You got to love how diplomatic this White House is. Here is what they have said today about the military supplemental bill:
President Bush on Tuesday invited Democrats to discuss their standoff over a war-spending bill, but he made clear he would not change his position opposing troop withdrawals. The White House bluntly said the meeting would not be a negotiation.
“It’s time for them to get the job done, so I’m inviting congressional leaders from both parties — both political parties — to meet with me at the White House next week,” Bush said in a speech to an American Legion audience in Fairfax, Va.
“At this meeting, the leaders in Congress can report on progress on getting an emergency spending bill to my desk,” Bush said. “We can discuss the way forward on a bill that is a clean bill, a bill that funds our troops without artificial timetables for withdrawal and without handcuffing our generals on the ground. I’m hopeful we’ll see some results soon from the Congress.”
So he is basically doing his same song and dance. He will tell them to come and talk, to make it look like he is trying to reach out, but they go there and here “it is my way or the highway”. Poor Georgie – he just don’t realize what country he lives in. He thinks he is the king. Can’t really blame him though – the Republicans created that monster with their rubber stamping. It looks like the Democrats are ready to teach Bush a thing about how our country works also and knock him out of his imaginary throne. This is Harry Reid’s response to this preposterous act of reaching out:
“The American people want the President and the Congress to work together to bring this war to an end, safely and responsibly. Congressional Democrats are willing to meet with the President at any time, but we believe that any discussion of an issue as critical as Iraq must be accomplished by conducting serious negotiations without any preconditions. Our goal should be to produce an Iraq supplemental bill that both fully funds our troops and gives them a strategy for success.
“With his threat to veto such a plan for change in Iraq, President Bush is ignoring the clear message of the American people: we must protect our troops, hold the Iraqi government accountable, rebuild our military, provide for our veterans, and bring our troops home.
“The President is demanding that we renew his blank check for a war without end. Despite the fact that the President persists in trying to score political points at the expense of our troops, congressional Democrats have repeatedly reached out in the spirit of cooperation. We renew our request to work with him to produce a bipartisan bill that provides our troops and our veterans with every penny they need, but in turn, demands accountability.”
Maybe George should just resort to holding his breath and stomping his feet until Congress gives him what he wants. Some children just never learn.