Rs continue to duck real debate on war

This somehow got by me, but there was another vote on Iraq Friday in the House as Republicans pulled yet another political stunt to avoid having a real debate on the war.

For some reason, the only story I can find on this was from the Associated Press. It got little attention.

Maybe it's because it was such an obvious farce and the outcome was a foregone conclusion. The voted was 279-109 to say the House is committed "to achieving victory in Iraq" and that setting an "artificial timetable" would be "fundamentally inconsistent with achieving victory."

Democrats voted against the resolution by 108-59, while 32 of them voted "present," a rarely used option that signals neither support nor opposition. Among Republicans, 220 supported the proposal, none were opposed and two voted "present," while the House's lone independent voted "no."

I've been asking when Wisconsin Democrats will stand up and speak up on the issue. For the most part, they have been quiet on the subject, although opposing the war.

In this instance, three of them -- Tammy Baldwin, Gwen Moore, and Dave Obey -- all voted against the resolution, while Ron Kind voted for it. Kind was also the only Dem in Wisconsin's House delegation to vote for the war in the first place.

Maybe one of these days we will see a real, full debate on the issue -- but not if the Republicans who run Congress can avoid it.