Misleading Headline of the Year
“Bush Dealt Defeat on Iraq Bill“
Um… We can all celebrate the Senate’s soon-to-be vetoed passage of the GI Bill. This is doubtless a good thing.
But lost in the hoopla over Jim Webb’s amendment to boost the college tuition benefit of War on Terror vets, is the fact that the Democratic Senate just gave Bush a $165 billion blank check for war.
I recently interviewed Lincoln Chafee — the Rhode Island Republican Senator who lost his seat in the anti-GOP tide of 2006 — and he was furious over the fecklessness of Democratic opposition to the war.
Chafee: They’re very wary of taking on any ownership of the war. They’re just letting the administration take all the blame — because any reduction of funds, or timetables, leaves them open to the criticism that is their fault if things go poorly.
Rolling Stone: So was it your sense that the decision was made to let Bush hang himself with his war policy, rather than risk becoming complicit in things going worse.
Chafee: Yes absolutely that’s what I’m saying.
Rolling Stone: Just let him have the wheel
Chafee: Yeah. And let him take all the blame. In the meantime, the casualties mount.