The Republican’s plan to divide the Democrats over the issue of pulling
troops out of Iraq backfired last night. With a final vote of 403-3 defeating
Duncan Hunter’s resolution of immediate withdrawal. The debate over the issue
was some of the most heated I have seen in years.

The Republican’s tried to maintain that the Hunter resolution was not in
retaliation to the Murtha plan submitted the day before but they were unable to
prove their point. Rep. Buyer’s of Indiana used his time debating the issue to
attack Rep. Murtha’s plan which made the Democrats call for a point of
parliamentary procedure. The argued that the Hunter Resolution was being argued,
not the Murtha Resolution. It ended up with Rep. Buyer’s words having to be
stricken from the record.

Dennis Kucinich hit the nail on the head with his remarks. He said the
evidence of this resolution being a direct attack against the Murtha resolution
was evident in the fact that Duncan Hunter, the author, was encouraging a nay
vote. He said he can not remember when a congressman introduced a resolution and
asked for its defeat.

Early in the day the floor erupted as Rep. Jean Schmidt was addressing the
House and read a letter in which Murtha was called a coward. This lead to the
Democrats objecting very loudly over the freshman congresswoman’s comments and
her ultimately having to apologize.
Think Progress
has the video on that. Actually it came as no shock to me she would stoop so
low. Living in southern Ohio, I lived through the heated Schmidt/Hackett race
where Schmidt would say Paul Hackett did not know what was right for Iraq even
though he had just returned from serving over there.

The biggest discredit came towards our troops and the citizens of this
country. The suspending of the rules, which narrowly passed after an extended
vote, limited the amount of debate so the resolution could be voted on the same
day it was introduced. Democrats stood strong in voting against the suspension
of the rules along with five Republicans. The Republicans ended up getting it to
pass.

What did this suspension mean? It meant that the most important issue facing
our country, the Iraq war, was given a total of 7.8 seconds debate for each
congressman. The House of Representatives is suppose to be our voice in
government. The Republicans feel our voice is only worth hearing for 7.8
seconds. It proves that they do not wish to hear what is happening in Iraq.

It was a very interesting night for the House and the Democrats should of
slept well knowing they defeated the Republican attempt to divide the party. The
Democrats might not be in unison for an exact plan on Iraq but they stood in
unison last night when it came to throwing the Republicans attack back in their
face.