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Chris Bowers pointed out that another blank check for Iraq is probably on its way. Whatever you think about funding strategies for Iraq, this is a good illustration of just how the Bush Dogs hurt us. Here's Jason Altmire, of PA-04, at a press conference upon his recent return from Iraq, on Bush's funding requests.
The president has made the decision to continue the mission at its current level, and I am never going to vote to withhold funding to our brave men and women when they are out in the field of battle serving in harm's way.
By way of background, Jason Altmire is a freshman in a district outside of Pittsburgh, and his district's PVR is R +2.6. He's facing a reelection campaign against either former Congresswoman Melissa Hart or Lynn Swann, neither of whom are particularly good candidates. Republicans have already set up an attack site against him quoting from Fox News and punishing him for voting against the troops.
With his statements on funding, Almire is preemptively caving in to whatever Bush wants. Here's Altmire on Petraeus's report.
So -- and I do want to say one thing about General Petraeus and the meeting that we had with him. I have the utmost confidence, after speaking with him and seeing his commitment to this report, that what you hear in his testimony and what he says is going to be from his heart. I don't think there's going to be any fingerprints from the White House Political Office on General Petraeus's comments.
Just a few weeks ago, the White House claimed they would author the report by Petraeus, casting his credibility into question. Just today, the administration pushed the GAO into changing its pessimistic report on Iraq. Why would Altmire grant the White House this kind of credibilty by building up Patraeus as an unassailable spokesman? Petraeus is going to say the surge is working. We know that now.
Altmire will vote for timelines, and says he wants a withdrawal of troops from Iraq. But he's going to vote for any and all money Bush wants, and he will stand up for surrogates of the surge like Patraeus.
I used Howie Klein's profile of Bush Dog Jason Almire to write this post. It was really useful to have that content handy. If you have a bit of time, pick a Bush Dog Democrat who hasn't been profiled and profile him.
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