During floor time in the United States Senate this morning, after both parties' leaders spoke, Senator Edward M. Kennedy took to the floor, intending to talk about economics, but he just couldn't refuse venting in this little diatribe on Iraq.

 

You can almost throw out Kennedy's entire statement by looking at two passages.

But I will point out that one of the best votes that I’ve cast in the United States Senate was in opposition to the resolution put forward, supported by the Senator of Kentucky, that brought us into Iraq,

and

They’ve had their time.

He starts out by saying he never would have even helped the Iraqi people get rid of Saddam Hussein to begin with, and then says they've had long enough to get their political act together.  Keep in mind that it was U.S. foreign policy for decades that helped keep Saddam's dictatorial reign intact as long as it did.  It doesn't matter to Kennedy.  The Iraqis should have been able to overthrow Saddam themselves and instantly form a new government, all without any help from us.

Besides that, however, after listening to the "How long" rhetoric that continues to reverberate through the chamber, the hypocrisy of the Democrats' view of the Iraqi government is stunning.  While serving as red meat to the anti-war Democratic base, it is rather silly.  How long, oh Senator, how long must we stay in Japan, 60 plus years after the fighting stopped? How long, oh Senator, how long must we continue to defend South Korea?  How long must our troops spend cold winters in Germany?

General David Petraeus reported to the Congress in September that there was progress in the outlying provinces around Baghdad, but that Baghdad proper was still, for the most part, pretty rough.  We didn't start seeing any reportage about Baghdad stabilizing until October.  So that means that if you start the clock for the Iraqi politicians when security was returning in Baghdad, that means they've had somewhere on the order of 45 days or so to make a government.  But remember, as Kennedy stated, they've had enough time.  How efficiently has the Senate operated this year, with no violence in the streets of Washington?

Judge Leslie Southwick was nominated to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on January 9th.  That's the day the Senate received the nomination.  He was confirmed October 24th, 297 days later.  Senator Kennedy, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, certainly could have seen this nomination processed a lot faster than 45 days, since you can easily build governments in that period of time. Maybe, using the Kennedy speak in the above clip, he was being held hostage.

Or how about Attorney General Michael Mukasey, whose nomination was sent to the Senate on September 21st of this year, with bipartisan support at that time, but was not confirmed until November 9th, 49 days later?  It's funny how a government is supposed to be completely formulated in less time than it takes to process a cabinet appointee here. 

There are twelve appropriations bills that have to get done every year, regardless of who is in the White House and who runs the Congress.  This year, the Democrats passed their own budget blueprint to process these bills on March 23rd.  Eleven of the twelve haven't been signed into law, some 225 days later.  Using Senator Kennedy's timetable, can you imagine what Iraq is supposed to look like in 225 days? 

I do have to say, however, that I find myself in agreement with a Congressional Democrat.  Rep. Norm Dicks just returned from his 5th trip to Iraq, and had this to say:

I felt kinda embarrassed telling the Iraqis they had to get their act together and pass legislation when we can’t do it back here.

I know, Congressman. I feel kinda embarrassed when I see people like Ted Kennedy make foolish remarks and engage in political sqabbles all the time, and then see him lecturing indirectly to the Iraqi politicians for exactly the same behavior. It seems incredulous that someone in the greatest deliberative body on Earth can honestly expect rookie politicians in a cooling down war zone to do more than we can do here, and faster. 

How long, Senator Kennedy? As long as it takes.