MoveOn and the Democratic leadership's Iraq amendment

I received an email this afternoon from MoveOn that was addressed to me and a couple million of my dearest friends, asking us to answer a poll supporting or opposing the Democratic leadership plan regarding the Iraq occupation. I know some people think this is counter to what I should think, but I do not support it.

Why prolong the inevitiable?

I'd much rather they put their weight behind Rep. Barbara Lee’s efforts for an amendment that will facilitate a fully-funded, orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops and military contractors by the end of 2007.

(Barbara Lee's full statement can be seen on YouTube)

Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey, Maxine Waters and others who have carried the anti-war banner for years in the House do not support this legislation, and neither do I.

The bill that they'll be voting on this week in the House is weak, and filled with loopholes regarding troop withdrawl. It also carries a large package of domestic spending that is completely unrelated to Iraq. For example, a bailout package worth $25 MILLION for California spinich farmers who were affected by the fact that they sold spinich that sickened and killed people. Doesn't that just frost your cookies? They don't want food safety regulations, but they want to be compensated for their failure in the market.

Ahem...anyway....sorry. Sidetracked again....as I was saying:

The congressmembers that have been actively opposed the war all along are opposed to this bill, and as Norman Soloman at Common Dreams wrote this past Tuesday:

Pelosi is speaker of the House, and Reid is majority leader of the Senate. But neither speaks for, much less leads, the antiwar movement that we need.

They haven't before, and unfortunately, they still don't.

So just pause for a second before you push that little vote button at MoveOn. OK? The Democrats can do better than this. I'm hard-headed. I'm still pushing for them to get a little more spine.