no. 2946

Today Bush responded to the passing of a House bill that outlined a timeline for withdraw of troops from Iraq with this:

“The purpose of the emergency war spending bill I requested was to provide our troops with vital funding. Instead, Democrats in the House, in an act of political theater, voted to substitute their judgment for that of our military commanders on the ground in Iraq.”

Is that so? Then what would you call this?

Then of course there is also this little gem (mind you this was made while there was a war going on and kids were dying in Iraq).

What the right-wingers are also leaving out when they talk about the bill, is that it actually funds the war rather than take it away. They are attempting to frame the bill as an attempt to take money and supplies away from troops in order to fund special interests (i.e., the “sweeteners” you've heard so much about). Right, this from the people that are continuing to let VA hospitals go to shit. It's all bullshit.

Here's the deal. The bill approves $100 billion dollars for Bushes war if he agrees to pull troops out if the war effort is still going to shit come October (I think, it might be August). The other $24 billion is the part that Republicans are calling “pork.” According to the LA Times, that extra money breaks down like this:

Spinach growers got $25 million because the E. coli scare last fall depressed their sales. The shrimp industry received $120 million because of Hurricane Katrina-related losses. Federal support for peanut storage, due to expire after 2006, was extended for one more year at a cost of $74 million. Shellfish producers were compensated $5 million for their losses to a disease known as viral hemorrhagic septicemia.

Hmm, a couple billion dollars to help out agribusiness, doesn't seem like wasteful spending to me (not like a bridge to nowhere or anything).

So this bill, that Republican and right-wing hacks are calling “a slap in the face to our troops” would actually give them money AND an incentive to get the job done in Iraq. It would basically say to them, “…hey, here's all the equipment and money you've been asking for, secure this shit ASAP and you get to go home and sleep with your wife. Hooah!”

Political theater? I think not Mr. President.