Go to Hell, Mr. Bush

WASHINGTON -- President Bush today again warned Congress that unless he receives a clean emergency war funding bill for Iraq -- free of timetables for withdrawal and spending for what he called pork projects -- U.S. military readiness could be affected.

"If Congress fails to act in the next few weeks there will be significant consequences," Bush said in a Rose Garden news conference. "Congress should not tell generals how to run the war."

This is just lovely too:

The US News Political Bulletin reported this morning that “White House strategists are now pulling out all the stops to blame the Democratic majority in Congress for a potential delay in funding the Iraq war. … White House aides have adopted a new gambit — referring to the number of days since Bush requested funding for the troops in an effort to keep up the pressure.”

This morning at his Rose Garden press conference, President Bush highlighted this new gambit, saying it has been 57 days since he sent Congress his funding request. If Congress fails to act soon, Bush said, “the price of that failure will be paid by our troops and their loved ones.”


During the reign of the Do-Nothing 109th Congress, Bush submitted two major supplemental spending requests. Each request experienced a delay far more than 57 days with hardly a peep of anger from the Commander-In-Chief. Details below:

February 14, 2005: Bush submits $82 billion supplemental bill
May 11, 2005: Bush signs the supplemental
Total time elapsed: 86 days

February 16, 2006: Bush submits $72 billion supplemental bill
June 15, 2006: Bush signs the supplemental
Total time elapsed: 119 days

After the 119 day delay, Bush did not say an “irresponsible” Congress had “undercut the troops” or that military families had “paid the price of failure.” Instead, Bush told the conservative-led Congress, “I applaud those Members of Congress who came together in a fiscally responsible way to provide much-needed funds for the War on Terror.”