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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2007-07-10

Here They Come Again, Emboldened

The Surrender Caucus in the Senate is making more noise now, with our very own Senator Ken Salazar playing a prominent role.

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, proposed legislation with Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., that would order President Bush to begin pulling out troops in 120 days and end combat by April 30, 2008.

Sadly, the Surrender Caucus has a few new members:

Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine said she was considering switching her position and backing the measure. Also considered likely supporters were Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Gordon Smith of Oregon.

Sen. Susan Collins, Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and other moderates said they were considering an alternative proposal that would demand an end to combat and allow U.S. troops to conduct only a narrow set of missions. The measure would not identify a date.

"What many of us are looking for is a new strategy that would not be a precipitous pullout with all of the problems that would cause, but rather a plan to exit over the next year," said Collins, R-Maine.

In other words, so that it's out of the way before the next election.

And, Sen. Collins, in what way is a one-year pullout NOT precipitous? If there's still Al Qaida on the ground in a year, then a pullout at that time STILL abandons Iraq to the terrorists.

And, oh so lucky for us, Mike Littwin reports that Ken Salazar is going to take a central role in this debate. Sort of. Maybe.

And into the middle of the fight steps, um, one Ken Salazar. Yes, Colorado's own Ken Salazar.

Like you, I'm a little surprised to see Salazar in the thick of a foreign-policy debate. It isn't like he reminds anyone of Metternich (you can look him up), or, for that matter, even Matthew Broderick.

But if Salazar has shown one important talent in his brief time in the Senate, it's for moving himself toward the middle ground on virtually any issue.

Salazar is the co-sponsor of a bill, with (of course) several Republicans, that would basically endorse the Iraq Study Group's recommendations.

I, for one, am glad that Colrado is represented by someone who inspires such confidence on the major issue of our time from one of his ideological allies. Near as I can tell from his website, though, even this is more than our senior Senator, Wayne Allard, is willing to say.

What I think matters here, though, is that on the major issue before the Senate--indeed, before the nation right now--our Senators are either endorsing the lukewarm, bureaucratic non-solution or silent. WE ARE NOT WELL SERVED. Allard may vote the right way--and he almost always does--but he doesn't do anything to move the debate.

And right now, what is needed is a bold statement to move the debate.

Hello, Bob Schaffer? Call your office. Or call my office. Or Channel 9's office.
Posted by: Michael / 7/10/2007 12:19:00 PM

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