It would appear that today, June 19th, will go down as the day that Bush Dogs achieved total victory in the 110th Congress.
Ten months ago, here at Open Left we coined the term "Bush Dog" to describe the forty House Democrats (38 plus two of the three special election winners) who sided with Bush on both blank check Iraq funding and warrant-less spying on American citizens through FISA. Today, it appears that Bush Dogs are headed to victory on both counts.
So a deal has been reached on no-strings-attached war funding well into the next President's first year, and all the Democrats get out of it is a GI Bill that isn't paid for (they had to drop the tax on millionaires), some appropriations for flooding in the Midwest and Gulf Coast and modified unemployment insurance for an additional 13 weeks. That's not nothing, but given that it's a signing of a death warrant for tens of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, it's perverse to even talk in terms of what you "get" out of the deal.
CQ reports (sub. req.) that "a final deal has been reached" on FISA and telecom amnesty and "the House is likely to take up the legislation Friday." I've now just read a copy of the final "compromise" bill. It's even worse than expected. When you read it, it's actually hard to believe that the Congress is about to make this into our law. Then again, this is the same Congress that abolished habeas corpus with the Military Commissions Act, and legalized George Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program with the "Protect America Act," so it shouldn't be hard to believe at all. Seeing the words in print, though, adds a new dimension to appreciating just how corrupt and repugnant this is:
While it is not particularly remarkable that the Bush Dogs won these two fights, it is kind of remarkable that they happened on the same day. In fact, I just heard that the FISA bill and Iraq the supplemental will even be merged into a single bill. As such, it would appear that June 19th, 2008 will go down as Bush Dog Victory Day for the 110th Congress.
More in the extended entry, focusing on achieving a non-Bush Dog majority.
Now, while this is a major defeat, not all hope is lost. First, given their heroic actions back in December, it is possible that Senators Dodd and Feingold can block this FISA bill. Second, not all Bush Dogs have escaped their primary challenges yet, as John Barrow still faces a stern test from State Senator Regina Thomas on July 15th. Third, while progressives have clearly struggled in the 110th Congress, there is no guarantee that will be the same in the 111th. Defeat this year, which is still not entirely assured, does not mean that we can't improve next year.
How many members of Congress do we need in order to achieve in order to achieve a non-Bush Dog majority in the House? Currently, there are 236 Democrats in Congress, 40 of whom are Bush Dogs. That means we need 22 non-Bush Dogs this November in order to achieve a Bush Dog proof majority. Given that about one-third of Democratic freshman since the early 2004 special elections have been Bush Dogs, a good estimate is that we need 33 additional Democratic pickups in November. That is certainly a tall, though not entirely impossible, order, as it would give Democrats 269 seats in the House and an overall majority of 103.
There are other paths to achieving the majority. For starters, the Barrow-Thomas primary would achieve one seat. Also, next year the D.C. voting rights Act would achieve a second seat. Third, additional, better planned primary challenges in 2010 can net even more seats. Even further down the road, the 2010 general election and 2011 redistricting are further opportunities. There are also non-electoral means of influencing behavior, too, even though they haven't had much success recently.
No matter how you look at it, we still have a long way to go. Today is Victory for Bush Dogs Day. We have a lot of work to do in order to make certain that it won't repeat anytime in the next few years.
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