Iraq Blank Check, Armando...May. 31‚ 2007Paul, While there is a small minority of Democrats that opposes the war and does the right things, many who voted for immediate withdrawal and/or against the latest supplemental funding are responsible for the U.S.'s attack and for continued funding. Clinton and Obama have shown their true colors as being heavily pro-U.S. military, and Pelosi is the one who negotiated the supplemental, even though she hypocritically voted against it. When it comes to Pelosi, she's nothing but a "politician" in the worst sense of the word; everything she does is calculated toward her political career. Also, Dennis Kucinich has said what the only proper action would be to remove the troops: no action at all. The Democrats should simply neither offer nor allow any bills to come to a vote without a firm withdrawal date. Funding the war without strings attached was not "an insanely stupid strategy." Instead, it was a cave-in or sellout, saying that it's more important to "support our troops" than to do the morally correct thing and get the hell out of Iraq immediately. So yes, the Democrats as a whole are to blame for all this, despite the small minority of them (Barbara Lee, Dennis Kucinich, Russ Feingold, etc.) who have consistently done the right things. Jeff Hoffman San Francisco Thanks Paul, for trying to shed some light on the Democrat's schizophrenic war policy, but I cannot give Speaker Pelosi and other House Democrats who in the end voted against the supplemental appropriation a pass. They allowed this supplemental appropriation's bill to reach the floor, literally handing the Republican minority a bill the president could sign. If Pelosi and the House Democratic leadership had been at all serious in their opposition to the war, they would not have allowed any war-funding bill to come to a full vote. The strategy of attaching strings to the original bill was flawed from the beginning. Everybody knew it. This whole exercise was a pitiful, cynical charade to give those Democrats who had supported the war effort in the past political cover going forward into the coming election cycle. Only those who have consistently opposed the war should get a pass here. Richard Rawles Can a staunch Conservative, proud Infidel and member of the Bridge and Tunnel crowd find something to agree with you on? YES! And you must admit that the Chron's headline today hit it right on the head: "Benitez saves Mets". After the game I figured I had enough time to hop a red-eye to EWR, stop by the Bada-Bing Club, pick up Pauly and Tony Soprano's bat and make sure Benitez never pitches for the Giants again. If that had happened at ATT, I doubt he would have made it home after the game. He has no respect for his team mates or us fans. He must go and now!!! -Mark Simons You can submit letters to the editor by clicking on this link: rshaw@beyondchron.org or by writing to: Beyond Chron 126 Hyde Street San Francisco, CA 94102 415-771-9850 (phone) 415-771-1287 (fax) |