House Approves Iraq Timetable

In what Republicans refer to as "Micromanaging the war" (coincidentally using the only polysyllabic word that house republicans know), Democrats in the house of representatives narrowly approved a spending bill with an addendum supporting a withdrawal from Iraq by September of 2008.

The bill, entitled - and I sh*t you not, this is its actual title - "Making emergency supplemental appropriations for fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes" passed by a small margin, 218-212, with just 2 Republicans joining 216 Democrats in voting for it, while 14 Democrats and 198 Republicans that don't want to win again in 2008 voted against it. The bill, which I will refer to by its acronym, MESAFFYES32-AFOP (has a nice ring to it, like the PATRIOT act), has already received the Bush veto promise - and the Democrats don't have the votes to override the veto. Yet, thanks to Bush's failure at being, the symbolism is almost as important as the bill passing. As Representative Charles Rangel said "When we legislate, we legislate to win... and we have only echoed what the American people have said... and No president, Democrat or Republican, can fight a war that the American people are against."

MESAFFYES32-AFOP also gives millions to farmers and low income families, so if Bush denies it he is withholding money from those that need it.

Some of the Democrats the opposed the bill, including Barbara Lee of California, opposed it because they did not believe it was anti-war enough. Still, a timetable for 2008 is the first step towards ending the war that shouldn't have started in the first place. Perhaps as the outrage increases, the pressure to bring them home earlier will make the date meaningless. Keep up the good work, MESAFFYES32-AFOP.