Political Parties And The Iraq War
What is each party's position in funding the war in Iraq?
Now, the Republican Party is definitely more along the lines of funding our troops. They've got a job to do. We've got to give them the money to do it. You don't mess around with that. The Democratic Party, again, is not as solidified or unified as the Republican Party is on this. Though there are some cracks forming in the Republican Party on this issue. The Democratic Party, there's groups that just say, "We have to fund the troops. And when it comes right down to it, that's what we have to do." There's a large segment, including the Democratic leadership, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and others, that say, "Okay, we'll continue, we'll fund the war, but we're going to put in an amendment, or a rider, to the authorization that says, You get the money now, but you have to withdraw the troops in six months." Which is one of the riders they've put in. Or you have to withdraw the troops in a certain amount of time. So, kind of a qualified support, where we'll fund it, but you have to give us a withdrawl date. And the interesting thing is that they've been pushing this all summer and into fall. And they pretty much gave up on it. And the truth was, it was a hard position because as we come to the close of the session and Christmas Break, or the Holiday Break, the Legislative Break, either things happen or they don't now, before the next legislative session. So, the Demcrats were faced with either making a decision that they would be held responsible for, or accountable for, to not fund the troops; or funding the troops and not getting what they want, because George W. Bush was holding firm on that and so were his Republican allies. And they decided that not funding the troops was going to cost them more than caving. So, they caved.
Which party supports the troops in Iraq?
Officially and formally, you're going to find nobody in either party that's willing to say they're not supporting the troops. The question isn't which party supports the troops... both will claim they support the troops and the other party doesn't. It's how they support the troops. Republican party says we support the troops because they've got a job to do, they want to do their job, they need the money to do it, and we're supporting them by saying you're doing a job, here's the money, go get them. The Democrat party, and you see these bumper stickers every once in a while, support the troops, bring them home. And to them, they say, we're supporting the troops because the troops are humans that we don't want to see happen to be over in Iraq suffering for, no good reason. So, we're supporting the troops in that sense. So it's a rhetorical battle, or battle of words. Both parties claim they are supporting the troops and the other party really isn't. But their definitions of what it means to support the troops are radically different.
