Cover your ass

TPM's Election Central has discovered the machinations that led to the rushed vote on Mukasey the other night. It turns out that Harry Reid struck a deal with the Thuglicans. He would let the Mukasey vote go forward if they would let the Dems pass a defense appropriations bill for $450 billion which did not include money for Iraq and Afghanistan. That way they would have some cover when they try to stonewall on a funding bill requiring a pullout from Iraq. As one person put it:

"It's important for us to say that we gave money to the military," the source said. "Because when Bush starts coming at us and saying that the troops are running out of money [when the Iraq funding battle fight starts], we'll be able to say, `We just gave you $450 billion.' It kind of gives us a cushion here."

It's always more important to protect your own job than it is to save the country.

Additionally, the Dems were said to be reluctant to stage a filibuster because when they expect to take over the reins of government next year and don't want to set a bad precedent by filibustering anything. As if being nice to the Thuglicans ever got them anywhere in the past!