Silver lining on House failure to override Bush veto of Iraq bill

The vote to override got four more votes than the original spending bill itself. Momentum even among Republicans not enthralled to or bamboozled by Bush continues to shift.

That said, the Democrats have two strategies remaining.

One is short-term, month-to-month supplemental bills. Advantage? The GOP would have to vote on the war time after time. Disadvantage? Not even a benchmark, let alone a timetable.

The second is to send a full funding bill, without timetables but with benchmarks. Advantage? Enough GOPers might vote on this one that Bush’s veto threat gets less serious. Maybe there’s enough coalescence for an override.

But, a bill without timetables is toothless, especially if the spending amounts are for a full year. The Democrats would further lose a voter like me, unless they trimmed at least a symbolic 2-3 percent from the spending level.

This note at Talking Points Memo has more background.