Reply #8: I agree with you to a point. [View All]

There were three components to be considered: the amendment itself, the arguments and the actual vote.

Sure offering two amendments was a good idea. The division wasn't in the offering but in the way many Democrats stood up and used Repug talking points to distance themselves from Kerry and Feingold.

THAT really pissed me off, not only because it was a very publice backstab of Dems by Dems but also because it was poor strategy. Offering a choice was one thing: demeaning the other amendment was just plain stupid.

Kerry voted for the Levin Amendment even though Levin didn't vote for his. The same with Feingold and Boxer and the rest of the Noble 13. All 13 voted for both amendments. This was smart. It was loyal. It was how all the Democrats should have voted yesterday. But even if they didn't vote that way, they should never, ever have demeaned Kerry and Feingold the way they did. Basically I agree with having the two amendments and I can even agree with some who voted on what they really believe. What I can't get behind is the use of Repug talking points and the demeaning of the complimentary amendment. It wasn't an opposing amendment: it was a complimentary amendment, one that offered choice. It was a choice offered to bring Repugs on board, not a competition between Dems.

The Democrats who made a point to stand up and disclaim any idea of an "arbitrary date" for withdrawal played right into Repug hands.

First they showed a lack of unity by making the point to differentiate themselves from the K/F/B plan. Secondly, their use of "arbitrary date" is going to be thrown back in their faces when they do finally come to a decision that the time is right to withdraw.

Sadly, this is going to come back to haunt the entire party. I can see clip after clip after clip being played in succession of these Dems saying they aren't for setting a date, that setting a date is arbitrary, etc. It's going to make Kerry's 87 billion statement look positively tame in retrospect.

And where does this leave us in the present? Looking just slightly less stupid than Rick Santorum, sad to say.

Think how much better it would have looked if every Dem voted for both amendments. What a message that would have sent! Democrats would have looked like the heroes because they offered the Repugs not one, but two choices, and they rejected both! Instead, the Dems now look like the Ass Clowns. Terrible. Stupid and terrible. And I do NOT believe for a second that the motivation was pure on the part of most of the Dems dissing the Kerry Amendment: they were dissing Kerry.