With Democrats Like These....

This is the story 'bout Chuck and Diane

Two American pols screwin' up the whole land....

.

From my posting on "The Rant", November 8, 2006, one day after last year's mid-term elections:

"One week ago, we had every right to be pessimistic. All of that has changed....Come January 1st, it's all over - and when I say "over" I'm not merely referring to the Bush presidency, I'm referring to the entire right wing movement that began with the so-called "Reagan Revolution" over a quarter of a century ago."
.
What a difference a year makes.

.

One year ago last week, the American people (or, at least, the ones who bothered to vote) sent a clear, unmistakable message to their elected Representatives. The message could not have been misinterpreted: We're sick of the corrupt, reactionary fools and thieves who are at present running our beloved, once-great nation into the dirt. We're outraged that this country's tax burden is now being carried by the poor and middle class (a middle class which is quickly disappearing). We're fed up with the corporate greed that is throwing millions of our citizens into grinding poverty. We want the House and the Senate to act as the Constitution mandates they act: as overseers of the executive branch of this government. And, most importantly: We demand that American involvement in the obscenity that our "rulers" are at this moment committing against the men, women and little children of Iraq be ended - NOW!

.

That's fairly clear and concise, don'cha think? Now what part of that message did these stupid fucking Democrats not get?

.

The spineless timidity with which these pathetic, gutless assholes have shown in confronting the worst president in history and his nightmare of an administration's assault on American democracy can only be described as nauseating. All the hope that every thinking American was feeling on Election Day last is dead. On January 1 of last year we wanted to believe that the 110th Congress would do their constitutional duty and end George W. Bush's reign of terror and error. So cowardly have they turned out to be, they couldn't even bring themselves to vote for Dennis Kucinich's proposed articles of impeachment this week against Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney! A man whose approval ratings are now in the single digits! When the opportunity finally presented itself where they could take bold, decisive action, these goddamned crybabies folded up like a set of burlap lawn chairs.

.

Note to John Hall (my congressman, who voted with his timid colleagues to kill the Cheney impeachment): Don't make any plans for the 111th Congress, Buster! By the way, John, that band you fronted in the Seventies? Orleans? You guys were awful! "You're Still The One" still sucks! There. I feel better already.

.

While all of this was going on, Charles Schumer and Diane Fine-stain (thank you, Jello Biafra) voted during confirmation hearings to allow the name of Attorney General designate Michael Mukasey to go to the floor for a full vote. This is a guy who during his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, was unable to say whether or not waterboarding was legal, and thus, constituted torture. Said Senator Feinstein: "I really believe this person will be an independent source of fresh air in the department."

.

Come again???

.

Or how 'bout this little gem of enlightenment that Chuck Schumer added to the conversation: "For the Senate to make a bold declaration about torture and waterboarding is appealing. But to defeat him would abandon the hope of instituting many of the reforms called for by our investigation."

.

Huh??? Does Chuckles actually believe that Bush's latest hack is going to reform the Department of Justice? Is he so naive that he thinks for even a moment that Mukasey is going to hold the Bush Mob accountable for their crimes - too vast to adequately catalogue - against the people of the United States? He's joking, right? He's gotta be!

.

Am I missing something here?

.

The argument seems to be that we need an Attorney General to manage Justice - regardless of that person's competence. That's a fallacy too ridiculous to even comment on (but I will - what the heck!) It would probably be better off for the country as a whole to have that department leaderless for the foreseeable future then for them to install someone who will do even more damage than has already been done. A rudderless ship will drift for a while - but it rarely, if ever, sinks outright. Think about it: We've gone from John Ashcroft (bad) to Alberto Gonzalez (worse) to, quite possibly, Michael Mukasey (worst?) That's a chance that really shouldn't be taken. Unfortunately for us, the Democrats are just positively giddy to take these reckless chances. You see, they think that the more the GOP destroys America, the easier it will be for them to be elected next year. I kid you not, they actually believe such nonsense. That they would allow these despicable people to run roughshod over our government for no other reason than to satisfy their own, naked political opportunism is one of the most shameful things I've ever witnessed. These people have some nasty surprises in store for them come November of 2008.

.

Leave it to good ol' Russ Feingold to put things in their proper perspective! I'm told that he once failed an examination in High School. That may very well be the case but he's been pretty much right on target ever since. Said he:

.

"If judge Mukasey won't say the simple truth, that this barbaric behavior is torture, how can we count on him to stand up to the White House on other issues?"

.

The very fact that someone of Senator Feingold's stature and intellect still walks the floors of that body is one of the few (very few) things that give me hope.

.

The disgusting behavior this week of our Democratic Representatives only reinforces the rightness of my decision to bolt that worthless party almost a decade ago. They have all but abandoned the ideals of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal that set this country on the path to a near middle class utopia seventy-five years ago. The fact that only a miracle of fate will prevent them from nominating a candidate as visionless and clueless as Hillary Clinton to be their standard bearer at next summer's convention is all the proof you need to smell the ideological sewer into which they have fallen.

.

With Democrats like these, who needs Republicans?

.

Fifty-one years ago, John Fitzgerald Kennedy won a Pulitzer Prize in Historical Non-fiction for his book, Profiles In Courage. Were he writing that book today, where would he look for inspiration while casting his eyes upon the current, miserable state of his party? There is no doubt that he would be as embarrassed as you and I at the sorry, gnarled condition of the party of FDR. Their "base" is as angry as it's been in a very, very long time. Unless they get their act together soon and start showing the kind of courage that Jack Kennedy wrote so eloquently about half a century ago, they should expect another Green/Third Party uprising at the polls next November. That's not a vague threat. That's an absolute fact. Count on it.

.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

tomdegan@frontiernet.net

.

SUGGESTED READING:

Profiles in Courage

by John F. Kennedy

.

AFTERTHOUGHT:

Many of you who are regular readers of "THE RANT" have more than likely read the comments of Stoney Browning. You really ought to have a look at his blog, "Stoney's Rage". He's mad as hell and he's not gonna to take it anymore! Here's a link:

http://www.stoneysrage.blogspot.com/