BEYOND BUSH RUBBER STAMP AND INTO THE REALM OF HARD CORE CHENEYISM-- THE 2 DOZEN WORST EXTREMISTS ON IRAQ

So the House passed H.R. 2929 by a veto-proof 399-24 margin. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean much. Barbara Lee's bill prevents the creation of permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq and bars U.S. control of Iraqi oil. Even hard core warmongers who have voted for every single Bush-Cheney proposal on Iraq were able to vote for this one.

Casting his vote in favor, Republican Minority Leader took time off from a golfing afternoon to bitch that "Instead of wasting time with meaningless stunts and undermining our troops overseas through harmful rhetoric, members of Congress should be united and focused on preventing al Qaeda from establishing permanent bases in Iraq and using them to stage terrorist attacks against the United States and our allies. 'No permanent bases' is already the policy of the United States, and there is no such thing as a 'permanent' U.S. military base in foreign countries. All U.S. military bases abroad are subject to cooperative agreements with the respective host countries. The agreements can be altered or eliminated at any time." I guess the bill begs the question of defining "permanent." That will be up to the voters in November '08. If they vote for Giuliani, Romney, McCain, Thompson or any of the other pygmies, "permanent" becomes a rather relative thing.

So now the question comes up of who were the 2 dozen die hard dead end maniacs who couldn't even bring themselves to vote for this bill. This list, my friends, are the absolute dead-enders of the American political landscape when it comes to Iraq, the worst of the worst. None are in competitive districts so they don't even have to care that they're voting to thwart the will of the vast majority of the population. In fact, almost all of them are in ultra low-information districts where, I'm sorry to say, most of the voters are as ignorant and bigoted as they are. The hall of shame:

Spencer Bachus (AL- no opponent in 2006)
James Barrett (SC)
Joe Barton (TX)
Marsha Blackburn (TN)
Kevin Brady (TX)
Michael Burgess (TX)
John Campbell (CA)
Chris Cannon (UT)
Jeff Flake (AZ)
Trent Franks (AZ)
Phil Gingrey (GA)
Planet Denny Hastert (IL-- the one exception; he can be defeated)
Wally Herger (CA)
Robert Inglis (SC)
Jim Jordan (OH)
Steve King (IA)
John Linder (GA)
Jeff Miller (FL)
Steve Pearce (NM)
William Sali (ID)
John Shadegg (AZ)
William "Mac" Thornberry (TX)
Michael Turner (OH)

And then there's a dishonorable mention for one die hard Democrat who refused to vote for it; war monger and reactionary Jim Marshall (GA) abstained.