Are the Democrats Worse Than the Republicans?
President Bush is the most unpopular president of all time -- literally. No one has had approval ratings this low for this long in American history. Yet he keeps on kicking the crap out of the Democrats.
If you keep losing to the worst, what does that make you?
Today, President Bush will win another huge victory on telecom immunity. He will get away with breaking the law and ordering private companies to break the law for him, which he freely admits. He is making the argument that the president is above the law in the United States of America. And the Democrats can't find a way to beat that argument.
I have no respect for the Democrats. You'd be crazy to have any. Crazy. Blinded by hope or partisan fever to have any respect for these bunch of losers. They keep telling us that they can't possibly beat the most unpopular president of all time. Is there a word worse than loser? Because if there is, it should be applied to the Democrats; if there isn't, they should create one for the Democrats.
On the one had, Democrats will keep telling you that they can't get anything passed in this Congress because the Republicans have 41 Senators that they can filibuster any legislation with. On the other hand, the Republicans will now get this telecom immunity passed through Congress. So, do the Democrats not have 41 Senators, so they can block this bill? Of course they do. They just don't have the nerve. They are collaborators.
I don't believe there is anything the President could have done that would make the Democrats actually challenge him. He broke this law, admitted it, rubbed it in their faces and then made them pass a law that immunizes his law breaking. What other laws could the president have broken? Based on this precedent, just about anything.
If they cared to do this right, the proper strategy would have been painfully easy. Pass an intelligence bill that closes the foreign communication loophole (the only real national security issue that has to be addressed) and don't put in any provision about telecom immunity. Then send it to the president. Have him veto it. And then scream bloody murder that the president is jeopardizing national security. Because he would be.
Telecom immunity has nothing to do with national security at this point. First of all, it's retroactive, so it has nothing to do with current security issues. Secondly, they'll have their day in court. If they are right, then they have nothing to worry about. Their actions will be judged to be legal and they will have no liability. Problem solved.
It's not that this case is hard to make. It's that the Democrats don't want to make it. That's because they don't want to make any case or pick any fight or win on any issue. They are scared to death of the Republicans, to this day as the Republicans are running for the hills and figuring out how many more seats they are going to lose in Congress.
One quick side note. This might mean the Democrats lack all courage. It might mean they are callous and want to lose on purpose. But it doesn't mean they're stupid. They have calculated that policy losses will lead to political victories. And it looks like they are right. But these policy losses have real consequences for our country and our constitution.
Think about this for example. If the president is authorized to order private companies to break the law for national security, why couldn't he order other companies to do a break in -- say at a complex like the Watergate building in Washington -- and then say it was for national security?
You say that's absurd? But what is warrantless wiretapping but a break-in? It's breaking and entering into your private conversations and communications without a warrant and outside of the law. Do we even know who they wiretapped? Isn't it possible that the Democrats are now retroactively authorizing wiretaps of their own phones?
Since I am still a naïve and gullible guy, I don't think the Bush administration wiretapped the Democrats. But I have no basis for believing that. How do we know if they did or didn't? How do we know the Democrats aren't immunizing this very act? They don't know, because they didn't even bother to find out who got wiretapped and for what reason.
Now, I have to give the standard caveats about how there are some who do the right thing in the Democratic Party. I will give the standard example of Russ Feingold (he is the standard example because he seems to be the only who does the right thing on a regular basis). Having said that, if you think your particular Congressman or Senator is one of the good ones, you're probably wrong. This is capitulation en masse. They almost all go along to get along.
And then of course there is the standard caveat about how the Republicans are worse. Yes, of course, they are. They are the ones committing the crimes in the first place. But I get them, I get their motivation. It's the stomach churning capitulation by the Democrats that's infuriating. Who respects a collaborator? Aren't those the kind of people you least want to be associated with?
The main advantage of the Democrats is that they know we have nowhere to turn. They know we're smart enough to not vote for these Republicans. And that might be true in the short-term. But we better be making plans to throw these bums out the next time around. Make a list of all the people who collaborated with the Republicans when it mattered. And in due time, they should all get a knock on the door, from a primary opponent. Let's make a list and check it twice. And never forget those names.
Follow Cenk Uygur on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks
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Best of the week. Maybe the month.
Having said that, if you think your particular Congressman or Senator is one of the good ones, you're probably wrong. This is capitulation en masse. They almost all go along to get along.
Dear Brother Cenk,
I'm gonna make this short... Eloquently expressed indeed... Enought said. Agape.
Of course, everytime something comes along. people want to levy it at Bush's feet, despite that Democrats have the supposed majority in Congress and Bush can't get things done without them. Sigh. Then again, I've grown to accept this. Between the paradoxical assertions I hear about Bush (he's a dumbie one time and a masterful con artist the next) and Obama, the next big business guy, lauded as king and savior when he's got the same problems, I've grown to accept that many of the problems in this country lie with the common people and their cluelessness.
I'm really through lecturing on the basic structure of politics. The common people have lost all idea of what a government is and insist it's all a conspiracy. The Democrats elected into Congress are incompetent. For whatever reason, they just can't do the job. What does that say, though, of the ones who elected them? Swayed by a "Bush Bad" mantra and what it would do for Nancy Pelosi and the thing between her legs?
Are Democrats worse then Republicans? Yeah. They always have been. Bleed a country by raising taxes? Killing babies because they're inconvenient? Their campaign of "destroy the bad white guy?" Yeah, they're pretty awful. Current gen Republicans like GW are really just NeoCons, who are typically liberals that changed parties in the 70's. Big government, so not true conservatives.
Bob Barr is the perfect candidate for you I think. Just idealistic enough to get "real" conservatives to vote for him, but never win. "True" conservatives actually love to be the underdog, telling all us dummies I told you so when yet another round of elections fails to make this a more perfect union in your image.
Republicans (thats right, no one wants to admit now they were a republican two years ago) love to run for and win elections, but they sure as hell can't govern. Because philosophically, they don't believe in the function of government.
Then, once Obama wins, you can recycle the angry conservative strategy, raise more money, and try again. There's always plenty of money from disaffected, angry, greedy, selfish people who think everyone is trying to pick their pocket.
You're a bit misinformed there about Republicans. You're making the core assumption that Republicans don't believe in government. They do. They just don't believe in a large government. It's similar to Libertarianism, but Libertarianism is the pendulum swung too far. They don't believe in government interfering with the lives of workers, which typically means less government programs, which lessens taxes because there isn't as much there. Republicans believe that the purpose of government is to handle national policies, like defense, only. Government is not a surrogate, it doesn't exist to provide things like welfare.
"... everytime something comes along. People want to levy it at Bush's feet ..."
Did you even read Mr Cenk's article, RepBrain?
PS: Failing to stop bad legislation is bad. But it in no way absolves Bush and the GOP Congress of blame.
I did read the article, friend. That doesn't change anything. I'm not accusing the blogger of anything, I'm accusing the people.
And neither am I saying Bush is blameless. Like all Presidents, he doesn't do everything I want him to, has projects I would shoot down in a heartbeat. However, this is about the Democratic Congress, and the people who voted them. At the very least, Bush has a good run for a little bit when he had surging popularity numbers (which most of the "Bush is the worst President ever" crowd seems to ignore.) Congress doesn't have this?
If voters keep voting for Republicans even when they LITERALLY destroy the country, causing 8 of the last 8 recession periods, what does that make voters?
I think on principle I would be forced to vote for a Democrat just to keep the Republican from screwing up. Why? Because every Republican has screwed up horribly in the last 40 years.
Look at it this way. Oil prices skyrocket under Nixon, Carter fails to fix it. But Carter decreases unemployment and subsidizes renewable energy and solar panels in the SEVENTIES. Reagan removes the subsidies which take us a total of 30 years to figure out were a good idea, but meanwhile he increases the national debt more than THREEFOLD.
I don't know who's more stupid, Democrats for letting a lame duck president win a single battle, voters for complaining when the Democrats fight in the first place to a standstill, or voters for deciding to elect another Republican.
I'm leaning toward voters. We're incredibly stupid people.
You guys crack me up! "There is no difference between Dems and Reps, yadda, yadda, yadda..! Truth is ALL the RepugniKons and MANY of the Democrats have sold out to the highest bidders, the corporations, and do their dirty work instead of serving the American People. And, don't blame the 'ignorant' voters, for Christ's sake...the
Most of the Democratic Congress would do the People's work were it not for the stacked deck they're working against. We need 2-3 more election cycles to re-gain the People's trust in our Government. Until then we must simply suffer with "the Congress" we have. BUT, the American Voter has been truly re-Awakened by the Criminal Bush/Cheney Administration. They have begun to doubt the MSM for the first time; and, most of the Public has become completely turned off on anything with "Republican" attached to it.
Brick
"Until then we must simply suffer with "the Congress" we have."
__________
How about we don't? How about we single the ones who need to go and do everything we can to unseat as many of them from Congress as possible, next time they're up for reelection?
A good start would be all of those who voted "Yes" for the FISA bill.
Here is the list:
http://www
Make sure you send letters, emails, and make phone calls to the ones in your district. Let them know that they screwed up big time and that you WILL NOT forgive or forget this!
And do whatever you can to elect ANOTHER democrat instead of them, next time they're up for reelection.
I bet if we get to unseat even a few of them because of this, the rest will start to pay more attention to us!
Bills like this just remind me how little we all know about what's really going on behind the scenes.
I will vote but not for Obama or McCain. I heard this Bull Sh** before the less of two evils...gu
Of course I still support Obama but that doesn't mean that I am at all happy about this craven capitulation. Why do the Dems always have to fold like beach chairs?
They serve their corporate masters - not us. The coup is complete - it was bloodless, quiet, and they slipped it past us while we were watching survivor and americun idol. They overplayed their hand a bit in the bush years so it is time to let a "progressive" win so we can pretend we have some say in all of this. I wonder if obama supported this bill -ha, got ya - of course!!!
To be fair, Obama has said he will work to strip immunity from the bill when it gets to the senate. This will be a test of his ability to reach across the aisle and bring both sides together.
Too little too late. Too WRONG. No bill is better than this bill. And best of all is no FISA at all. Secret kangaroo courts that approve every warrant with no citizen oversight are inherently unconstitutional.
What kind of stupid question is this? Democrats are pretty bad, but nobody is worse than Republicans.
Spineless.
House...Se
Historic..
Who...Care
Republican
Perhaps we have discovered that there is no political "opposition" to the real powers that be. All work for the same master, and the rest is theatre to amuse the befuddled masses. Just a thought.
Nancy Pelosi et al. have shown over and over now that there isn’t much they won’t compromise, or give in to, or give up, in order for them not to risk their political careers.
I think it’s time we also change who and how we elect in Congress.
It’s time to clean House!
http://www
How can we donate to whoever is running against Pelosi?
Gotta link?
http://www
Your welcome.
"He aspires to be to political reform what Bono is to fighting disease in Africa. He’s spent much of his career talking about how much he believes in public financing. In January 2007, he told Larry King that the public-financing system works. In February 2007, he challenged Republicans to limit their spending and vowed to do so along with them if he were the nominee. In February 2008, he said he would aggressively pursue spending limits. He answered a Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire by reminding everyone that he has been a longtime advocate of the public-financing system." NYT.
That is our hero Barack Obama before he became just another politician. At least with McCain we know what we are getting.
Right on, Cenk. When I hear people like Steny Hoyer justify the FISA bill, Nancy Pelosi taking impeachment "off the table", Harry Reid also supporting the FISA bill, it makes me realize that there is a bad element in the Democratic Party that needs to be purged so that we can begin to make real progress.
We have seen these so called leaders and many of their followers become numb to the perilous actions of the Bush Administration. They have been subjected to such miserable behavior long enough, it has become acceptable to them. These Democrats can no longer effectively manage in the American public''s best interest. We need more people like Rober Wexler and Dennis Kucinich in Congress to help us get our house in order (no pun intended).
You are absolutely right. The problem is bad Democrats propagate faster than we can swat them.
Spot on Cenk!
It seems like yesterday, the HuffPo was ablaze in excitement that the Dems had regained control of Congress after 20 years of oppressive Repub control. Bush would finally be challenged!! Real change was finally gonna happen!!!
Yeah right. Another experiment gone horribly wrong.
I just hope all the Obamites here aren't setting themselves up in similar manner. He's likely to be the next pres - and that's great - but then what? Just saying.
peace!
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