The 2008 Defense Budget is an integral part of the wars we are now fighting, in addition to being essential for preparing for conflicts to come. It's the base funding for the entire Defense Department - our military. This bill in particular takes care of some issues that have been in the news recently - increased military pay, increased benefits and care for soldiers that have been wounded fighting our wars, and more armored vehicles - to name just a few. These are all things that the Democrats have been screaming about for months. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid once promised that the bill would go through clean, with no unrelated extraneous amendments added to muddy it up.

So why are the Democrats now jeopardizing the passage of the bill by adding, at the last minute, a Ted Kennedy authored homosexual hate crimes amendment, having nothing to do with the Defense Department, to the spending measure? The Army Times reminds us that the House passed the 2008 Defense Budget in May. Since then, the Senate has spent alot of time attempting to attach anti-Iraq War amendments to their version of the bill, but each one failed. So they throw one last minute unrelated liberal social agenda amendment onto the bill, in effect challenging Bush to veto the entire measure. It's almost as if the Dems did this out of spite.

The Kennedy amendment is a transparent attempt to get back into the good graces of the Left after the Democrats failed to do what they had promised (actually guaranteed) their base that they would do - get the US out of Iraq. The amendment passed, gaining 60 votes, but that's not enough to override a Presidential veto. Let's say the 2008 Defense Budget passes, and gets to conference committee with the House. There's a good chance that this amendment won't be in the final version sent to the President. But let's say it survives.

Bush should hold a prime time presser announcing his veto of the bill, his objection to the superfluous amendment, and his request that the Congress send him back a clean bill immediately. Inform the public that the Democrats are trying to play games with the Defense Department budget at a time that the country is at war overseas, and that he won't stand for it. Then remind voters that above and beyond this bill, and still waiting for the Congress to consider, is the emergency supplemental war funding request. Defense Secretary Gates and military leaders have made that request, stating that it is essential for the measure to be passed immediately in order to continue fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tell the American public that the Democrats have decided that they won't even start to consider that funding until 2008, in apparent defiance of our military leaders. Say to the voters that it's almost like the Democrats want us to lose the war.

Then we can all watch the fallout, especially in the moderate Congressional districts where Democrats won in 2006.