Dr. J.'s Commentary: Why Did the Democrats Blink? Two Words

...and both parties falling indeed makes for interesting times ahead.

http://www.regressiveantidote.net/Articles/Cowering_In_The_Suburbs_of_Berlin.html

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

-- John F. Kennedy

I thought Chickenshit was one word - my bad

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The Skeptical Cynic
Santa
Knows if you are sleeping.
Knows if you're awake.
Knows if you've been bad or good.
Unfortunately so does George Bush,
Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales,the FBI,
CIA, NSA,ONI,DIA,

Dr. J:

With all due respect, there is more to this recent ferocity than just this one vote. You make a good case and in most circumstances I would agree with such nuanced reasoning.

Of course, we in the leftie blogosphere understand the complicating factors of the current makeup of Congress -- that the Democrats are in fact a coalition of somewhat loose overlapping interests going up against an almost uniform monolith of traitorous jackboots more than happy to whore U.S. security for a price. The Lieberman factor, blue dog Dems, the mix of the new fresh faces and the reach of the DLC -- yes, these have all been discussed at length following the last election.

No, the thing that grates is that this Congress "caved" before it even fought. Immediately following the last election, Nancy Pelosi publicly stated that impeachment "was off the table" and John Conyers took that lead. Since then, and with the commendable work of Henry Waxman, there has been a plethora of illegal activity uncovered but very few indictments, subpoenas or any legal roadblocks have been put up to stop the administration. In a way, it has been worse since the Dems took control of Congress because now we know of the illegal activity, but watch in horror as no one -- NO ONE (other than Scooter Libby) -- has been brought to justice. Most recently, Senator Carl Levin folded his hand before the first card was played in the poker match regarding troop withdrawals and/or funding and made it abundantly clear that he did not want to have the views of 70% of the American people even represented. What kind of leadership is it that gives up before even trying? This is a continuation of the going on four decade debacle of Democratic capitulation in the face of right-wing and corporate onslaught. The American people have been waiting for a party to represent their interests for a good long time now and this continues the pattern of wilting and dying in the heat of battle.

And after such humiliations and legacy of losing, the Democratic Party has the gaul to send its base the message that "we know better than you." As an active citizen in the State of Washington, I watched as an energized populous of citizens contacted their state representatives regarding an impeachment vote. Given Democratic majorities in both houses and a governor of the same party, you would have thought it just about a given that this would be something that could be passed at the state level to show the national Democratic Party that there was support for this, that "we had their back" as they geared up to take back the country from an administration acting more like a crime family than a political entity with any sovereign legitimacy.

But no, in fact the Democratic congressional delegation rushed Rep. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray to lobby the state legislature to shelve the bill. For her part, Governor Christine Gregoire also lobbied against the state action -- even though it was for a request for action on the federal level. The arguments against trying to bring pressure to bear upon the Congress to take aggressive action against the mob were basically that such an action would "get in the way" of their business and that they "had a plan" of how they were going to stop the occupation of Iraq.

So you should forgive those of us who have been patted on the head and told to take our resolutions and go home, that the adults were in charge now and, of course, they were going to get something done if we would just "trust them."

Given the results we are seeing, can you understand why people are talking about abandoning both parties and either giving up or looking into third party options? The vote on this issue illustrates more than ever that the machinery of democracy is broken and that the only people whose interests are being represented are those who make -- or give to the parties -- six figures or more. There is immoral and criminal activity -- murder and looting in broad daylight on a scale never seen before in our country's history -- and nothing or no one has risen to bring a halt to it. Those of us trying to get action from any countervailing power or institution remain unconvinced that the Dems are up to the task on any significant level.

Bush is the one who vetoed the first bill, not the Democrats, therefore it would not have been irresponsible for Congress to sit on their hands and let the funding dry up. Besides, the troops would not get stranded, that notion is a bold face lie and contradicts common sense.

Personally, I think they need to reallocate the one hundred billion dollars from stealing dirty fossil fuel oil in Iraq to advancing clean, renewable energy sources in the U.S.

That would certainly not be political suicide. Right Al Gore? Or should it be write in Al Gore?

Also, the issue with the Democrats is not one of unity, it is one of morality.

Our elected Congresspeople have a moral obligation to end this illegal occupation and imperialist genocide to steal Iraqi oil and U.S. tax dollars.

They also have a Constitutional obligation to follow the will of the people who voted for change this past November.

Otherwise, WE THE PEOPLE will have to unify and come to Washington, D.C. for one final Peace March that will continuously occupy the Capital, which is guaranteed under the Constitution as our right to assembly, until our employees in the government do as we tell them to do, starting with getting our troops out of Iraq ASAP.