Truthiness from Mel Martinez
Last week, I sent a somewhat scathing message to Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) regarding his nay vote for cloture on the Reed-Levin amendment. I indicated in my letter that I was just fine with him disagreeing with the amendment but that the systematic attempts to close off a vote by means of a filibuster were disgusting to me. I got this letter back in response:
Dear Mr. Haskell:
Thank you for letting me know of your thoughts about Senator Levin’s recent amendment to the Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08) National Defense Authorization Act to withdraw our armed forces from Iraq. I appreciate hearing from you and would like to respond to your concerns.
As you know, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) recently proposed an amendment to the FY08 National Defense Authorization Act that would begin the withdrawal process for our troops from Iraq, culminating in a total transition or withdrawal of our forces by April 30, 2008. I opposed this amendment, and it was voted down by a vote of 52-47 in a procedural vote requiring 60 votes to pass.
Unfortunately, following the defeat of Senator Levin’s amendment, the Democratic leadership decided to remove the FY08 National Defense Authorization Act from consideration on the Senate floor. Rather than provide the necessary authorization of funding for our men and women in uniform, the Democratic majority decided to play partisan politics by delaying the passage of this bill. Regardless of the political issues surrounding our work in rebuilding Iraq, it must be our steadfast purpose to provide our men and women currently in combat with everything they need to safely and quickly complete their mission of creating the environment for a stable democratic government in Iraq to flourish.
Our ongoing efforts in Iraq constitute the most important front in the war against extremist terrorist organizations. Withdrawing our troops precipitously and leaving Iraq as a failed state would likely bring about genocidal levels of death and destruction. However, this is not to say that our comittment to the people and government of Iraq is open ended. To the contrary, it is imperative that the Iraqi Parliament make great strides in their efforts of reconciliation, strengthening of their national security and building a robust economy. Without a clear level of comittment and action on the part of the Iraqi people and government, it is impossible to achieve a sustainable level of stability within Iraq.
It is vital that Congress continue to examine the president’s plan, and I hope that we can pull together – Republicans and Democrats to solve the most intractable and serious problem we face today. Please know that I will continue to closely monitor the evolving situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the ongoing War on Terror. Further, I will continue to work with my colleagues and with the Administration to see that our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines receive every tool they need and every benefit we can afford during this time of war.
Again, thank you very much for sharing your concerns. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any additional comments or questions. For more information on issues and activities important to Florida, please sign up for my weekly newsletter at http://martinez.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
Mel Martinez
United States Senator
The emphasis above is mine. The misleading sophistry, however, belongs solely to Mel Martinez (or rather, to whichever aide wrote this response). This wasn’t “voted down”. It was talked to death and never allowed to actually be put to a true vote because the cowardly Republicans knew that they lacked the votes to properly kill it. The Democrats did their fair share of this nonsense back during the early days of George W. Bush’s presidency, and I was similarly disgusted by it then.
I’m voting against Martinez in the next election. He is a cowardly political operative who hides behind never-ending speeches instead of bravely falling on his sword and registering his opposition vote. Mel Martinez is personally responsible for us remaining in Iraq.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, War, Senate, Mel Martinez, Filibuster, Cloture