IS VOTING FOR DEMOCRATS POINTLESS?

Bill left a comment on the John Laesch post yesterday that voices what more than a few people, including Cindy Sheehan, have been thinking:

I supported some "Blue America" people in 2006 and where did it get me/us ..... all those freshmen blue guys deserted us in the Iraq supplemental voting ... so why this guy?

First of all, almost every one of the Blue America-endorsed freshmen voted against the supplemental. The exceptions were Chris Carney, who we have asked to return all 722 contributions he got from Blue America members (not just because of this one vote, of course, but because of a pattern of voting that has shown us he deceived us with false promises and that instead of the progressive he portrayed himself as, he is a reactionary Democrat, voting frequently with Republicans for the Bush Cheney agenda), Kirstin Gillibrand, Ciro Rodriguez and Joe Sestak. Congressman Sestak is coming on for a live blog session next Saturday, June 2, and we'll get to ask him about why he voted the way he did. Meanwhile please keep in mind that all the other House members we helped elect voted no: Mike Arcuri (NY), Bruce Braley (IA), Steve Cohen (TN), John Hall (NY), Paul Hodes (NH), Jerry McNerney (CA), Patrick Murphy (PA), and Carol Shea-Porter (NH). Meanwhile, Republicans are still in a state of denial, lying their asses off and even trying to tell the American public that Iraq was involved with 9/11, something no one except Dick Cheney still parrots.

Check out the live session we did with Eric Massa Saturday. He's running again and he categorically declared he would have voted against the bill and that. Here's part of an answer he gave to a question about ending the occupation of Iraq:

We, as Democrats must stop being afraid of standing up to the lying liars and the lies that they tell. Tomorrow I will post on several blogs the following: “Why I (would have) Voted against the funding Bill." The bottom line is accountability. I am not ready to say “let bygones be bygones." We need to hold the leaders who took us to war without reason accountable. No more blank checks, and if the President Vetoes the bill then so be it-- we have him and each and every supporting member of Congress on record -- that’s how we win elections. Taking that accountability back to the people and in clear, no nonsense language state our case.

I can state that case because when they tell me that I am not supporting the troops I can look at them and state that “I am a troop.” I join MG John Batiste, a personal friend, who has stood with me in opposing this President. We have both given up one heck of a lot and will continue to do so in our quest to create a Veto proof majority.

I am not and will not criticize any fellow democrat. But I will be clear about what I will, would have, and have done.

Later the same day, we spoke with John Laesch, another Fighting Dem who is also going to make a second attempt to oust an entrenched Republican warmonger. John thinks we need to end the occupation NOW, not in a year or 6 months... NOW.

This morning another Blue America candidate, Dr. Steven Porter, who is also trying again against a Bush rubber stamp. Phil English, sent us a statement expressing disgust with congressional Democrats' failure to lead on the Iraq issue.

They not only caved in to Bush on the spending bill, they do not have the fortitude to do what is necessary to save our troops and innocent Iraqis from further harm. Biden wants to ‘wear down’ 17 Republican Senators until they demand benchmarks from the President. Edwards wants to cut off Iraq war funds. Hillary Clinton and Obama voted against the funding bill knowing it was going to pass so that they could play to the anti-war voters. All of it is a horse that won’t run. All of it perpetuates the slaughter.
 
Bush and the neo-cons aren’t going to change.  This war is and always has been about oil, greed, power, and control for them. Hoping for any kind of epiphany is silliness. Cutting off funding only hurts our troops because Bush is just cruel and stubborn enough to leave them in the field unprotected. Wearing down 17 Senators will take time-- time which will cost more lives.
 
The answer is to get rid of Cheney and Bush via impeachment, and to do it quickly. They have trashed the Constitution over and over again, and the counts against them have been documented in the double digits by some of the best legal minds of the nation. Once rid of them, the next step would be to set up a three- or four-region political settlement in Iraq where Kurds, Shia, and Sunni have autonomous control and where oil revenues are equitably shared.
 
Then invite the international community to share in the rebuilding of Iraq and in securing the regions against Al Qaeda as our troops reduce their burden and are brought home. I am sure that once the warring factions in Iraq are guaranteed autonomy, they themselves will take the initiative to keep the terrorists from destroying the country further. Giving the international community some partnership in the rebuilding of Iraq would provide an economic justification for an international peacekeeping force.
 
Beyond this, moving quickly through international agencies (NATO, the UN, etc.) both to create a two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and to reduce the poverty and despair which fosters terrorism would be the next important steps in the process of a lasting Middle East peace.
 
Finally, a concerted effort on the part of the Democratically-controlled Congress to have all federal elections publicly funded would end the special interest games which lie at the heart of so many of our problems.
 
All this would be possible for representatives who are caring statesmen and women instead of the usual run of politician. All this would be possible if a brain-dead, heartless media would begin to educate the American people instead of titillate them. All of this would be possible if the American people would put down their sports pages long enough to think.