Who Won The War Funding Stare-Down?

It's nice that Bush stared the Dems in the eye, said "Go ahead, make my day," and got his money for the troops and the War on Terror. But did he really win? (I know I said earlier that he did, but I'm having second thoughts.)

Yes, he was able to keep the Dems from telegraphing a "Loose Lips Sink Ships" communique to every terrorist on the globe, so they could plan how best to exploit a coming US surrender. And yes, he got Gen. Patreus some time and some money.

Let's hope the General does very well with what he's got because the ugly Dem is looking to dance with Bush again, come September.

"Change is what I hear," Mr. Murtha said of the administration's war policies. "By September, they'll come around, I think." (WSJ)

Now our generals have some money and can plan for another few innings, but this just might be another 100-plus inning affair, like the one they played in Iowa back in the day, and the Generals aren't being given a clue as to how to plan beyond the next few plays.

You see, the Dems saddled Bush with impermanence on the war and got permanence on their beloved social programs.

The $2.10 an hour spike in the minimum wage isn't going to be evaluated and voted on again in September -- we'll just get three 70-cent hikes, like clockwork. We won't be able to see if it's slowed down the economy and reconsider the measure if it has; it's just in, forever.

Also forever is this pork:

• Billions of dollars in domestic spending for farm drought relief, medical coverage for poor children and hurricane recovery
• $25 million for spinach growers hit by last year's E. coli scare
• $500 million for wildfire prevention for the West Coast
• $120 million for shrimp and Atlantic menhaden fishermen
• $15 million to prevent salt water 'intrusion' on Louisiana rice fields
• $3 million for funding a sugar cane Hawaiian co-op
• $24 million for funding for sugar beets
• $2 million to the University of Vermont Education Excellence Program
• $25 million for the Safe and Drug Free Schools program
• $48 million for disaster reconstruction for NASA
• $13 million for mine safety research
• $25 million for asbestos abatement and tunnel repair at the Capitol Power Plant
• $640 million for the Low Income Households Energy Assistance Program
• 13.2 million for avian flu research and monitoring
• $3.5 million related to guided tours of the U.S. Capitol
• $22.8 million for geothermal research and development
• $12 million for forest service money (hat-tip, Beyond Babylon)

Well-meaning programs all, natch, but they have nothing to do with the war effort, should have stood on their own, and like the minimum wage hike, they're not coming back for review in September; they're forever.

So who capitulated here? It seems like the Dems took a hard look at the polls, decided being the Party of Cowards wouldn't play all that well in '08, and decided to hog-tie the prez and pork up their districts.

On the other side of the bargain, Bush got a few months of war funding, which means the whole charade will start again before we have a chance to show real progress in Iraq -- unless there's a major miracle in the offing along the Euphrates.

And even then, would you trust progressives to know progress when they see it?

Art: Darleen's Place