The least popular, most lawless president in American history took to the Rose Garden today to thank congressional Democrats for having unprotected political sex with him. For caving -- not compromising, but totally capitulating -- on war funding and and telecom immunity, Nancy Pelosi, Stenny Hoyer and the blue dogs they lie down with have been rewarded with the same herpetic embrace that is turning John McCain into a Republican cootie incubator.
The Democrats' motive, of course, is mixed; one part fear of losing telecom campaign contributions, one part fear of being called terrorist-lovers, appeasers and similar bad names by Republican crooks, liars and smear-merchants in the coming campaign. The irony, of course, is that even though Democrats gave Bush and Cheney the very barebacking they wanted, the Republicans are already calling Democrats, and will continue to call them in the fall, America-haters, while the phone companies, having nowhere else to go to rent a congressional majority, would have continued to fatten Democratic coffers anyway.
The media, of course, are similarly rewarding the Democrats' strategic brilliance at taking cut-and-run and Al-Qaeda off the table by calling this the rout, thumping and complete White House victory that it actually is. Now it's not just John McCain, whose late efforts to distance himself from his own Party's leader on climate change, offshore drilling and other toxic issues have been foiled by Bush's brand; Democrats, too, are learning what it's like to earn the moniker of DeLay's third Congress.
Makes you wonder how far the Democrats are willing to go to win the love of the loathed playground bullies. Let Joe Lieberman keep his committee chairmanship? Make bipartisan loviedovie with Newt Gingrich? Take impeachment off the table? Oh, wait.
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We have the best politicians that money can buy!
I agree, these people are not this stupid, so they must be corrupt.
Must they??
Maybe they know something that you don't and THAT is why they feel these measures are important..
MAYBE, the CORRUPT ones are the ones speaking out against it, just so they can score political points.
Don't discard possibilities, simply because you don't LIKE them..
Michale.....
Perhaps the post-9-11 unconstitutional spying has given the Fourth Reich all they need to blackmail the opposition into submission.
The shoe fits. Extortion is the only way to make sense of the Dems' behavior. How else to explain the fact that no one in Congress (NO ONE!) is asking the obvious question: on WHOM are they eavesdropping? If only the Dem leadership and the Blue Dogs valued the Constitution as much as they do their own sorry hides . . .
Speaking of eavesdropping...just an off-subject thought I've had for awhile,
Maybe the NSA coincidentally and maybe accidently have in their possession all those
missing e-mail between the RNC and the White House staff as a result of their general
dragnet of eavesdropping.
Maybe someone should post some guards before they get deleted too ???
From the minute Nancy Pelosi said "impeachement is off the table", it was evident to me that this Democrat-led Congress was going to be a do-nothing, spineless, cowardly majority. This recent cave-in on the FISA bill and Iraq War funding with no time table for withdrawdal is further proof of that. Pelosi, Reid, with all due respect, you guys suck. Big time.
Daffy agrees with you...check out panel 3 on
http://sfbaysailingpix.com/pez2008p1.htm
Nancy Pelosi is a disaster, nothing has been done with her and the acutely weak, Reid.
The spine- lost Democrats are pathetic. And Pelosi should be removed from office.
And if St. Obama gets in - he will be an even bigger disaster. He is a tag line - as what was said,
this morning on one of the morning shows, he has NOT ONE SINGLE IDEA - NO SPECIFICS.
He is an empty suit - with no - there - there - at all.
McCain is a disaster, but Obama is a bigger disaster - another cocky arrogrant guy who thinks
he is entitled to the office. His wife even said, "we won't do this again," - she needs to be told,
THIS IS NOT ABOUT HER - if the American people are so dumb, so duped, they can't see through
this phony - they deserve exactly what they will get with Obama.
Unlike you, some of us Thistle are Americans who are not afraid of anyone or any hurdles ahead. We are willing to take risks, because we know that without guts, you don't get things done. If you are going to hide your head in the sand, so be it, when we share the spoils, I hope you'll have enough decency to keep your mouth shut.
"McCain is a disaster, but Obama is a bigger disaster... another cocky arrogrant guy...if the American people are so dumb, so duped, they can't see throughthis phony - they deserve exactly what they will get with Obama." Talk about arrogance Thistle. I'm a well educated, 63 year old who is damned insulted by your assertion that anyone who doesn't see Obama your way is "dumb and duped". Take your post and shove it where the moon don't shine.
well said!
Also, if you sleep with dogs, you wake with fleas. If you sleep with fascists, you wake with no rights.
The fascists take everything away from you.
Right.... but both parties are equally fascist if that is the definition you're choosing to use.
I love how partisans can only recognize the "fascist" behavior (thats got to be one of the favorite labels of the 21st century so far) of the OTHER guy.
mmmm and a Democrat wants to take over oil companies and refineries
So you really think that Pelosi, Reid, Hoyer et al took it upon themselves to craft this craven, cowardly capitulation without Obama knowing it?? Or that he's at their mercy and they're putting him in an terribly untenable position? Or that he's just being "pragmatic?" When campaign staffers told dozens of bloggers on Friday they "didn't know Obama's position on FISA," ya' think that this could possibly be true? Do you there's no particular reason that Obama chose to release his surrender statement late Friday??
Puleeeze! Nothing - and I mean nothing - happens within the party without Obama's knowledge and approval. I was an enthusiastic Obama supporter, too...now, not so much. This was THE litmus test...the Constitutional line in the sand. If Obama is willing to eviscerate the Fourth Amendment AND give the treasonous telecoms a free pass - and do it by using the bush regime's favorite gambit: FEAR - then he's not The Man of Hope...he's the man that will do or say anything to get elected... including undermining the most basic and precious tenets and principles of our Country. So wake up and smell the totalitarianism. I know it's a freakin' bummer...I thought he was the real deal, too. But I ain't giving him another dime at this point...my money will be going to ActBlue, the ACLU, Iraqi refugees and Cindy Sheehan's campaign to unseat Benedict Peolsi. Next week Obama's Senate will simply add the rubber stamp. Betcha'.
So Obama is the Secret Chief ot the Senate?
You've got it all worked out, don'tcha sport?
"US... and THEM... and after all, we're only ordinary men," If our representatives don't represent us, if they think themselves a culture apart, it is WE who have caused and allowed this, with our media-fueled "cult of personality."
Obama gets my vote. The rest of the dems can "go fish." It is embarrassing to be a democrat today. The party's leadership is absolutely defunct. Ralph Nader was right. The two parties are as crooked as each other. I used to fund raise, walk precincts and write letters to the editor on the behalf of the party to which I have belonged for a very long time. Not any more. I spread my discontent among my fellow democrats and they say the same thing. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are cut of the same cloth--artificial fiber that never wrinkles, never works hard enough to wrinkle, looks like cloth but is really just a petroleum based
con game. Shame on them. Shame on Congress.
You must have missed the part where Obama said he supported this bill. Quelle crap. The guy who most was NOT a jellyfish was Rep. Jay Inslee of Washington. Obama needs backbone, he should pick this guy for VP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QccOV5sc-jA
"Have we forgotten what our ancestors have done in the cause of liberty? Don't we realize there are some lines we can never cross? Don't we realize we should never legitimize illegal violations of America's privacy rights, which this bill does? This bill says if the telecommunication companies violated America's privacy, willfully, knowingly, knowing it was illegal, we are giving them immunity. Where is the excuse for that? Where is the excuse for turning a nation of laws into a nation that will be led by a president who knows how to manipulate our fears? We have got to know the law is our ultimate guardian of liberty. And those on this side who have accused us of having a pre-9/11 mentality, let me remind them that July 4, 1776, was pre-9/11. And heaven help us the day that those values are shucked aside at the service of fear. Reject this bill."
They're both (Reid and Pelosi) part of the moneyed class, and no matter what b.s. gets handed around at election time, these people have no empathy for the unwashed masses. The truth is in their voting record. Spineless suck-ups.
Personally, I'm considering the possibility of voting for Obama and for 3rd party candidates in all other elections for Federal office. Here's why:
Congress has essentially granted unlimited power to the Executive. That's not what the Framers intended, but it's now a fact of life. So I'm not really sure how important it is which party controls Congress. Without question, Democratic Congressional leaders now need to be punished. When they see 5-10% of votes cast for 3rd party or independent candidates, they'll get the message. Since they're either completely powerless or voting like Republicans anyway, the lesser of two evils argument holds no water. I'd make an exception and vote for Kucinich, Lee, Jordan, Wexler, Feingold or maybe Ron Paul if I had the opportunity.
The Presidency is another matter. I don't like Obama. I'd prefer elect Kucinich, Gravel, Richardson or Ron Paul, but I don't have that opportunity. However, there's a clear difference between McCain and Obama. So much power is concentrated in the Presidency, it will have a huge impact whether McCain or Obama is elected.
We're doomed. There's no hope. America is so corrupt it is no more. Vote for Gravel? Barkeep..... another one.
Cynicism is such an easy philosophy to hold as it requires absolutely nothing of the believer except that they naysay everything. You're part of the problem.
A M E N !
I started voting third party years ago, because I was disallusioned with the democratic party, their pandering to big business in order to get re-elected, but giving lip service to the voters, in order to get re-elected, what have they done? Independents are the new third party, growing in numbers by the day, watch out, democrats. Both parties are lost, the republicans and the democrats, neither one has lived up to their promises.
Note to the Democratic "leadership" :
The ice is getting extremely thin.
I would be careful where one treads.
Excellent post, Marty. Obama and his primary campaign were well aware of how concerned we grassroots Democrats are about the Democratic leadership, and I think he prevailed in large part because he addressed our concerns and seemed to share them. Now the national Democratic leadership thinks, well, we have them on board, now we have to go after someone else. Well, we are 3.2 million MoveOn members and 1.5 million Obama supporters, and they had better not take us for granted to go after rightwing extremists and corporatists. Frankly, I think the Democratic leadership is clueless and thinks we will be satisfied by the word "change" and not demand real change. I think Obama might be having a hard time with these people right now because the superdelegates do not really cast their votes until the convention. He may have to play along with them to a certain extent until he is actually nominated. I'll be a little flexible until he has it in the bag, and then I think he will need to show them what's what.
"I think he prevailed in large part because he addressed our concerns and seemed to share them."
I agree. But I simply don't expect, or require, my candidate to give me absolutely every thing I want. That is not realistic. We should all recognize that Obama cannot vote against the FISA bill. He simply can't. He, unlike his collegues in Congress, is the only one running for a national office (indeed, President is the only office voted on by the entire nation). It was up to those in Congress to prevent him from having to do this. It was up to them not to put him in this corner. But instead, they threw him under the bus. And why? To protect the Blue Dog caucus; those weasels who aren't even Democrats to begin with. It does no good to be in the majority unless its a veto-proof majority, and even without a veto-proof majority we don't really even have a simple majority when you consider the Blue Dogs. But alas, without a majority, even in name only, Pelosi can't be Speaker and she just wants to hold on to her power.
She must go.
Pelosi and the rest of the dems bowed to kiss the ass of Bush once again. Their sickening display of fear, and ineptitude makes one wonder if they are indeed on the same payroll that bush and cheney are on by the powers that be getting filthy rich off the war and everything else SINCE THEY ALLOWED 9-11 TO HAPPEN. It is sickening to listen to them make one b.s. excuse after another. Absolutely sickening.
NONE THE WISER FOR FISA, DEMS ALLOW BUSH TO INSTALL "NANNY-CAMS" IN THEIR OFFICES
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=974
Posted June 20, 2008 | 09:54 AM (EST)