Republican gives away the game on Congress’ ISIS debate

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/kingston-gives-away-the-game-congress-isis-debate

Kingston gives away the game on Congress’ ISIS debate

By Steve Benen
Sept. 9, 2014

President Obama will deliver a prime-time address tomorrow night from the White House, speaking to the nation about “the threat posed by ISIL” and presenting “the United States’ strategy for degrading and ultimately destroying the terrorist group.”

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Democratic leaders in the Senate and Republican leaders in the House want to avoid a public vote to authorize force, fearing the unknown political consequences eight weeks before the midterm elections on Nov. 4.

”A lot of people would like to stay on the sideline and say, ‘Just bomb the place and tell us about it later,’ ” said Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia, who supports having an authorization vote. ”It’s an election year. A lot of Democrats don’t know how it would play in their party, and Republicans don’t want to change anything. We like the path we’re on now. We can denounce it if it goes bad, and praise it if it goes well and ask what took him so long.”

Though Kingston’s candor is appreciated, this is still a pretty remarkable thing for a member of Congress to say out loud and on the record.

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