Happy Colin Powell Day From The GOP

OK, I'm a day late, the anniversary was yesterday. Yup, it was exactly four years since that fateful and error-filled presentation which Powell once described as the lowest point of his life. (H/t Atrios)

The Senate kicked off the celebrations in a way that can only be described as heartbreakingly appropriate.

Republicans on Monday blocked Senate debate on a bipartisan resolution opposing President Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq, leaving in doubt whether the Senate would render a judgment on what lawmakers of both parties described as the paramount issue of the day.

The decision short-circuited what had been building as the first major Congressional challenge to President Bush over his handling of the war since Democrats took control of Congress last month, and left each party blaming the other for frustrating debate on a topic that is likely to influence the 2008 presidential and Congressional races.

...The procedural vote, which divided mostly along party lines, left the Democratic leadership 11 votes short of the 60 needed to begin debate on the bipartisan resolution. Forty-seven Democrats and two Republicans voted to open debate on the resolution; 45 Republicans and one independent were opposed.

The "independent" being Joe Leiberman, a Republican in sheep's clothing.

Which led moderate conservative Stephen Taylor to observe:

I must confess: it is amusing how the parties (either one) find the rules that empower the minority to be fantastic when they are in the minority, yet decry them when they are in the majority.

Wasn’t this the exact behavior that the Republicans spent the last several years griping about when utilized by the Democrats?

Iran's on the shit-list with trumped up neocon claims galore and the GOP are still "staying the course". Plus ca change.