Greg Sargent highlights some neglected material from a new CBS poll (PDF) released over the weekend. In particular, by a margin of 49-44 voters say congress rather than the White House should "have the final say about troop levels in Iraq." What's more, 58 percent of voters say congress should fund the war only with a timeline for withdrawal. Yet, somehow, you won't see the press -- or many congressional Democrats -- acting like this is true.
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What The Voters Want
16 Apr 2007 07:56 am
Comments (5)
We shouldn't have government by poll, BUT if there are Democrats and Republicans who are standing by the President because they think it's a smart electoral strategy like in 2002, these results might encourage them to revisit this in light of upcoming elections. Let's not kid ourselves that everyone in Congress is moved by principle. Particularly when the war in Iraq is going so badly and the President is adrift.
Should we give the public everything they want based on poll numbers? How about Gay rights? Abortion rights in states like Utah, perhaps?
The last two are OK by me.
I'd like to know what emanations from what penumbra of which part of the Constitution mandate keeping troops in Iraq.
It seems to me that many congressional Democrats, especially the leadership, ARE acting like that's true.
I assume you saw the memo Rahm Emmanuel sent out last week, right?
This is a good example of dressing up American ignorance into something like a political mandate. Just because a lot of people don't know or care how the Constitution works doesn't mean that Democrats in Congress can have the "final say" on troop levels.
If you polled the American people in December 2001 asking how many of them would support a new law that prohibited Congress from making any law abridging the freedom of speech and assembly , somewhere north of 30% would probably have opposed it. This does not translate into a need for the press and Republicans to have acted like it was time for a 1st Amendment Amendment.
Comments closed April 30, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
Too bad - that's not really how the system works (unless Congress wants to pull out the "big gun" of defunding).
Should we give the public everything they want based on poll numbers? How about Gay rights? Abortion rights in states like Utah, perhaps? How far do you want to go with the silliness of "poll numbers"?
Posted by James Robertson | April 16, 2007 8:50 AM