The Iraq supplemental vote has the emerging potential of being THE watershed political event of this election cycle, possibly of an entire decade. Now, the Congress and the country are poised to make their own marks, possibly very disparate ones at that.
Grassroots Dems are beside themselves with outrage at the "deal" struck between Pelosi and Reid to eliminate timelines for military withdrawal from Iraq. Now, it's called a blank check, a sudden retreat by the Democratic leadership, and a smug victory for tantrum-prone Chucklenuts.
It's all bad news for hard-working campaign foot soldiers, and for the millions who turned their votes into Democratic victories in 2006. But wait. Something unexpected may be below the fold.
There's a lot of common sense given to the notion that many of us should be in "Doom and Gloom" mode. But let's look at the practical aspects of an Iraq supplemental vote for BOTH parties.
We can anticipate that some of the Democratic leadership will vote for the supplemental, and that ALL of the Republican members of Congress, save a few, will also vote for the bill-- the result being an easy approval of the bill in both Houses of Congress. In the aftermath of such a vote, the common voters will shift into despair, outrage, and yes, contempt.
With a modicum of intuition, every member of Congress senses that this vote has importance far beyond the next dinner salad. And they know the risks that they take by voting FOR the supplemental, given that well over 65% of the public wants the war to end. But what we, on the liberal blogs, don't often consider is that Republicans also have an interest in saving their own political careers in districts that are fed up with the Iraq War and with Bush. And it will also be Republicans who will pay dearly if they support Chucklenuts and his band of criminal liars.
So, there's a chance that the supplemental vote will cause a major shift, a political re-alignment, that has few precedents in recent political history. Sure, it's like threading the eye of a needle, but there's an emerging possibility that Republican members of Congress, in a massive defection, will also vote AGAINST the supplemental, as will the majority of Democrats. Why? Because we're all FED UP with the War. And Republicans are getting fed up with Bush. And both Republicans and Democrats see this as an opportunity to save their careers after the next election. In short, there just may be a convergence of related factors that could bring about a major, completely unexpected defeat for Bush.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to find a woman named Virginia. I was told that she knows something about Santa Claus.