By Tabassum Zakaria
Reuters 12 November 06 WASHINGTON - Democrats, who won control of the U.S. Congress, said on Sunday they will push to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq in the next few months but the White House cautioned against fixing timetables.
"First order of business is to change the direction of Iraq policy," said Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), a Michigan Democrat expected to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress that convenes in January. |
Lawmakers gear up to fight some old battles with Bush - Bush gears up to fight back while he can - It's all farce
By Donna Smith
Reuters 12 Nov 06 WASHINGTON - Lawmakers geared up to fight old battles with President George W. Bush over domestic wiretapping and a contentious U.N. nominee, even as Bush pledged to cooperate with the new Democratic-led Congress that starts in January.
The current Republican-led Congress -- including lawmakers who lost their seats in Tuesday's elections -- returns this week to work through a pile of unfinished legislation on spending, taxes, trade and international affairs that could keep it here until the Christmas holidays. Bush made clear he wants certain things done while Congress is in Republican hands, including legislation authorizing the administration's domestic warrantless wiretapping program and Senate confirmation of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Comment: How much you want to bet that Bush will get everything he wants - and then some? It's all a farce.
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Reuters
11 Nov 06 WASHINGTON - Just days after Democrats took over Congress, Americans embraced their top goals and President George W. Bush's job approval rating slid to 31 percent, according to a Newsweek poll issued on Saturday.
Huge majorities of those polled said they approved of the legislative priorities cited by Democratic leaders after their party seized control of the Senate and the House of Representatives from Republicans, the magazine said. |
Monday November 13, 2006
The Guardian - Senior senators call for timetable for US exit
- White House admits need to change failing strategy The newly emboldened Democrats stepped up pressure on the Bush administration for a change of course in Iraq yesterday, with two leading members of the party calling for a phased withdrawal of US troops to begin in four to six months. With the Democrats set to take control of both houses of Congress in January following last Tuesday's midterm rout of the Republicans, the search for a fresh approach to the Iraq war is rapidly gathering pace. The idea for a timetable for withdrawal was floated by leading Democrats likely to head two of the most powerful Senate committees, the armed services and foreign relations committees. Comment: Four to six months, eh? Just enough time for some major event to intercede and make it impossible for troops to be withdrawn.
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Evan Derkacz
Alternet November 12, 2006. Four-term congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, who played a key role in the impeachment of Richard Nixon, isn't surprised that top Democrats aren't leading the way on impeachment.
According to her, after the election of 1972: "Nobody -- no Democrat was pushing for it. And, in fact, as the revelations came out, it still wasn't on the table. It took the American people, after the Saturday Night Massacre [Nixon's firing of the prosecutor investigating him], sending a clear message to the Congress..." Her point: It didn't come from congress in 1973, it won't come from congress now: It's understandable that congressional leaders, members of Congress, will be very reluctant to take this enormous step to protect our Constitution and our democracy. But the American people still -- we have a democracy. You saw what happened at the polls. Members of Congress will get it, if the American people want it. Watch the clip |
By Marjorie Cohn
AlterNet November 13, 2006. |
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press 11 Nov 06 WASHINGTON - Legislation aimed at President Bush's once-secret program for wiretapping U.S.-foreign phone calls and computer traffic of suspected terrorists without warrants shows all the signs of not moving ahead, notwithstanding President Bush's request this week that a lame-duck Congress give it to him.
Senate Democrats, emboldened by Election Day wins that put them in control of Congress as of January, say they would rather wait until next year to look at the issue. "I can't say that we won't do it, but there's no guarantee that we're going spend a lot of time on controversial measures," Democratic Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois said Thursday. In Senate parlance, that means no. |
by Mike Whitney
Atlantic Free Press 10 Nov 06 In a moment worthy of Shakespeare, the Fraudster-in-chief had been scuttled by his own party; knifed in the back by his own friends and family who knew that it was finally time to extract the drunken driver from behind the wheel of a Mack Truck.
The "vanilla" Democrats had nothing to do with Tuesday's results. It was a "planned demolition" from the get-go. |
by Larry C Johnson
No Quarter 11 November 06 Wednesday's surprising resignation/firing of Don Rumsfeld and the nomination of the CIA chief who served Bush 41, Robert Gates, was a dramatic and emphatic smack in the face of Dick Cheney. While George W. Bush remains stubbornly committed to the present course in Iraq, there should be no doubt that he is no longer willing to be the Charlie McCarthy to Cheney's Edgar Bergen. Cheney's hand is no longer firmly in control of Bush, and Bush is speaking for himself.
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