How they voted: Southern Reps on the Iraq bill

As you've probably heard by now, the Iraq Supplemental Funding bill which also includes provisions to begin troop withdrawals was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday by a 218 to 208 vote, largely along party lines. The Senate has just passed the bill today by a vote of 51-46, also mostly along party lines.

The bill will now make its way to the White House for Bush's promised veto, possibly on the fourth anniversary of his famous "Mission Accomplished" speech.

Looking at the AP roll call for yesterday's House vote, Southern* Representatives voted against the bill 83 to 53, with three not voting.

Four Southern Democrats "crossed over" to vote against the bill. They were Barrow and Marshall from Georgia, Taylor from Mississippi, and Lincoln Davis from Tennessee. (Lewis of Georgia voted against the bill, but for a different reason, see below.) Only one Southern Republican, Jones of North Carolina, "crossed over" to vote for the bill.

(For purposes of this report. "Southern" includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. These states have a total of 139 representatives, with 58 Democrats and 81 Republicans.)

It's not clear why the war in Iraq is a partisan issue, especially at this point, other than blind loyalty to the President and the party he leads. (Just as it isn't clear why global warming, the energy crisis, poverty, civil rights and others are partisan issues, but those are stories for another day.)

At any rate, this is essentially political theater at this point, surrounding a highly-charged partisan showdown with the President. So you would expect the voting to be mostly along party lines. What you might not expect is for any Southern Democrat to side with supporters of the war considering the fact that the South bears a disproportionate share of the burden for the war.

Here's what two of them had to say:

Barrow of Georgia: "That's no way to fight a war." (There's also some circular logic regarding "acts of Congress.")

Lincoln Davis of Tennessee: " I have been clear with leadership from day one that I can't support a bill with a day certain for withdrawal without waiver provisions."

And from the principled vote against the whole mess:

Lewis of Georgia: "I will not and cannot in good conscience vote for another dollar or another dime to support this war. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."