Anemic Republican Response to Veto

Here is the anemic Republican response to their own failure to fund the troops:

“Several Republican leaders said Tuesday that they were likely to support such benchmarks, and White House aides said Tuesday that Mr. Bush…might back such a measure — but only if the benchmarks are nonbinding.”

Bush tells Americans that Congress can't have a say in what is going on because:

He said the measure would “impose impossible conditions on our commanders in combat” by forcing them to “take fighting directions from politicians 6,000 miles away in Washington, D.C.”

If bush really thinks this, why doesn't he just make those soldiers enlistment contracts "non-binding" and let them decide who they want to "take fighting directions" from? heh According to a January poll in the Military Times:

Only 35 percent of the military members polled this year said they approve of the way President Bush is handling the war, while 42 percent said they disapproved. The president’s approval rating among the military is only slightly higher than for the population as a whole.

I wonder where they would poll now considering the continued failures?

Anyways... What do Americans want their Congrees critters to do?

Do Democrats take John Edwards's suggestion, as relayed in his new campaign ad, and "send [Bush] the same bill again and again"? Or should Democrats and Republicans in Congress work with the White House to find some sort of solution that isn't likely to give either side a complete political victory?

A Pew Research Center poll released on April 26 suggests that the American public favors the Edwards approach, with each side standing their ground rather than compromising.

snip

Roughly six-in-ten people in the Pew sample (59 percent) said they want their member of Congress to back an Iraq funding bill that includes a timeline for American troops to begin withdrawing.

They want Congress to demand binding timelines. And they are right.

[Update]I just wanted to add these two responses to the Veto via The National Security Network:

Today, two retired Generals who led troops in Iraq expressed outrage at the President's veto of the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health, and Iraq Accountability Act.

The President vetoed our troops and the American people. His stubborn commitment to a failed strategy in Iraq is incomprehensible. He committed our great military to a failed strategy in violation of basic principles of war. His failure to mobilize the nation to defeat world wide Islamic extremism is tragic. We deserve more from our commander-in-chief and his administration.
--Maj. Gen. John Batiste, USA, Ret.

This administration and the previously Republican controlled legislature have been the most caustic agents against America's Armed Forces in memory. Less than a year ago, the Republicans imposed great hardship on the Army and Marine Corps by their failure to pass a necessary funding language. This time, the President of the United States is holding our Soldiers hostage to his ego. More than ever apparent, only the Army and the Marine Corps are at war - alone, without their President's support.
--Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, USA, Ret.

'Nuff said.