The Washington Swamp

I stopped into Burnie’s Bar to have a few bears as I often did on Saturday afternoon. As usual Max Angst was there.
“Hi Art, I was hoping you’d stop in so we could toast the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq,” Max said.
“Do you mean the house bill yesterday, Max. It’s a waste of time Bush will veto it.”
“If he does he’ll have to get the money for the war from the $505 Billion that the Defense Department has already been allocated. Or, he can pull our troops out of Iraq immediately using funds that I’m sure the democratic Congress will be glad to appropriate.”
“Hmm! I hadn’t thought of it that way,” I admitted.
“ O f course there’s the Senate to worry about. That little rat from Connecticut, Lieberman is sure to threaten to join the Republican Party if the Democrats propose a bill with dates like the House bill. That will put the Republicans in the majority and the House’s bill will go nowhere.”
“That would mean there would be no money and no pull out dates. God, both sides would loose.”
“Except that the last election proved the people want our military out of Iraq. You can bet your bottom dollar, Art, that there will be one of the largest public outcries in history if Congress and Bush don’t do something to begin the termination of US action in Iraq. I see some sort of a compromise coming. Both parties will accept a money bill containing a September 2008 withdrawal date. Then, both will be able to claim they fully supported our troops and carried out the withdrawal during the presidential campaign.
“What a swamp Washington is,” I said disgusted with the whole thing.