Harry Reid's Next Desperate Act

Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, must be suffering from some terrible frustration these days. He managed to win a slim majority in the Senate, but now discovers that he can't do anything with it thanks to Senate rules that allow the minority tremendous power. Consequently, his anti-Bush/anti-war acts are getting more and more desperate, and now will include violating his own promises made shortly after the election when he assured America that the Dems would not defund the war with troops in the field.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid yesterday endorsed the Senate's toughest antiwar bill yet, a bid to cut off funding within a year, sending a clear signal to President Bush that the Iraq debate will continue in Congress regardless of whether he carries through on his veto threats.

Reid (Nev.) announced that he had teamed up with Sen. Russell Feingold (Wis.), one of the Democrats' strongest war critics, on legislation to set a deadline of March 31, 2008, for completing the withdrawal of combat forces and ending most military spending in Iraq.

Reid's decision came as House and Senate Democrats were just starting to deliberate a compromise war spending bill. The package is likely to include language at least calling for troop withdrawals to begin, but the Feingold plan would go much further, essentially giving Bush a year to end most U.S. military activities before the money dries up.

Captain Ed thinks that this attempt may be the final straw for Joe Lieberman who could at any time decide to stop caucusing with the Dems and throw the majority back to the GOP. Of course, there's always the risk that a Chuck Hagel or Gordon Smith would jump ship themselves and keep a Dem majority, but would they really do that over a bill to defund the troops? Given Hagel's recent statement, possibly yes.

Reid's decision to back this bill directly contradicts the statement of Barack Obama who stated that Democrats would vote to provide the Iraq funds even if President Bush vetoed their first attempt at establishing a timeline. How will Obama and the other presidential candidate Dems vote on Reid's bill? If they reject it they risk the wrath of the nutroots. If they side with Reid they risk the wrath of the rest of America. That's what happens when your party is invested in defeat.