An email just landed in my inbox linking to an article from Alexander Bolton at The Hill this morning, telling me, for the umpteenth time, that Congressional Democrats led by Nancy “I think we’re doing just great” Pelosi and Harry “we don’t have the votes” Reid have once again caved or capitulated or rolled over or backed down or given up or submitted or tried their best, or some other bullshit story that I keep hearing, not only from mainstream media, but from progressives all across the blogosphere.
Senate and House Democrats backed down Wednesday from a spending showdown with President Bush.
The Democrats’ capitulation Wednesday on the total domestic spending level is the latest instance of Bush prevailing on a major policy showdown. Bush and his Senate Republican allies have repeatedly beat back efforts by Democrats to place restrictions on funding for the war in Iraq as well as Democratic attempts to expand funding of children’s health insurance by $35 billion.
…
In the final analysis, Democrats realized they would not be able to muster enough Republican votes to override Bush’s veto. The president vowed to reject any spending package that exceeded the $933 billion limit he set.Democrats made a final attempt to drive a wedge between congressional Republicans and Bush by threatening to kill all lawmakers’ earmarks to bring the cost of the omnibus to the level Bush demanded. Obey hoped rank-and-file Republicans would pressure their leaders to accept a Democratic-proposed compromise…
The email came from truthout.
On Tuesday srkp23 posted a story about Human Rights Watch telling us that Dems are “cowardly”.
I hear stories like this every day. And I’m sick of it.
Why are we doing this to ourselves?
Congressional Democrats are not caving or cowardly or capitulating or incapable or rolling over or backing down or giving up or submitting or trying their best, or any of that crap.
They are, simply and plainly, COMPLICIT.
And I think it is long past time we not only stopped letting the MSM fool us but long past time we stopped fooling ourselves, and long past time we stopped letting Republicans or Democrats in Washington take the country for a ride.
Once more, with gusto…
Congressional Democrats are not caving or cowardly or capitulating or incapable or rolling over or backing down or giving up or submitting or trying their best, or any of that crap. They are, simply and plainly, COMPLICIT.
They are doing exactly what they intended to do all along. And one of the things, IMO, that they have intended to do all along is to fool and convince the electorate into believing that they are “trying” but “failing”.
They are doing neither. They believe that the electorate is too stupid to see through them. Maybe they are right?
It’s about time we smartened up… and about time we quit accepting being set up.
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cowardice and complicity are unrelated. The point of calling Dems “cowardly” is to expose complicity. The cowardice is not only a result or symptom of complicity, it is also its cause.
We are on the same page, I think, you and I.
Impeachment. Let’s redouble the pressure.
354th time we have heard (except Wednesday, this is only the 74th time on a Wendesday):
they have a great network and are experienced with on the ground events
…is why they didn’t send the funding bill to Bush that they had just within the last couple of weeks publicly promised to send? You remember–the one with timelines for withdrawal of the troops?–The promise that bush wouldn’t get funding for the war this year without timelines?
Yes, bush would have vetoed it, and yes, the republicans would have prevented an override–but at least the democrats would have been able to actually argue with truth that they tried to stop bush. And they wouldn’t have looked like spineless liars if they had done as they had promised. And, finally, If they know (heck WE know it) that they are ultimately going to cave in, why don’t they just keep their mouths shut?
Author
but… maybe, if a Democratic President is elected next year, the first thing s/he needs to do, if Bush and Cheney and the rethugs are ever to be held accountable for the things that they’ve done in the past seven years… is to pardon Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, all the Democratic leadership, and all Democratic Senators and representatives and all their aides, for any and all war crimes and crimes of complicity they may have committed under duress or blackmail during Bush’s terms.
I’ll leave that thought out there on the table for others to expand on…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…
you’re sadly right-on Edger. This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while now – that the Dems are more complicit than cowardly. And I also think its a hard place for most of us to get to. Ultimately it means that all our ideas about how the democratic system is supposed to work don’t apply. The sense of powerlessness that comes with that realization is hard to accept. But I also agree with you that if we don’t accept this reality – we are just being played and will never come up with effective counter-strategies.
Author
at Talkleft…
Why ban only the CIA from the practice? What about DOD? Blackwater? Anyone else?