Iraq as midterm election politics

The LATimes has a piece by Ron Brownstein and Emma Vaughn looking at the timing of the Senate vote to authorize the President to do whatever he wanted in relation to Iraq. Not too much new here, but this clip jumped out at me.

The time was September 2002. The place was the White House, at a meeting in which President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney pressed congressional leaders for a quick vote on a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq.

But Daschle, who as Senate majority leader controlled the chamber's schedule, recalled recently that he asked Bush to delay the vote until after the impending midterm election.

"I asked directly if we could delay this so we could depoliticize it. I said: 'Mr. President, I know this is urgent, but why the rush? Why do we have to do this now?' He looked at Cheney and he looked at me, and there was a half-smile on his face. And he said: 'We just have to do this now.' "

(The vote was Oct. 11) Two points. Did the political timing of the vote limit proper analysis of the intel that was made available to Congress? Yes. Is Bush going to call for the reduction in troops in Iraq to help his party in the midterm elections again? Yes.

Just who here is playing politics with the lives of US soldiers?