Democrats fold to Mr. 28%: Not SMART

I cannot express how disappointed I am that the Democrats, in spite of their ascendancy to control of Congress in January, have folded their tent, and capitulated to “Mr. 28%”, ----voting for Iraq war funding without a set of specific, measurable, attainable, responsible, and time-tabled benchmarks for bringing the Iraqi people in control of their own nation, and bringing our troops home.

"Specific, measurable, attainable, responsible, and time-tabled". If you use the first letters of each of those words it spells SMART. The Democrats were not SMART here at all.

The Democrats, once again, have shown how completely without a backbone they can be. I do not think they could have achieved less had the Republicans remained in control of Congress.

On a positive note, I can say that that I am proud of the fact that most of the Democratic members of New Jersey Congressional delegation voted NO. Rep. Rob Andrews was the sole Democratic supporter of the President’s failed policies in Iraq from New Jersey.

I wish that the Democratic Party had the conscience and courage of their convictions, and put this issue to the President in the simplest way possible by declaring:

"Mr. President -- This is the funding bill for the troops in Iraq. It has all the funding you have asked for. The bill supports the troops, giving them what they need.

If you veto it, you are the only one responsible for not supporting the troops. The rest is up to you, and it is the way the Congress wishes to fund this war effort, with an understanding of specific, attainable, measurable, responsible, and time-tabled benchmarks for bringing the Iraqi people in control of their own nation, and bringing our troops home."

It is sad to see Democrats not supporting the point of view held by the vast majority of the American people----that which gave them the majority in Congress.