Reid making Senate come to work Saturday for Iraq cloture vote

This is the kind of leadership we have been waiting for!  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said during a press conference this afternoon that he is fed up with all the delays on this Iraq issue, and wants to hold a cloture vote on the non-binding Iraq resolution this Saturday -- a time when many lawmakers had planned Presidents Day weekend vacations. 

With the cloture vote scheduled for a weekend, there will be much more viewers tuning into C-Span during the daytime, and all cable news networks will cover it as well.  Every Senator will have the spotlight on them, and be forced to take a clear stand.  Flip-floppers will be exposed on national television.  That especially goes for Hagel and Warner.

The blog Think Progress has the video of Reid's press conference.  Below is a partial transcript:

Now, we know that time is of the essence. That’s why the Senate willhave another Iraq vote on Saturday. Cloture will be filed on the Houseversion of the non-escalation policy today, for a Saturday cloture vote.

The Republicans then will have an opportunity to determine ifthey’re going to allow the Senate to vote up or down on thisresolution, and to allow the American people to see how United Statessenators feel about the president’s policy in Iraq.

This comes immediately after Republican Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) sent a letter to Reid that asked for more negotiations on the non-binding resolution.  It's safe to say that Reid is calling their bluff.  This is the first bold move for Reid as Senate Majority Leader.  Let's hope we see more of this in the weeks to come.

Comments

[Tony]

I'm just gratified (i know it's evil) that they're having their weekend plans screwed up.

Tony

[ted K]

No, what is evil is voting for this B.S. resolution.

"This is the kind of leadership we have been waiting for."
Quotes admin Todd.

It is?
Leadership that is wasting time on a non binding resolution instead of doing their jobs?
I don't even care what kind of non-binding resolution it is.
A non-binding resolution could say "Dems are all for backing Commies and Terrorists" and I would be against Congress and Senate WASTING time on non-binding crap.

I want my representatives working on ISSUES not non-binding messages for (fill in the blank).

Interesting you think that this is good leadership, when it is just a waste of time.

It does tell the military that their mission is a waste of time and I am sure it makes them feel like we've got their back.

Your guys need to grow a spine.
If you are against the mission, take a stand and cut off funding.

"We support the troops, but not Bush's Plan."

Lip service crap.

The top generals have said that passing this will have a negative effect on the morale of the military, but that doesn't matter to anyone voting for this resolution.

We all know where everyone stands, thanks for wasting time and diminishing what the troops fight for.

mmmmmmm That is some good leadership!

Just for the record, you are touting Reid, who is as crooked as a walking stick (read NV land grab).

Heads full of mush and you don't care...

[Administrator: Todd]

Ted, please stop reciting right-wing talking points. A few weeks ago I came across a GOP memo that a member sent me, which was not able to post because I exited out accidentally and don't remember the address. Anyway, it tells Republicans how to make a rhetorical argument on this debate by daring the Democrats to cut funding.

You know as well as I do that if Democrats did cut funding, then you would be using an entirely different argument. It's amazing how easily the rhetoric from the GOP leadership BY SOME CHANCE gets filtered down to Fox News, Limbaugh and then to Republican voters themselves. I have to hand it to you guys on that. Your echo-chamber is much more advanced than the Democrats' stone-age communication tactics.

Lastly, if you really want to nail people for hurting our troops, then start attacking President Bush's policy that over-stretches our military. I have two friends that are now in Iraq, and they are fed up with this crap. They've had hardly any time back the states over the last few years, and it is taking an emotional toll. These are people I grew up with, and it really is personal to me that we stop mis-treating them. Don't you think that over-stretching our armed forces is an anti-military strategy? Don't you think it risks us not being ready just in case a situation arises somewhere else in the world?

[ted K]

Oh yes, just explain it away as you always do with "right wing talking points."

I for one don't get the "memo's" of the talking points. I rely on reason and logic to come to my own conclusions.

So I'll concede your point that I am a right wing schill and that I am merely spewing talking points handed directly to me by Tony Snow.

The argument I am making still has merit.
What is going on is a wast of time and sends the wrong messsage to both terrorists and our military.
Of course you are to blinded by hatred of Bush and conservative policies and our military (oh, yes, you "support them" I keep forgetting) to look at anything objectively.

If your precious Libs in office did cut funding, I would at least have more respect for them for at least taking a stand, whereas this is just a meaningless proposal that makes them feel good.

You have 2 friends in Iraq, great, tell them thank you.
So, because you know 2 people in Iraq who are "fed up with this crap," in Iraq, that makes passing this resolution worth destroying the moral of the troops in general?
I have faith that if something did rear its ugly head, that needed out military, that our military could handle it.
NEWSFLASH, we haven't been attatcked here since 911.

And please don't insult me with your theory on advanced GOP talking points being superior to your mis-information machine on the left.
You Progressive Libs with Clinton INVENTED talking points bullitens via CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, NY Times...(feel free to add your newspaper here).

I recall the "repulicans taking away school lunches" all over the news- a complete falsehood- during Clinton's reign.
How about the "Gravitas" BS batted about all over your lefty news sources?
What a joke!
I have never hear gravitas used so much in my lifetime, before or since.

Back to the topic at hand.
The resolution is a worthless waste of time.

Be a man and admit it.

Show some gravitas!

[Administrator: Todd]

Ted, why do you underestimate the spine of our troops? I happen to think that our troops are strong, and that a resolution isn't going to destroy their morale. They are tough people, you know. At least give them some credit. They have more spine than you, me and 100 ordinary civilians put together. You're making them seem like fragile human beings that get all emotional at the thought of non-binding resolutions. They are stronger than that.

Secondly, what you are mimicking from the conservative echo chamber is hypocritical. On one hand, your side says that the terrorists will attack us no matter what (which I agree with). If that is the case, then how would they be emboldened by a resolution? How could one resolution change the fact that they want to kill U.S. troops and innocent Iraqi civilians? The "emboldening the enemy" argument only works if you think terrorists are on the fence. In the real world though, these terrorist lunatics want us dead NO MATTER WHAT. A non-binding resolution does not change anything.

Lastly, all those media outlets that you mentioned helped Bush promote his march to war with Iraq. Even the NY Times fell for the Administration's rhetoric.

[ted K]

Oh please, don't put words in my mouth.
I never said our military didn't have a spine.
You Libs have no spine.
Destroy morale was too strong a word, chip away and lessen morale is better terminology.
Our military kicks ass, but passing resolutions like this send messages that we don't have their back.
Are you just going to dismiss what the majority of generals have said this will do to moral, because you know 2 guys there?

Terrorists do want us Dead.
If a terrorist sees a resolve of the US to go to them and kill them like dogs, they would be less inclined to keep pissing of a giant if they knew the giant wasn't gonna take it.
Look at Somalia recently, they collectively just went after and killed and tracked fleeing terrorists because they couldn't take it anymore. I didn't hear all this "lets not make them mad, or lets talk to them" crap.
Messages like this from home, only tell them that if they stick to their "guns" they will make the Americans flee.
So that is why we are sticking it to them on their own soil. The terrorists are concentrated in Iraq, from all over that area.
You keep that region's terrorists energy concentrated there, as we kill them (note that Sadr fled like a pussy to Iran) and they can't work on trying to hit us at home.
I know I am wasting my breath on you, as you.
What a joke that you think CNN MSNBC, NY TIMES (for God's sake) are not liberal schills.
I also have news for you, all your Dems that voted for the war. Voted for the USE OF FORCE from Bush.
Hillary for brains can lie all she wants.

If the non-binding reso. doesn't change anything, why even waste time on it?