Memo to Congress: put your checkbook back in your pocket

This is from the Associated Press:

Dems not united on Iraq troop funding
Some distance themselves from Pelosi's stance on additional money

Next month, George W. Bush will submit a supplemental spending bill to Congress. Supplemental spending bills have typically been used for unexpected expenditures like natural disasters. How a war that has been ongoing since 2003 and has no end in sight can still be considered an unexpected expense is not exactly clear.

Despite generally being viewed less favorably than a 1986 Yugo, the President stubbornly refuses to order hard right rudder, insisting on aiming his unsinkable Titanic directly at the iceburg at full speed. The outcome is clear. Unless the port engines are reversed, this ship is going to sink while the band plays “Nearer, my God, to Thee.”

That being the case, the important word in the phrase “checks and balances” is “checks,” and while the President is Commander-in-Chief, Congress holds the piggy bank.

Apart from Sen. Joe Lieberman—say it ain't so, Joe—is there a Democrat that supports escalation, augmentation, enhancement, or whatever it's called this week? Even some Republicans, notably Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine refuse to go down this skunk hole. Congress—are you listening?—it is time to use your mojo hand. Put the checkbook back in your pocket.

Note that we are no longer “staying the course,” it is now a “new way forward.” Lemmings also have a new way forward, and it frequently leads over a cliff.