***update: Kerry-Feingold defeated 86-13. Levin-Reed defeated 60-39.***

Ouch.

Like the hapless Simpsons’ character who can’t stop walking into rakes, the Democrat Party is set to thwack itself in the head again today with two votes to pull out troops from Iraq with no regard for the conditions on the ground.

WaPo:

Yesterday’s lengthy Senate debate over Iraq offered early hints of the 2008 presidential contest, with some potential candidates calling for a rapid drawdown of U.S. troops, some saying that only the president can decide such issues and others urging a middle ground.

The debate will culminate today with votes on an amendment sponsored by two potential Democratic candidates — John F. Kerry (Mass.) and Russell Feingold (Wis.) — and an alternative backed by most party leaders.

The Kerry-Feingold plan would order President Bush to withdraw nearly all U.S. troops from Iraq by July 31, 2007. The alternative, sponsored by two Democrats not weighing White House bids — Carl M. Levin (Mich.) and Jack Reed (R.I.) — is a nonbinding resolution urging Bush to begin a troop “redeployment” by the end of this year. It does not specify a pace or a completion date.

Rake.

Rake.

Rake.

Sen. Joe Lieberman isn’t playing:

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., plans to vote against both Democratic amendments calling for a troop withdrawal from Iraq.

Lieberman, who expects to announce his position later today, would be the first Democratic senator to oppose both measures now before the Senate.

Votes are expected Thursday. One resolution would call on the White House to begin phased redeployment of troops from Iraq this year, and to submit a plan to Congress by the end of the year for “continued phased redeployment.”

The other measure, which is expected to gain little support even among Democrats, would have President Bush pull all troops out of Iraq by July 1, 2007.

Lieberman is expected to say he believes the U. S. cannot stay indefinitely in Iraq, and cannot write a blank check for its support. But, he plans to say, withdrawal of troops must be based on conditions on the ground, not fixed dates.

Tim Chapman on the Dems’ loser strategy:

Will the American public really favor a party that politically is forced to root for bad news for the country and the free world in general? Not only is this a strategy designed to lose the war in Iraq, it would seem to be a loser politically as well.

David Lunde photoshop flashback:

Allah tracks the votes: Cut and run, cut and jog, or cut and walk?

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