WANTED: REAL LEADERS FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
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I woke up late this morning; nice! But as soon as I signed on, the brilliant "D" (not the right-wing "D" from Normal who lives in Dallas and loves Depeche Mode and Bush) told me he had unsubscribed from the DCCC's spam list. He was boiling mad at Rahm Emanuel for whatever today's reason was to be pissed off at the no-good, cowardly, non-leaders Inside the Beltway. And I'm right there with "D," as you know. I mean one Cindy Sheehan provides more real leadership than Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Edwards, Evan Bayh and all the rest of the non-leaders/stand-for-nothing-much careerists who are offering themselves up as our presidential nominee together.
Now, look, there are some good Democrats in office, men and women who are true believers. In fact-- no thanks to Bush's co-conspirator ex-(perpetual) Minority Leader DICK Gephardt-- most House Democrats voted against Bush's illegal war against Iraq. I can't say the same about the Democratic Senators, most of whom voted for the war. (Now the best these swine can hope to do is say something like, "Bush tricked me; he lied about WMDs and everything else. I may be retarded but I'm not a war criminal." Yeah, I want one like that to represent us in '08!)
The last time I saw a poll on the war, over 65% of Americans want the troops brought back immediately or want a phased pull out to start NOW. 10% of Americans (mostly Republicans) think we should commit more U.S. troops to Iraq. Among that 10% are Hillary Clinton, Wesley Clark, Joe Biden... most of the out-of-touch Inside-the-Beltway non-leaders who think they should be president. One of the two Roberts-confirming U.S. Senators from Wisconsin, Russ Feingold, is advocating a phased pull-out-- like right-wing Senator/election stealer Chuck Hagel (R-NE). The Democrat who makes the most sense, DNC Chairman Howard Dean, is looked on with suspicion as an unreliable populist by the Inside the Beltway assholes. Last weekend Cindy Sheehan brought together over a quarter million people from all over America to protest Bush's war. Do you think Joe Biden could draw even a hundredth of that for something he wants to say? He can't and why should he be able to. No matter what comes out of his mouth all he ever says-- all he has ever said-- is "ME! ME! ME!" The only Democrat running for president who I know who's had anything to say about Cindy is John Edwards-- and that was a solicitation for donations TO HIS OWN CAMPAIGN. He didn't bother answering when I replied by asking him why he didn't go down to Crawford and give her some support; nor did he bother to reply, after still another solicitation, when I suggested he join Cindy at the White House and get arrested with her for something we all believe in.
Right after reading "D's" unsubscribe message to the DCCC, I opened an e-mail from Patty Westerling who's running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senator from Minnesota. She's well-known there as an advocate for missing children. Last year she challenged right-wing Congressloon Mark Kennedy and it was the tightest congressional race in the state. I sent Patty a campaign contribution then and I'll be doing it again this year. This is the kind of message Democrats who deserve to win should be sending out:
Recently, I've been thinking a lot about some numbers:
• 1,400 empty-handed weapons inspectors.
• Almost 2,000 American lives lost.
• Almost $200 billion spent.
• 150,000 soldiers still in Iraq.
• 0 plans to bring an end to it all.
The war in Iraq is costing this country and Minnesota in lives, treasure, and opportunity, and we can no longer afford to continue down the path we're on.
Today I am calling for the Administration to end our involvement in Iraq by Thanksgiving 2006 and prepare for the return of our brave men and women by launching a new generation of programs to honor their service.
I haven't come to this conclusion easily, but with Saddam Hussein removed from power and an Iraqi government now in place, it is time to return our focus to making America stronger and safer.
Let me be clear: from today until the last American has left Iraqi soil, we must spend every dollar necessary to arm, support, and protect our troops. But the time has come to bring them home. This is not a call to abandon our troops or their mission. It is a call to honor them, a call to respect them, and a call to bring them home.
We're spending too much money on the wrong priorities. Removing our troops by next Thanksgiving ensures that by the time the next Senate begins its session, we will be debating how to spend this money on health care, job creation, education, rebuilding our own Gulf in the wake of Katrina, and keeping America safe.
The next session of the United States Senate should not be asked to pay any more for this war.
The $200 billion allocated to fight the war in Iraq could pay for over 26 million children to attend a year of Head Start, provide health insurance for over 118 million children, or pay the salaries of 3.4 million public school teachers for one year.
These are real dollars that could be better spent on real solutions for the challenges we face as a state and as a nation.
And the war in Iraq is placing a real cost on our families. The number of our soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice is quickly approaching 2,000. Thousands of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters spend their days and nights worrying about the loss of a loved one. Families are being torn apart by the economic challenges of seeing the family breadwinner repeatedly sent overseas. We must do better by those who serve.
In June, over half the U.S. Army troops serving in Iraq were National Guardsmen and Reservists. This war is being waged on the jobs and families of these citizen-soldiers. When guardsmen and reservists are called to active duty, they are forced to give up their civilian salary and benefits in exchange for military ones, which often results in a significant pay cut and financial hardship for the members and their families.
As a country, we cannot allow this to continue. If we can spend billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq, we can find the money to protect the lives and livelihoods of the brave men and women we send to do it. Any man or woman willing to put their lives on the line in service of their country should never have to worry about losing their pay, losing their health insurance, or losing their home.
We sometimes overlook that this war is creating a new generation of veterans, a younger generation wanting to return home to the jobs and families that will move our nation forward. We must prepare for the return of this new generation of veterans. Today, I am also calling for legislation establishing the next generation of programs to honor their service and ease their transition home, we need:
• Fully funded VA hospitals;
• An updated GI Bill for the 21st century, improving benefits by establishing an enhanced educational assistance program and increasing the amount of basic educational assistance;
• Compensation for soldiers that have suffered a pay cut while serving,;
• Increased penalties on companies that refuse to protect military families from foreclosure and eviction;
• Protection for their health insurance, passing legislation to protect reservists and National Guard members who sign up for the military health care system before they enter active duty, and legislation that blocks increases to health insurance premiums for reservists and members of the National Guard who return from war and reinstate their old policies.
If these laws for our soldiers and veterans are not passed now, they will be my first order of business upon arriving in Washington.
This administration has faced two disasters, one natural and one of its own creation, and it has mismanaged both. As we come together as a nation to rebuild after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, it's time for us to come together and give the new Iraqi nation the independence and sovereignty it needs to combat the insurgency.
Next Thanksgiving, I want us out of Iraq.
Next Thanksgiving, I want Minnesota's soldiers home with their families.
Next Thanksgiving, I want a new generation of programs to honor their service.
And when the next Senate is called into session, I will be there to make sure the focus is on the right priorities, making us stronger and moving us forward as a nation.
I'm sick and tired of seeing Hillary Clinton running around with her finger in the wind trying to figure out what she "stands" for. There really are decent leaders worthy of respect and attention-- and worthy of campaign contributions from real people (as opposed to corporate PACs). Patty Westerling is someone I'd be really proud to see in the U.S. Senate. And imagine if Franken really jumps in and kicks that pathetic imbecile Coleman out in '08! Minnesota, home of Paul Westerberg, Prince and two great senators!
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 8:14 PM
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I REMEMBER DEMOCRATS
-William Rivers Pitt
October 3, 2005
There has been a fair amount of talk recently about the number of scandals surrounding the Bush administration and the Republican party, inspiring allusions to the historic Congressional reversal in 1994. Tom DeLay has been indicted, Bill Frist is being investigated for insider trading, and the recently indicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff watched his favorite White House procurement officer get arrested for obstruction. The administration was forced last week to scold conservative ubermensch Bill Bennett, who claimed the crime rate would go down if every African-American fetus were aborted.
The claws extending from these legal and ethical bear swipes are scratching a large portion of the GOP's inner power core, with the deepest cuts possibly set to be absorbed by Messrs. Karl Rove and Lewis Libby. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is still bird-dogging the Valerie Plame case, and got himself a new and much-coveted witness after Times reporter Judy Miller walked out of her jail cell and into his Grand Jury room.
Fitzgerald's investigation into Rove and Libby's involvement in the leaking of a covert CIA operative's name to the press, according to the Washington Post, "has White House aides and congressional Republicans on edge as they await Fitzgerald's announcement of an indictment or the conclusion of the probe with no charges. The grand jury is scheduled to expire Oct. 28, and lawyers in the case expect Fitzgerald to signal his intentions as early as this week."
"A new theory about Fitzgerald's aim has emerged in recent weeks," continued the Post, "from two lawyers who have had extensive conversations with the prosecutor while representing witnesses in the case. They surmise that Fitzgerald is considering whether he can bring charges of a criminal conspiracy perpetrated by a group of senior Bush administration officials. Under this legal tactic, Fitzgerald would attempt to establish that at least two or more officials agreed to take affirmative steps to discredit and retaliate against (former Ambassador Joseph) Wilson and leak sensitive government information about his wife."
One Plame-oriented bombshell exploded on Sunday across the desk of the ABC news talk show "This Week," when host George Stephanopoulos said, "I wonder, George Will, do you think it's a manageable one for the White House especially if we don't know whether Fitzgerald is going to write a report or have indictments, but if he is able to show, as a source close to this told me this week, that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions."
I wonder, George Will, what your Pucker Factor was when Stephanopoulos mentioned having a source that says the President and Vice President were involved in the conspiracy. Put it at an eight, and have that seat cushion repaired.
The waves breaking over the Bush administration's formidable seawall have as much to do with distant wars and domestic disasters as they do with the skullduggery of Republican dandies. Attempts to blame New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin for hurricane damage extending over four states have fallen short, and George W. Bush now finds himself presiding over a populace that has little or no faith in the government. There is irony here, as Bush came into office on the shoulders of people who have devoted their lives to discrediting government. It is amusing to picture, with the administration's approval ratings hovering around 40% across the board, those conservative shoulders hunched over in pain and frustration.
And then, of course, there is the war in Iraq, which goes on and on. The American dead now number one thousand nine hundred and thirty five. Fifteen troops have been killed in the last week alone. Civil war, ignored as a possibility by the celebrated minds in the White House and DoD, is emerging as the most likely outcome of the recent violence and political chaos. Noted Middle East expert Juan Cole described the roots of the looming schism in a recent article, in which he argued that the time has come for American forces to withdraw.
"The Sunni Arabs only managed to elect 17 deputies to the Parliament on Jan. 30," wrote Cole, "out of 275 seats. Three of the 17 were gifts from the major Shiite coalition (which led the more hard line Sunnis to decline to cooperate with those 3). The Sunni Arabs were virtually absent. Who was present? The election was won by the religious Shiite parties, especially the Da`wa and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Even the Sadrists, most of whom were lukewarm about involvement in politics under Occupation, had more deputies than did the Sunnis! The Shiite religious parties despise the ex-Baathists (i.e. most of the Sunnis). The other winners were the Kurds, who wanted to safeguard their semi-autonomy and if anything hated the Sunni Arabs more than did the religious Shiites."
"The constitution that was fashioned by the religious Shiites and the Kurds unsurprisingly contains all sorts of goodies for Shiites and Kurds," continued Cole, "but cuts the Sunni Arabs permanently out of the deal. Substantial proportions of the oil income will stay in the provinces (i.e. Kurdistan and the Shiite South) rather than going to Baghdad. All future oil fields that are discovered and developed will be the sole property of the provincial confederation in which they are found. Most such likely fields are in the Shiite areas. All the major Sunni Arab organizations and respected political and clerical figures have come out against the constitution. Even the Iraqi political groupings that had earlier been willing to cooperate with the US boycotted the Jan. 30 elections and are now assiduously working to defeat the new constitution."
The American military is stretched to the breaking point. Enlistments are as low as they have been in memory, and the life disruptions caused by repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan are motivating skilled and experienced Reservists to forgo re-enlistment. National Guard units all across the country have become so disrupted and debilitated that they are in no shape to respond energetically and effectively to domestic emergencies within their home states, as was so devastatingly evident after Hurricane Katrina.
The world sees this, and is fully aware of our inability to respond to provocative activities, such as the construction of nuclear weapons by rogue nations. The illusion of safety so assiduously crafted by the Bush administration is a sword of Damocles, hanging above our necks by a single human hair.
Matters have become so dicey for the administration that Bush was compelled to convene a counsel of crisis to confront the rising tide. The day after DeLay was indicted, Bush called newly-minted House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, House Speaker Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Frist and several others to the White House for a little chat. The meeting was partially motivated by bedlam within GOP ranks; California Republican David Dreier was supposedly headed for DeLay's seat, but was chopped down in a flurry of confusion which ultimately led to the ascendancy of the right-leaning Blunt. The larger discussion before this meeting, however, may well have been reminiscent of the last counsel held by Roman emperor Honorius as the Visigoths crested the seventh hill.
There has been one consistently missing piece of this puzzle, a piece whose absence would be unutterably galling had that absence not become so drearily predictable. With all that is assaulting the White House, the Republican majority in Congress, and indeed the entire substructure of conservative political philosophy, the absence of a vocal, united, organized Democratic opposition to crystallize the reality of our wretched estate and offer a compelling alternative is, simply, astonishing.
Call it cowardice. Call it cynical. Call it a conspiracy. Call it a custard pie, for all the good it will do. Adjectives and invective wither before the yawning abyss that stands between the words of Democratic officeholders, and the deeds they have thus far failed so completely to accomplish. One hears that they are "keeping their powder dry." All this protracted, disorganized silence leads one to assume they have the driest powder this side of the Sahara. If it does not get used soon, it will blow away like so much dust.
The leadership caste of the Democratic party - those worthies and also-rans in the Senate and the DNC - should take a walk down to the Rayburn House office building and find Representatives Conyers, Lee, Woolsey, Abercrombie, Sanders, McDermott, Waters and Waxman. This crew has been keeping good company, has been burning the midnight oil, and has been speaking the truth of this administration all day and every day. The leadership caste of the Democratic party would do well to drink deep a draught of the courage and integrity that can be found there.
There has been a fair amount of talk recently about the number of scandals surrounding the Bush administration and the Republican party, inspiring allusions to the historic Congressional reversal in 1994. Back then, it was Democratic scandals and seeming scandals that swept the Republicans into power. More than that, it was the organized, motivated and energetic actions of the GOP, which exploited the gaps and ran to daylight at every opportunity. They've been essentially running things now for eleven years, and are learning a few lessons on the dangers of hubris and the nature of the American justice system.
Yet the outcome of this will not be another historic Congressional reversal in 2006, or in 2008 for that matter, if the Democratic party continues as it has been. Give the people a choice between the devil they know and the fathomless, mindless, tidal wanderings of the deep blue sea, and they will choose the devil every single time.
Memo to the Democratic leadership, in the words of departed comic Bill Hicks: "Step on the gas, man."
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