65-34
Kudos to the Dems with balls and the foresight to be on the right side of history.
Shame on the Republicans who orchestrated this expedient farce/tragedy using the Constitution as a pawn in a dangerous political game.
Special shame reserved for the three mavericks/independents/suckers - McCain, Graham and Warner - for giving cover to this unconsitutional sham.
Joe Lieberman deserves little mention. Perhaps he voted for the measure on principle. More likely, it was to please his newfound Republican base.
As for the Dems who felt compelled to support the legislation because of the looming election - they should never have been put in the position. A leader who actually respected the Constitution and American democracy would never use such grave decisions as political football.
In 1990, George H.W. Bush - faced with an immediate crisis that autumn after Saddam's invasion of Kuwait - waited until after the midterms to hold the vote on whether to liberate that country. Rather than making questions of war and peace a campaign slogan, he removed the pressure of politics and allowed the Congress that would be representing the people for the following two years to vote its conscience. In 2002, George W. Bush did just the opposite, hyping a false crisis to force a vote on Iraq while providing incomplete and mostly faulty information. We are still paying for that craven blackmail.
Today, we have the repeat. Only this time, the "grave and gathering threat" is not from Saddam but apparently from the constitution itself. And so Mr. Bush and his rubber-stampers have taken preemptive action. Yet again, the only crisis the bill is designed to address is a Republican political one. Their main concern is not securing the country but securing a Republican majority.
This is a high price to pay for the perpetuation of incompetence.
The only response is to kick the bums out. Which means electing Dems. Which means suppressing any grudge against those Dems up for election this fall who felt compelled to vote for this bill and pouring out to the polls to ensure that in 2008 the leadership of the House and Senate will be in no position to use the floors of those bodies for electoral blackmail against Democrats because it will be Democrats who will control the agenda and the ability to put the other party on the hotseat.
Perhaps, by then, they will also be able to hold these men and women accountable for what they have done to the constitution and American law and our moral standing in the world. But first, deceit and incompetence must be denied power.
Vote. Vote. Vote.
Shame on the Republicans who orchestrated this expedient farce/tragedy using the Constitution as a pawn in a dangerous political game.
Special shame reserved for the three mavericks/independents/suckers - McCain, Graham and Warner - for giving cover to this unconsitutional sham.
Joe Lieberman deserves little mention. Perhaps he voted for the measure on principle. More likely, it was to please his newfound Republican base.
As for the Dems who felt compelled to support the legislation because of the looming election - they should never have been put in the position. A leader who actually respected the Constitution and American democracy would never use such grave decisions as political football.
In 1990, George H.W. Bush - faced with an immediate crisis that autumn after Saddam's invasion of Kuwait - waited until after the midterms to hold the vote on whether to liberate that country. Rather than making questions of war and peace a campaign slogan, he removed the pressure of politics and allowed the Congress that would be representing the people for the following two years to vote its conscience. In 2002, George W. Bush did just the opposite, hyping a false crisis to force a vote on Iraq while providing incomplete and mostly faulty information. We are still paying for that craven blackmail.
Today, we have the repeat. Only this time, the "grave and gathering threat" is not from Saddam but apparently from the constitution itself. And so Mr. Bush and his rubber-stampers have taken preemptive action. Yet again, the only crisis the bill is designed to address is a Republican political one. Their main concern is not securing the country but securing a Republican majority.
This is a high price to pay for the perpetuation of incompetence.
The only response is to kick the bums out. Which means electing Dems. Which means suppressing any grudge against those Dems up for election this fall who felt compelled to vote for this bill and pouring out to the polls to ensure that in 2008 the leadership of the House and Senate will be in no position to use the floors of those bodies for electoral blackmail against Democrats because it will be Democrats who will control the agenda and the ability to put the other party on the hotseat.
Perhaps, by then, they will also be able to hold these men and women accountable for what they have done to the constitution and American law and our moral standing in the world. But first, deceit and incompetence must be denied power.
Vote. Vote. Vote.
posted by Canuck at
9:42 PM
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