The Zong

Today, Teddy Kennedy earned his goddamn paycheck, as far as I’m concerned.

“We cannot simply speak out against an escalation of troops in Iraq, we must act to prevent it,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in a speech to the National Press Club.

And so he introduced legislation designed to give Congress some say in whether or not your president can send another 20,000 troops to Iraq to get shot at while he claims we’re on the New Way Forward.

Never mind that Bush’s “Half-Assed Surge” plan is supported by basically nobody, including most Republicans in the senate. This bill is an action that could give our legislative branch the authority that Joe Biden seems to think it doesn’t have when it comes to putting our troops in harm’s way. Kennedy thumbs his nose at that notion, and believes, as I do, that Congress can’t just sit around for another term and pretend that the war isn’t their responsibility anymore.

“There can be no doubt that the Constitution gives Congress the authority to decide whether to fund military action, and Congress can demand a justification from the president for such action before it appropriates the funds to carry it out,” Kennedy said.

Damn skippy. If this bill passes, the Congress will get another chance to stand up and be counted, and to potentially prevent more American lives from being squandered for political gain at the hands of this incompetent administration.

- M.G.