Hard to Keep Up

Republican shenanigans are too numerous to catalogue. I'll try, but these are the tip of the iceberg.

Once again, Bush is sending troops into Iraq without the necessary armor to protect Humvees from IEDs.

And when those soldiers are wounded as a result of Bushco's incompetence, the Pentagon is now refusing to let VA doctors see medical records from field treatment for the poor kids they're treating at Walter Reed and other US hospitals. Sick bastards.

Dick Cheney's son-in-law scuttles chemical plant security.

Nevada Governor investigated for receiving 'gifts' from contractors.

Alaskan Congressman uses false Lincoln quote (published in the Washington Times this week, also) on the floor of the House.

The Justice Department's top environmental prosecutor signed a consent decree with ConocoPhillips. Problem? She was dating their top lobbyist, and they just bought a house together.

As an antidote to all this bad news, I recommend watching Ohio Representative Tim Ryan's speech on the floor of the House yesterday, at this diary on dailykos. Now that's how I want Democrats to respond. Tough and on point.

[Republicans try to shout him down with a parliamentary question}
I will not yield.

Now let me speak to the resolution. This is very simple. It says two things. We support our troops and we do not support escalation. It's very simple. And here's why.

We have already done this. Mr. Speaker; we've already done this, we've already tried the escalation, and it HAS. NOT. WORKED. From November to January '05, we escalated by 18,000 troops, boots on the ground, and the number of daily attacks increased by 17%. From June to October of '05, we increased by 21,000 boots on the ground, and the number of dialy attacks increased by 29%. And from May to November of '06, 17,000 more boots on the ground, and the number of daily attacks increased by 80%.

This escalation has not worked, and it will not work. The number of insurgents has increased from 5,000 in '03 to between 20,000 and 30,000 in October '06.

So this is very simple. And I wanna make just a few more points Mr. Speaker, and one is this: with the last vote for the war, no matter which party you are in or how you voted, we assumed that the President and the Secretary of Defense would send our troops over there with the proper equipment. But with this escalation, Mr. Speaker, we know that the 21,500 troops that are going to go over there will not have the proper Humvee kits, up-armor for their Humvees, they won't have the proper jamming devices or enough of them, and the won't have have the number of trucks that they need. Period, dot. You now know it.

So if you vote against this resolution, you're voting to send our troops over there without the proper equipment. Before it could be excused. Because we trusted the president and assumed, but now we know.

And finally, Mr. Speaker, we've heard a lot over the past couple days about the American Revolution, and the Civil War, and World War Two. Well Mr. Speaker, our President today is not Washington, he is not Lincoln, and he is not Roosevelt. And so I think our Republican colleagues should take the advice of the Secretary of Defense, and that is YOU GO TO WAR WITH THE PRESIDENT YOU HAVE. You don't go to war with the President you wish you had.

I yield back the balance of my time.