its return.
In calling for the re-instatement of the military draft Charlie Rangel engaging in theatrics. He knows full well that a draft is one sure way to turn more people against this war on terrorism. The question his own constituents should be asking themselves is, ‘am I willing to be a pawn in Rangel’s path to power. The problem with being a pawn is they are so easily discarded once the mission is complete. And if you lose a few, oh well, they were only pawns anyway.
But this entire episode is one of a number of problems for the new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. She has promised a more ethical Congress and yet she nominates people like the un-indicted co-conspirator John Murtha for Majority Leader and is pushing former bribe taking impeached judge Alcee Hastings for Chairman of the Intelligence Committee. At the same time she is having members of her own party pushing these wacky ideas. All the while Pelosi is facing a recalcitrant base who wants the benefits of the Democratic win in the midterm election.
First, House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi ruled out the progressives’ dream of impeaching President Bush. Now the San Francisco Democrat is squashing the idea of a new military draft, a proposal floated by a top House Democrat as a more egalitarian way to share the burden in Iraq.
At a news conference Monday, Pelosi slapped down the idea of a draft offered by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., the incoming House Ways and Means Committee chairman, which has little support in Congress, the military or the public. But she did so with a light touch, praising Rangel for raising questions about the fairness of who serves.
Nancy Pelosi may very well find that being the Speaker of the House and leader of a group of moonbats who feel they are owed for delivering this election is going to be a lot easier said than done.
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