As for the contention that the Democratic congress is so spineless they’ll just roll over and accept anything Bush does, well, that just doesn’t make sense.
OK, they didn’t impeach Bush. OK, they aren’t trying to withdraw troops now. OK, they aren’t rescinding the AUMF. And so? For now anyway, things aren’t going as horribly in Iraq as they have been going. So they’ve backed off. And when Phase II of the insurgency hits, and things return back to even more horrible, what then?
Bush CAN order the bombing of Iran in secret, and Congress will find out about it in on CNN. And how will Congress react? With shrugs? I know, Harry Reid is a spineless lapdog. But, I don’t think the American people are salivating to go toe-to-toe with the Iranians.
I remember back in 2003. We WERE salivating to go toe-to-toe with Saddam. We wanted to kick some ass, Bush presented us with an excuse to kick Saddam’s ass and we screamed “YEEEE-HAAAAW”. And Congress scrambled all over itself to vote for the war, because they didn’t want to have a vote against the short, popular Saddam-ass-kicking on their record. They remembered how votes against Gulf War I came back to haunt them. Well, even if Gulf War II was gonna be a dumb war, at least it was gonna be short, victorious, and popular, right? You don’t want to explain to the voters in 2004 why you voted against kicking Saddam’s ass, do you?
Well, shucks, it turns out the war ended up long, protracted, and unpopular, and now all those votes for the war turn out to be inconvenient instead.
Now, what are the odds of that happening again? You think Congress is gonna stick their fingers in the wind, gauge public opinion, and scream “YEEEEE-HAAAAW” as we attack Iran? You think the American public is sold on attacking Iran? I suppose Bush and Cheney might wish the public were sold on it, they might wish that attacking Iran would shut up the nay-sayers, but you know and I know and Karl Rove knows that isn’t true.
It isn’t 2003 any more. We’ve had a shot at kicking the ass of a couple Muslim countries, and we’re getting tired of it, and it wasn’t near as easy as we thought. You think the American public is gonna cheer as we invade Iran? Honestly?
The scenario that I suppose you’re imagining is Bush lobs some missiles at Iran, Iran retaliates, and we’re in a war with Iran willy-nilly, and the American people rally round the flag?
Or is that when impeachment hearings finally start?