Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

This year, it’s difficult to appreciate the Democrats, what with their failure to follow through on the promises of the 2006 congressional election. I can, however, say this much:

While looking through the transcript of this morning’s Democratic presidential debate, I suddenly felt very thankful that, with all the shortcomings of these candidates, at least Joseph Lieberman is not amongst those running this time around.

It practically makes me want to go put on a hat with a belt buckle on it and shoot a turkey.

At the end of last week, 86 Democratic members of the House of Representatives joined the Republicans. They voted to support George W. Bush, and give Bush the power to continue the Iraq War with no strings attached.

Back in 2006, is that what we elected the Democrats to a majority of Congress to do? No, the Democrats were elected to Congress in order to stop the war.

The Democratic members of the House that you see below voted for war at the end of the week, just before the Memorial Day weekend, hoping that we would all just forget about their treachery. No such luck for them. Now, at the beginning of the next week, we are calling them out.

The following Democrats in Congress decided to support George W. Bush instead of representing their constituents. They do not deserve to be re-elected in 2008.

Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania
Robert Andrews Andrews of New Jersey
Joseph Baca of California
Brian Baird of Washington
John Barrow of Georgia
Melissa Bean of Illinois
Shelley Berkley of Nevada
Marion Berry of Arkansas
Timothy Bishop of Georgia
Dan Boren of Oklahoma
Leonard Boswell of Iowa
Rick Boucher of Virginia
Allen Boyd of Florida
Nancy Boyda of Kansas
G. K. Butterfield of North Carolina
Dennis Cardoza of California
Christopher Carney of Pennsylvania
Ben Chandler of Kentucky
James Clyburn of South Carolina
James Cooper of Tennessee
James Costa of Californa
Bud Cramer of Alabama
Henry Cuellar of Texas
Susan Davis of California
Lincoln Davis of Tennessee
Norman Dicks of Washington
John Dingell of Michigan
Joe Donnelly of Indiana
Chet Edwards of Texas
Brad Ellsworth of Indiana
Rahm Emanuel of Illinois
Bob Etheridge of North Carolina
Gabrielle Giffords of Illinois
Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
Charles Gonzalez of Texas
Bart Gordon of Tennessee
Gene Green of Texas
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota
Baron Hill of Indiana
Ruben Hinojosa of Texas
Timothy Holden of Pennsylvania
Steny Hoyer of Maryland
Steven Kagen of Wisconsin
Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania
Dale Kildee of Michigan
Ron Kind of Wisconsin
Nick Lampson of Texas
Rick Larsen of Washington
Sander Levin of Michigan
Dan Lipinski of Illinois
Tim Mahoney of Florida
James Marshall of Georgia
James Matheson of Utah
Michael McIntyre of North Carolina
Kendrick Meek of Florida
Charles Melancon of Louisiana
Harry Mitchell of Arizona
Alan Mollohan of West Virginia
Dennis Moore of Kansas
John Murtha of Pennsylvania
Solomon Ortiz of Texas
Collin Peterson of Minnesota
Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota
Nick Rahall of West Virginia
Silvestre Reyes of Texas
Ciro Rodriguez of Texas
Mike Ross of Arkansas
Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland
John Salazar of Colorado
Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania
David Scott of Georgia
Joseph Sestak of Pennsylvania
Heath Shuler of North Carolina
Ike Skelton of Missouri
Vic Snyder of Arkansas
Zachary Space of Ohio
John Spratt of South Carolina
Bart Stupak of Michigan
John Tanner of Tennessee
Gene Taylor of Mississippi
Bennie Thompson of Mississippi
Mark Udall of Colorado
Peter Visclosky of Illinois
Timothy Walz of Minnesota
Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida
Charles Wilson of Ohio

Pro-war Democrats, every one. Remember how they betrayed the promise of 2006. Support the Democratic primary challengers against them.

If the Senate Republicans were to read tea leaves for the American voters, they’d probably come out with an interpretation such as, “You are sleepy alll the time, because you refuse to drink hot caffeinated beverages.”

It’s this kind of backwards thinking that leads the Republicans in the United States Senate to return Trent Lott to a high position of power as Minority Whip. The Republicans see that they’ve lost many seats to the Democrats in the Senate, so what conclusion do they make? Do they conclude that they’ve been too extreme in their ideology, and give a relative moderate, like Olympia Snowe, the Minority Whip position? No, no. They decide to put another Southern right winger, one who has mourned the loss of forced racial segregation, into that office.

I wonder what will happen if they lose another seat to the Democrats in 2008. Will they start a special Minority Senate Office for the Prevention of Miscegenation?

Ya think “unlawful enemy combatant” would look good in needlepoint?

I stand before you this day to declare that I, your obedient servant, may be in violation of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Specifically, it is within the provisions of the bill that allow for President Bush, via his minions, to deem me an “unlawful enemy combatant” for any poem, commentary or statement I have ever made, impugning his or his administration’s frighteningly ineffective and actively dangerous efforts to end global terrorism.

We’re half way around the world, bombing people who have done nothing to us. The administration seeks to influence policies and elections in other countries, and threatens intervention if they do not toe our political line. Isn’t that what we fought against during the cold war? Didn’t we stand against the Communists to keep them from venturing into other countries? I am not a conspiracy-theory left wing nut job, but I am way past offended that this administration sees their job as remaking the United States of America in the image of the late UNlamented Soviet Union. Democracy at gunpoint… if that isn’t an oxymoron, then President Bush can pronounce ‘nuclear’.

I cannot and will not be silenced by toadies like Donald Rumsfeld, who has never risked his overweight, coronary-ready ass for his country but presumes to tell ‘the faithful’ that he knows what will make us victorious in war. What he ‘knows’ is how to profit from corporate involvement in war, and how to make a few bucks for his friends in the bargain.

I shan’t be deterred by the religious right, put off by the neocondescending disinformation machine, or undermined by the unfair, unbalanced, untrue and unprincipled Fox News Network.

I will not be haunted the Coultergeist, shadowed by the government, governed by the incompetent or overruled by the supposed rulers of what was, until the MCA of ‘ought-six, a country both democratic and free.

Calling this law wrong is the understatement of the century. I am, as all Americans should be, ashamed for my nation and for the Great American Experiment, whose demise this law may very well portend.

With that, a final word… I have a house that’s paid for, a really cool motorcycle and a new love of my life…… if I disappear, I sure as hell didn’t run away.

Later.

Hillary Clinton has gone insane. She wants to run for President in 2008, so what has she done? Hillary Clinton has declared that she thinks torture is a good idea.

No kidding. Senator Hillary Clinton said of torture last week, “there has to be some lawful authority for pursuing that.”

No, Senator Clinton. No, there doesn’t. There doesn’t have to be any lawful authority for pursuing torture. What there has to be is a return to the America in which the Bill of Rights means something more than “yadda, yadda, yadda”. The Bill of Rights forbids, absolutely, cruel and unusual punishment. Do you not support the Bill of Rights anymore, Senator Clinton?

I’m a New Yorker, Senator Clinton, but you’re not getting my vote. Not for United States Senate, and sure as hell not for President of the United States.

Tim Holden is a Democrat who sits in Congress and isn’t worth much at all. Occasionally, he votes the right way on a piece of legislation, but more often, he votes like a stinking right wing Republican, and when Tim Holden goes the wrong way, he causes a lot of damage. His regressive right wing legislative score is higher than his progressive record.

The latest and greatest example: Democrat Tim Holden abandoned the mainstream of the Democratic Party to join forces with George W. Bush and vote in favor of the Military Commissions Act.

Don’t know about the Military Commissions Act? Well, let me inform you: This new law, signed into effect by President Bush just yesterday, revokes habeas corpus, ends enforcement of the Geneva Conventions, gives amnesty to George W. Bush for any war crimes he has committed, sets up kangaroo courts to replace our system of justice, and gives the President the power to throw anyone into prison without crimnal charges and without any explanation to anyone.

How could Tim Holden do it? How could he do such a horrible thing? How could he betray us in such a dramatic fashion?

The answer is depressingly simple: Tim Holden doesn’t have anyone opposing him for re-election in 2006, so he can afford to be as dirty and nasty as he wants to be. There was no Democratic primary challenge to Tim Holden in 2006, and Matthew Wertz, the Republican opponent to Tim Holden, withdrew from the race. So, there was no one to hold Tim Holden accountable.

Democrats of Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district, in Dauphin County, Lebanon County, Schuylkill County, Berks County and Perry County, please do NOT support Tim Holden for re-election in 2008. Tim Holden has betrayed the Democratic Party over and over again. Don’t take it lying down. Find someone, a real Democrat with solid progressive values, to challenge Tim Holden in 2008, and restore the good name of Pennsyvlania’s Democrats.

Here’s a riddle for New Jersey Democrats: What happens when you allow an incumbent politician to go unchallenged?

Don’t worry. There’s no trick to this riddle. The answer is all too obvious: The politician loses all sense of responsibility to the people.

Rob Andrews proves the point. He’s the Democratic incumbent in the House of Representatives for New Jersey’s first congressional district. At the close of this autumn’s session of Congress, Rob Andrews served his constituents very ill indeed.

Rob Andrews abandoned the mainstream of the Democratic Party and voted for the Military Commissions Act. The Military Commissions Act does the following:

This morning, there is incredible news: A volcano has erupted in Los Angeles!

People are marching in the street outside Congress and the White House, demanding strong action to deal with the devastation resulting from the volcano. Republicans, however, are saying that there should not be any big government solution to the crisis, and that residents should not cut and run from Los Angeles.

Democratic leaders, hoping to woo swing voters, reject the demands for immediate evacuation from Los Angeles. They’re calling for an evacuation of Los Angeles by the end of 2007, but only if the situation there stabilizes first.

It’s official: Stuart Rothenberg can now be counted as one of the inside the beltway crazies. Catch what he said about Ned Lamont supporters in Connecticut: He called them “bomb throwers”.

Bomb throwers, huh, Stu? Uh, Ned Lamont won, Mr. Rothenberg, so where are all the bombs going off in Connecticut now, huh? Gee, there are none.

So how is it that Stuart Rothenberg can call antiwar activists “bomb throwers”? I mean, a huge number of Ned Lamont’s supporters are pacifists, for crying out loud! How are they, in any sense of the term, throwers of bombs?

Oh, well, good old insider Mr. Rothenberg, who seems about as out of touch as a prisoner in a Guantanamo Bay solitary confinement cell, meant it metaphorically.

Metaphorically, huh? Well, what was the bomb throwing a metaphor for? Oh, yeah, it was a metaphor for Democratic voters going to the polls to choose who represents them in their own political party. For Stuart Rothenberg, democracy is like throwing a bomb.

Woo hoo, Stuart Rothenberg’s gone off the crazy, loopy, I never get outside of D.C. deep end, folks!

Hey, Stooie, let me send you a clue telegram: In Iraq, they really throw bombs. Yeah, real bombs, like, ones that explode and KILL PEOPLE!

So get off your high horse, Rothenberg, and talk about who’s the candidate that’s really brought about a bunch of real bomb throwing: Joseph Lieberman. Lieberman voted for the war, Rothenberg. The war. You know, the one with bombs going off. And killing people.

So how come you support the Lieberman bomb throwers, Rothenberg, hug?

Man, you’re just another beltway looney.

So, the New York Times has endorsed Ned Lamont, rejecting Joseph Lieberman’s term in Senate one “in which the never-ending war on terror becomes an excuse for silence and inaction”. Swell.

What does this mean? Mainstream pundits are viewing it as a devastating blow to Lieberman’s re-election campaign. But does that mean that we’re supposed to believe that Lieberman’s campaign was doing well until the big newspaper’s endorsement of Lamont?

Washington D.C. pundits just can’t imagine that Connecticut voters might have been making conclusions about Joseph Lieberman’s right wing politics on their own, but that’s just what has been happening. Lieberman has been a stain on the Democratic Party for years, long before the Iraq War was begun. Starting with Lieberman’s preaching condemnation of Bill Clinton’s personal life, and extending through the drag of his religious preoccupations on Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, many of the Democratic Party’s most devastating defeats have been due in large part to Lieberman’s insistence in promoting a narrow, restrictive vision of what it means to be an American.

It’s good that the New York Times is finally joining grassroots Democrats in their rejection of Joseph Lieberman. However, it’s not the editorial of the Times that will have sunk Lieberman’s career. Senator Lieberman managed to do that all on his own.