In the Arena

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In which the legislative battle over funding the Iraq war is discussed.

Key statistic that many Swampland readers are missing: According to the CBS poll, only 9% of the American people want to cut off funds for the troops. The Democrats are trying–given the Constitutional powers of the President and the public’s opposition to cutting off funds–to figure out in there is (a) any way to get some modification from Bush and, more likely (b) trying to demonstrate to the public just how intransigent he is: i.e. he won’t even supports what he says he support–the Iraqi govt’s own benchmarks. I think the Congressional Democrats are playing a weak hand extremely well. I think the left-wingers criticizing the Democrats, in the comments below and elsewhere, are carrying water for the right-wingers who want to portray liberals as extremist nutjobs.

For those who’ve asked, that’s also what I think of Michael Moore: I think that old butcher Lenin called people like him “useful idiots.” He does Rush Limbaugh’s work for him. If Moore wanted to demonstrate the sketchiness of the U.S. health care system, why not film the 9/11 victims getting care in Canada? Why Cuba? Cuba is a prison camp, a living demonstration of the evils of communism and the economic failure of socialism. Moore also supported Nader in 2000, a gift that keeps on giving.