Congressional Republicans hate the troops, embrace radical Jihad

That’s what they – and by “they” I mean liberals, congressional Democrats, and their enablers – would like you to believe, anyway.

This is from The Hill:

House Republicans are preparing to vote en bloc against the $106 billion war-spending bill, a position once unthinkable for the party that characterized the money as support for the troops.

For years, Republicans portrayed the bills funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as matters of national security and accused Democrats who voted against them of voting against the troops.

…But Republicans say this year is different. Democrats have included a $5 billion increase for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help aid nations affected by the global financial crisis.

Little Matt Yglesias is absolutely beside himself, possibly having an apoplexy, and really should lie down before the vapors get to him:

Beyond the pure hypocrisy play, it’s worth observing that this is a really bad reason to vote against the bill. Nina Hachigian did a brief piece for CAP about this but suffice it to say that the world economy continues to be in a very perilous situation. It now looks like things might start getting better. But it’s possible that some “other shoe” or two may drop—most likely the meltdown of an Eastern European country—and the IMF exists to stop that kind of thing from happening.

The “pure hypocrisy play” at work here is attaching the IMF money to a war supplemental bill in the first place. It’s almost a contradiction in terms: the military, created and funded to defend America and her interests; and the IMF, a United Nations-like organization that’s been partial to anti-West dictators in the past.

If the IMF money is so important, then pass the funding separately. As a standalone bill. Don’t sneak it into a war-funding bill.

Oh, except, we’re in a recession, and five billion dollars would go a long way if we could just leave it working in the economy. And, yeah, I know, it’s a tiny blip on the otherwise vast and overwhelming burden of debt Little Matt and President Obama are all up in cahoots over, but the American people aren’t likely to take kindly to spending that much money on that at a time like this.

So they tie it to military funding and hope that maybe they can get Republicans to look like hypocrites for voting no.

That’s a “pure hypocrisy play.”

Republicans should make all the hay they possibly can out of trying to separate the IMF money – and any other non-related spending – from the bill. Good issue, especially in this economy.

Via Memeorandum