The grossly distorting, idiotic myths the media allows to become immovably lodged in our political discourse
What does seem clear is that one of the principal factors accounting for the reluctance of Democrats to advocate de-funding is that the standard corruption that infects our political discourse has rendered the de-funding option truly radioactive. Republicans and the media have propagated — and Democrats have frequently affirmed — the proposition that to de-fund a war is to endanger the “troops in the field.”
This unbelievably irrational, even stupid, concept has arisen and has now taken root — that to cut off funds for the war means that, one day, our troops are going to be in the middle of a vicious fire-fight and suddenly they will run out of bullets — or run out of gas or armor — because Nancy Pelosi refused to pay for the things they need to protect themselves, and so they are going to find themselves in the middle of the Iraq war with no supplies and no money to pay for what they need. That is just one of those grossly distorting, idiotic myths the media allows to become immovably lodged in our political discourse and which infects our political analysis and prevents any sort of rational examination of our options.
That is why virtually all political figures run away as fast and desperately as possible from the idea of de-funding a war — it’s as though they have to strongly repudiate de-funding options because de-funding has become tantamount to “endangering our troops” (notwithstanding the fact that Congress has de-funded wars in the past and it is obviously done in coordination with the military and over a scheduled time frame so as to avoid “endangering the troops”).
– Glenn Greenwald
So here is how you get around it.
You vote to defund the war with a provision that makes it a criminal offense to endanger troops by forcing them into a conflict without proper funding.
The money slows and stops. The president risks facing a “high crime or misdemeanor” if he insists on continuing.
Either the troops come home under Bush/Cheney or Nancy Pelosi who is next in line if both are impeached. If happen to be a Republican, the last thing you would want, is for Pelosi to take over the top spot, even though more Americans have trust in her judgment than they do in either Bush or Cheney. Even you, a Republican, would support the ending of the war to make sure that did not happen.
That is the approach that Democrats should be taking instead of shrugging their shoulders.