Democratic Donors Vent on Iraq Compromise
It isn't just the liberal activists who are upset with Democratic congressional leaders for backing away from a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Party insiders tell U.S. News that many donors have also been complaining bitterly about what they consider a surrender to President Bush in the Iraq funding bill.
The donors see the concession as a betrayal of the antiwar movement that many believe gave the Democrats control of the House and Senate in last November's election.
"There's a lot of anger among base Democrats that we didn't stand up to Bush," says a party insider. "The Democrats did what a legislative body is supposed to do and came up with a compromise [on Iraq funding legislation], but that isn't going to make our base happy."
Quite the opposite. Now some party leaders are worried that their fundraising will go into a tailspin--and, more broadly, that the Democrats will suffer from an image of failing to stand up for themselves on matters of principle.
There are other consequences. The anger at the grass-roots level is expected to boost the presidential candidacy of former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who has been more aggressive than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, his two main rivals for the Democratic nomination, in pushing for a fast U.S. withdrawal. Edwards calls the Democratic concession on a timetable "capitulation."
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