Democrat Opposition to Iraq Ends With a Whimper

Last night the Senate approved $70 billion in funding for the war in Iraq. As the Standard’s Fred Barnes notes, the move represents an astonishing turnaround:

An astonishing turnaround occurred in the Senate on Tuesday: 70 senators voted to fund the Iraq war with a fresh $70 billion and no strings attached. Think about this a moment. Last winter, after Democrats captured the Senate and House, it seemed likely they’d succeed in limiting or ending the Iraq war, probably by setting a firm timetable for withdrawal of American troops. After all, both President Bush and the war itself were highly unpopular. The Democratic triumph in the election made that clear, even to those who doubted opinion polls. And Democrats made the anti-Iraq crusade their top priority in the new Congress. Now, the 70-vote approval of the war by the Senate represents the breathtaking dimension of their failure.

Barnes is absolutely right. But lost amid the headlines is the fact that the Senate took several other Iraq votes last night. They rejected the Feingold amendment — which provides for immediate withdrawal — by a margin of 71-24. This is the fourth time the Senate voted on the Feingold-Reid proposal, and this vote represented its most lopsided loss. (Even the Miami Dolphins are doing better.) The Senate even rejected a non-binding ‘sense of the Congress’ amendment proposed by Senator Levin, to call for a change in the nature of the mission in Iraq. Six of the Democratic Senators failed to support even this mild course correction. Perhaps this stunning collapse of the Democratic argument on Iraq is what led Reid to meander away from the reality-based community in favor of the bizarre statement he made about Al Qaeda:

“Who’s winning?” Reid asked a group of reporters. “Big Oil, Big Tobacco. … Al Qaeda has regrouped and is able to fight a civil war in Iraq. … The American people are losing.”

Gateway Pundit has the video. Reid doesn’t quite look like a deer in the headlights, but it’s not far off.

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