Going wobbly

The political blunder surrounding the Warner Amendment | Hugh Hewitt

Mark Nov. 15, 2005, on your calenders. It was either the U.S. Senate's low point in the conduct of the Global War on Terror, from which that body then recovered to go on to support victory; or it was the beginning of the Vietnamization of the Global War on Terror.

That was the day most Senate Republicans joined most Senate Democrats to pass an amendment to the defense appropriations bill sponsored by Virginia's John Warner. It urged the president to be more forthcoming with information on the war, and to push for a transition in the war's heavy lifting to Iraqi troops in 2006. Though less a rebuke than a Democratic-sponsored alternative, the 79-19 vote in favor of the Warner Amendment sent a clear signal to Americans at home, American troops in the field, Iraqis and, of course, terrorists. In the words of John Kerry, who gleefully e-mailed his supporters immediately after the vote, the vote marked the beginning of the crumbling of support for the president's policies.