Moderates’ Hope For Compromise On Iraq Fading As Reid Takes Hard Line

Today from the Congressional Quarterly website, about Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) blocking moderate moves: "A Democratic proposal to withdraw most U.S. troops from Iraq by next year was not expected to overcome Republican opposition in the Senate on Friday. But despite the anticipated defeat of the measure and earlier failures to change President Bush’s Iraq policy, the Senate’s Democratic leaders dismissed the idea of considering compromise legislation, leaving the chamber at an impasse over the war. After the defeat on Thursday of an amendment to the defense authorization bill that also would have drawn down most troops from Iraq by next year, the leaders declared they would not give ground on their demands for a fixed withdrawal date merely to pass what they said would be toothless war legislation with the support of some Republican moderates."