Chuck Schumer: “Indeed. I thank my colleague for asking the question. Again, the minority says it is our job to take some tough votes.…”

“Indeed. I thank my colleague for asking the question. Again, the minority says it is our job to take some tough votes. Here, here. We want to take what is a tough vote for some: Are you for the surge? Are you for the escalation or are you against it? They are doing everything they can to avoid it. But as my good friend from Massachusetts has so aptly pointed out, the bottom line is that now is the time to go on record--now, before most of the troops are there; now, when we can ratchet up pressure on the President to change his policy, as the independent study group said, and so many generals have said. I might add, from the press reports, the Prime Minister of Iraq doesn't want them. We are almost in Alice in Wonderland here. I will say one other thing. The good news is simple: the American people get it. They know that the war in Iraq doesn't have a strategy. They know it is headed toward a dead end. They know that policing a civil war makes no sense, and they know what we are trying to do, which is forcing a 'yes' or 'no' vote--get a 'yes' or 'no' vote and move forward to change that strategy. No amount of wordsmithing on the other side is going to change that fact. Today, the Republican minority said: We are for the surge, and we will let the President go forward and do it.”