There's been talk of the right strategy following the veto.

Seems to me that the simplest solution is to strip the pork out of the bill, and send it back.  Stripping out the pork takes away a Republican talking point. That talking point is designed to reinforce the constant Republican drumbeat that all legislation is political, that all actions are partisan and therefore not substantive.

We don't need the pork to hold the weak-willed anymore. If one of the pork beneficiaries changes his vote, he'll expose himself as unprincipled and, if not corrupt, motivated by short term, selfish ends.  That, of course, is only true if the bill is otherwise unchanged.

Stripping out the pork may also give cover to some Class II senators in trouble, like Sununu. He can attirbute his first no vote to a  vote against pork, which fits his general small government posturing.  By making it the focus of his sneering opposition, Bush raised the importance of the presence of the pork, which, again, gives more cover to Senators who are looking at their poll numbers.  They know that if things are bad now, they are only going to get worse if they don't get out from under this war.

I ran into a Congressional staffer today. She said that there's no way a veto can be overridden. That's certainly true of this bill.  And probably true of the next. But those 21 senators who are up in 08 may not hang in for a failed occupation for a third time.

Strip the pork. Send it back.