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Dover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 04:04 AM
Original message
They (Dems and Repugs) ALL LIED.
Edited on Fri Jun-17-05 04:10 AM by Dover
Some thoughts about Clinton's remarks on Letterman regarding DSM. Clinton said that it was pretty clear the intelligence was being manipulated, because Cheney was showing up at CIA headquarters for 'visits' that couldn't be interpreted any other way.

If Clinton and much of Washington were aware of what Cheney & Bush
were up to (recognized they were manipulating intelligence to support an attack on Iraq) then WHY did they sign onto the War?

When Dem leaders were asked this by outraged constituents who had flooded their offices with requests NOT to sign, remember they argued that they all trusted Bush to keep his word and assumed the intelligence they were presented with by Bushco was accurate. So they said they were, essentially, tricked into signing on for the War.
Most of us here at D.U. were incredulous that they could have been taken in when everything pointed to these sorts of manipulations.
So, apparently, the Dems who signed on WEREN'T tricked. They knew.

And of course Kerry has HAD to take up the DSM cause, acting all outraged, because he had claimed he was taken in, like the others, regarding the intelligence.



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LightningFlash Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 04:12 AM
Response to Original message
1. I don't think all of them were in on it.
But alot of them were in on it, and continue to be DINOs.....Clinton, Biden, Harold, etc...

They seem to think they see something we don't see: I'll bet its greed and money.

Sadly it seems John Kerry is one as well....A very moderate close to broken democrat in name only or simply uncaring about war. I don't like to see it....I don't like to admit, but he's really never acted as the full opposition....He's put on an act, and his wife has been the far more forth coming and truth telling against them.

She's been that way since before any of this....But I can see why there isn't much trust in Kerry. He's never really been much of the trustworthy type...
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Bark Bark Bark Donating Member (572 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 04:59 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. Clinton
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
I DON'T LIKE BUSH EITHER! BUT
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
DON'T GET ME STARTED ON KERRY
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
ME IS PROGRESSIVE
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
CLINTON WAS BAD!
(and on and on and on)
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annabanana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 04:49 AM
Response to Original message
2. If we want them to sign on NOW...
We have to let them have that cover."He lied to us all. He's the President and we gave him the benefit of the doubt".
They are political animals, after all and they breath 100% public opinion. There weren't enough of us then to give them the necessary air.
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Dover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 05:12 AM
Response to Reply #2
6. Well, I might be more in the mood for political gamesmanship IF
Edited on Fri Jun-17-05 06:00 AM by Dover
so many hadn't lost their lives because of it.

No........NOT playing! It's time people realize that the 'war' was permitted to happen by both parties. Both parties are in the pockets of those who were invested in not only strategic, but profit motives. Their constituency is not the People, it is the special interests of the elite.

Now, I MIGHT be willing to believe that SOME Dems who signed on for the war truly believed that it was this country's last best hope, and it superceded the public anti-war sentiment. The media helped them along by not allowing the masses to SEE this public dissent.
But their thinking was flawed, their willingness to entrust the endeavor to the neocons INSANE, and all of this was due to the fact that we really don't have ANY significant input on policy from anyone who is farsighted and insightful enough to visualize a better way to get to where we need to be, and who is not, first and foremost a pawn of those whose only interest is preserving and expanding their personal power. Where is the alternative to the PNAC plan? WHERE IS IT?!!!!

I'd like to consider the options and vote accordingly provided we can recover the right to HAVE a legitimate vote. I want this country to get involved in a discussion of our present and future. Who's offering that? Can anyone capture our imaginations and ground them in action so that we're all pulling in the same direction?

If (and that's a big IF) there is an alternative plan they must not think we would like the future they have in mind, otherwise they wouldn't be so dedicated to hiding it from us.


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annabanana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 05:30 AM
Response to Reply #6
8. a "Project with the True American Vision" the anti-PNAC?
I might be able to sign onto that... You know, the whole concept of "of the people, by the people and for the people".
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JDPriestly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 04:58 AM
Response to Original message
3. We have to show who lied when and where
Did the Bush administration lie under oath? We need to scan the Bush administration speeches and other presentations to Congress and find specific instances of lying -- if there are any. I'm challenging all DUers to start looking. We need to do this. If we can find it, that would be evidence for impeachment -- or a perjury proceeding depending on the level of the official. But we have to have hard facts not just suspicions or theories.
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LightningFlash Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 05:00 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. They're out there..
Start digging in and out and finding them. The investigative journalists are all of us.
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slybacon9 Donating Member (848 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 05:23 AM
Response to Original message
7. I swore i wouldn't vote for anyone who voted to go to war,
and in the end I fucking did too. And it made me sick. So who are we to point the finger at them. In the end we all (Dems and Reps) voted for someone who voted to go to war (unless you voted for Nader).

I'm not saying they aren't buttwads, but you gotta remember that the time was different then too.

Homeboy had a 98% approval rating... 98%!!! (i was the other 2 by the way talking everyone i knew off the ledge)

And people wanted blood.

And it was career suicide to go against them wether you were a politician, a reporter, or even a comedian. A lot of comedians switched over... Miller... Hendrie... just to save their asses from being fired like Maher-- dumbshits really, they all should know that the ones who stick to their guns always come out on top... Like the great John Stewart.

And a lot of politicians, being the spineless bastards many of them are, went with what the public wanted too.

I swore when we started bombing that i would never vote for anyone who signed that fucking thing. I remember that day. I remember saying that. I even registered to Green because i found the democrats to all be wussies. Suddenly all of them didn't know who the fuck to follow, as if they never had an original thought or any heart. It made me sick to go against myself...

How could they not know this was ALL BULL, i thought. I knew before he was elected we would be in Iraq. So how could they not know?

There was only one moment. That state of the union address... Yeah, for one second i listened to the 13 words, 14 words, whatever the fuck it was... and i thought....

Fuck man, what if these guys aren't lying? I looked at my girlfriend asleep on the couch with my cat snuggled up in her lap and thought about my parents and mushroom clouds... fucking mushroom clouds (that motherfucker!!! fuck him for using that on me) ... what if i'm wrong i said to myself. what if i am fighting the wrong fight...

And a second later that thought vanished. It was the last and only time I'ver doubted any part of my intuition regarding this administration. (Just so you all know in the end, I have NEVER doubted that 9-11 was BushCo. art... From the time my friend woke me up with the news... and no i am not a conspiracy freak)

Colin Powell's talk didn't shake me at all. I never fell for his Good Cop Bad Cop bullshit EVER. And fencesitters and freepers would all say, "well Colin Powell would never lie to me... he would never go against his gut..." Yeah why? Cuz he's a black man in power? If you all haven't figured out by now, the Republican party knows full well how to use the Morgan Freeman Syndrome on white people (MFS: the ability of black men and women in position of seer, knowledgeable one, teacher, master, and higher up to cast a spell on white people the end result being complete blind faith. Used by hollywood and the republican party. See also Condi Rice, Robin Hood: Prince of Theives, and all three Matrix movies.)

And for fucksake... I've been asking now for like three years... can someone tell me what was in the fucking vile that he held up at the UN? Cuz it sure as hell wasn't anthrax. Was it sugar? Did we go to war over some sugar in a vile and some clipart mobile homes in a power point presentation??? (cuz that's really fucked)

So anyway... let's face it. Sooner or later... at one point... we ALL doubted ourselves on all of this shit. Even if for a second. Does that mean that Clinton isn't a lying cocksucker (suckee?) NO. Just like it doesn't mean I'm not one. And the same goes for all these assholes up there...

But the thing i like now: THE LINE HAS BEEN DRAWN. There is no place to puss out. And this party is getting its guts back. Slowly but surely. The haze is wearing off and we are getting tough. And smart. We know more shit than anyone out there about any topic, because they have forced us too. Shit man, I know senators names in states I've never seen!!! 5 years ago? Jack shit. So let's not lose sight of the goal.

WE ARE BACK.

After what I saw today with the DSM and Dennis K, i know it! And it makes me feel goooooood.... for the first time in 5 years i feel fucking good. Cuz we are going to get these fuckers.

Last thing I will say. No more Gore campaigns. No more Kerry campaigns. It's time to get Galloway on their asses. Straight up. SO HILLARY... keep your ass out of the middle or its going to get shot off... I WILL NOT vote for you if you suck up to any of these fuckers for their vote (and they would sooner see you dead anyway) I did it once and i will NEVER do it again.

The blood is on my hands now too. Its on all of ours. Don't think because our guy didn't win that we didn't vote to go to war. We sure as hell did the day we stopped voting for Howard Dean. John Kerry bent over. I don't care if he was strong on defense, or a war hero, silver stars whatever. He either knew the whole thing was bullshit, or he was too dumb to be in any office. Either way, I'll say it, HE DIDN'T DESERVE TO WIN. (validated by the fact that he gave up before the votes were even tallied)

And we all voted for John Kerry either knowing full well he voted for a lie, or making excuses for him.

Because just like him, we didn't know what to do... Either suffer political defeat and stay true to our values, or bend a little to stay in the running. And just like him, we bent... and we voted for him.

And now I have the blood of over 100,000 people on my hands.

A fucked time it was.

PS. ANY ONE of you people comes out and calls me a freeper in diguise just cuz I'm honest you can kiss my ass. It's time we get straight.


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marions ghost Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 05:45 AM
Response to Reply #7
11. "the haze is wearing off..."
and people will be asking and analyzing. They will be asking just HOW so many politicians AND citizens supported this dubious and shameful "war"...for a long time to come. It was exploitation on a grand scale, and one of the worst cases of herd mentality since Hitler. Not only do I want to see exposure of those responsible, I want to see CHANGES in our institutions that will not let this happen again. We saw a hijacking of a country that was worse than any airplane hijacking.
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Mnemosyne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 07:20 AM
Response to Reply #7
22. Welcome back to the light! And to DU!!!
:hi:
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Jackpine Radical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 09:01 AM
Response to Reply #7
27. I think this is a very strong post, and expresses a lot of my sentiment,
but when only Kerry was left standing, a vote for Kerry was still the only useful option left for those of us who opposed the war. He was at least saying "wrong war, wrong place, wrong strategy"-type things by then. Politics is the art of the possible, and that was the only possible way left for us to mitigate the madness of war. So I'm not gonna put on a hairshirt and flagellate myself over this one.

BTW--I was a Deaniac until the bitter end, and now I am again. I think his current strategy is brilliant. The only way he's gonna get any play for his message is to tie it to a little bit of mock-controversy, because that's the only thing a Dem can do that will interest the owners of the Echo Chamber.
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SmokingJacket Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 09:11 AM
Response to Reply #7
28. Brilliant rant.
Welcome to DU -- I look forward to your future posts.
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Mandate My Ass Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 09:27 AM
Response to Reply #7
30. Great rant
No flames here.

It's time to get Galloway on their asses.

LOL, I agree! :hi:
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annabanana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 05:37 AM
Response to Original message
9. nominated... for conversation's sake. . . . n/t
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Malva Zebrina Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 05:42 AM
Response to Original message
10. they will never admit they did vote for the war
Edited on Fri Jun-17-05 06:00 AM by Malva Zebrina
In the campaign, this vote was the stickest wicket that gagged Kerry. He had to work around that vote and gaffed himself up because of it, making it worse and himself the object of ridicule.

Now the talk seems to be, after this memo was leaked, to say that they were duped by Bush's lies. Those following the proceedings closely, knew better, or at the least, thought them grossly incompetant, or lazy, for I, an ordinary citizen with no connections, knew Bush was lying.

I thought they played politics, given that Kerry was planning to run in the next election and --- just in case the war turned out to be a fantastic success in a matter of a month, with few casualities--they positioned themselves to jump on that bandwagon--and if it were not a success--they could claim they were given false information and "duped"

Cruel politics, indeed.

So, in order to save themself now, they must further weave this net, claiming they were duped and those wishing to get us out, and those exposing Bush's lies, must go along with it also, for the sake of preserving it's integrity.

But, what do they say about those who stuck to their conscience and voted against the war? Obviously they were not "duped".

Barbara Lee's statement/paper

Alternatives to War
by REP. BARBARA LEE

Our nation is today on the verge of going to war against Iraq. In a rush to launch a first strike, we risk destabilizing the Middle East and setting an international precedent that could come back to haunt us all. President Bush's doctrine of pre-emption violates international law, the charter of the United Nations and our own long-term security interests. It forecloses alternatives to war before we have even tried to pursue them.

The president has submitted a resolution to Congress seeking a proverbial blank check to wage war against Iraq using "all means." Just two weeks ago, he went to the United Nations and called on that organization to prove its relevancy by ensuring Iraq's disarmament. But he has undermined the United Nation's chances to succeed, first by issuing it an ultimatum and now by asking Congress for a use-of-force resolution that distorts the language of the U.N. charter, supports a pre-emptive strike by the United States and ignores the grave security risks posed by such an approach.

The president has told us that we must attack Iraq because our nation is in imminent danger from Saddam Hussein. We have received no proof of immediate danger, and scant evidence that Iraq has the means or intent to use weapons of mass destruction against us. We have not been told why the danger is greater today than it was a year or two ago or why we must rush to war rather than pursuing other options. We have not given the United Nations time to try to reach diplomatic solutions.

We do know that virtually all of our allies are strongly opposed to a first strike by the United States. Statesmen such as Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela have beseeched us to turn away from this disastrous course. The majority of the world is opposed to forced regime change.

We all agree that the world would be better off without Hussein in power, but we would be better off still if we eliminate weapons of mass destruction from the entire world.

President Bush has asked Congress to provide him with "all means that he determines to be appropriate including force" to enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions against Iraq. This resolution is based on the false assumption that we have no other options; it also falls short of a fundamental constitutional standard -- an actual declaration of war. Furthermore, the resolution is misleading: While it includes language from the U.N. charter acknowledging the right to national self-defense, it deliberately omits the charter's next crucial words: "if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations."

The desire to rush to war glides over the tremendous costs and risks involved, including the dangers for American servicemen and women and for Iraqi civilians, as well as the potential destabilization of the Middle East. War would likely derail any chance at a Palestinian-Israeli agreement, while trampling international law and U.N. principles and setting a terrible international precedent. It would also sidetrack efforts to prevent terrorism. Moreover, it would divert some $200 billion from our own profound domestic needs, including health care, prescription drugs, education and homeland security.

This is a price we do not have to pay. There are viable and more effective alternatives. For these reasons, I have introduced House Concurrent Resolution 473, which urges the United States to re-engage the diplomatic process and stresses our government's commitment to the U.N. inspections process. Containment and inspections have worked and can work in the future.

President Bush called on the United Nations to assume its responsibilities. I call on the United States to assume ours by working with the United Nations to ensure that Iraq is not developing weapons of mass destruction by utilizing mechanisms such as the resumption of arms inspections, negotiation, regional cooperation and other diplomatic means.


My angst over the past two years over the loss of life of, not only our 1,716 troops sent to kill and be killed on lies, but of the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi's that were killed, and is present every day. Human beings all, and all died or were murdered by Bush because he lied. So, I am not quite certain which direction I want to go as far as politics go next time around, for I cannot support, in good conscience, anyone who voted for this slaughter.

I am pleased to see Rep Conyers working so hard to expose Bush and I support him and all the others as they push on. I watched the whole thing yesterday--I cannot remember the name of the Representative who asked the question, but I remember Ray McGovern answering. The question was:

Why did we go to war? What are the reasons behind it? Everyone, except Bush, has to guess at it and is the question historians will have to answer in the future unless an American deep throat comes forth.




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annabanana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 05:50 AM
Response to Reply #10
13. clearly, Barbara Lee had no "haze" that needed "clearing"
Those that were thinking clearly at the time (and YES it "could" have been all of them) are now to be lionized as seers. I don't mind that. Broad brushes paint easily understood pictures.
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seabeyond Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 05:47 AM
Response to Original message
12. i dont agree with you
was it waters that said yesterday she didnt know......cheney was visiting cia often during that time. i found out a little time after the war started.

there were other reps that were surprised. i have seen this a lot in the last couple years in washington. i was surprised, but really seems they are so within the institute they dont get soemo of the information we get on the outside. people jumped on me for thinking we could know things they dont, but it looks like it to me. then they have to get past ego to understand they were screwed which takes a while and is a tough one to do.

clinton being pres, there is other stuff with him. i think there is stuff from his term, that he is keeping mum on. different from the senate and reps
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bklyncowgirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 06:05 AM
Response to Original message
14. Many Democrats guilty by association.
Bush and his band of war criminals in the White House are responsible for this mess but they were aided and abbetted by the corporate media, and by an opposition party that failed to oppose.

Most Democrats voted for this war because they wanted to save thier political asses. That's it pure and simple.

After 9/11 Bush was spectacularly popular, Afganistan had gone fairly well even though Bin Laden sort of vanished into thin air, leading them to calculate that they could invade Iraq quickly and be done well before 2004. What they didn't count on was, in the immortal words of John Kerry, that the administration would "fuck it up so bad."

The corporate media supported the war. War is good for ratings. Did Democrats and the corporate media know Bush was lying? Well I knew it, couldn't prove it but was positive he was lying and I dare say most of you did too.

Now the war has turned bad and the people are starting to ask questions. Democrats who were for the war need to explain why they voted for it. Frankly, I think, they owe the American people an apology.
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mirrera Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 06:10 AM
Response to Original message
15. Letterman:"blah blah DSM" Clinton:"What's that?" WTF!
I was floored when Clinton MADE PRETEND he didn't know what the Downing Street Memo was! I think someone should prove him a lier just on that. The guy reads EVERYTHING! That was one of his strengths. For him to make Letterman spell it out and then go "I've heard something about that" while his own party is having a hearing about it is mind boggling. What have we got here really? How many ways are the dems split, and why are the cracks so wide? That Clinton, doesn't even mention the uh LYING and that it is a FELONY to lie to congress...maybe he doesn't know that...uh wait...he did the same thing. I guess he doesn't want to jeapordize his little jaunt to Kennebunkport for golfing and sailing with GHWB.


www.nobullshirt.com
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Ninga Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 06:32 AM
Response to Reply #15
16. Excellent point, least we not forget that the little woman (Hillary)
voted for Bush's resolution that led to war, so if she is going to run for Pres. then the Big Dog has to be very, very careful not to say anything that the other side will be able to use.

Time has a way of clearing up our vision.....I see Clinton in a very different light.....he could have been a great Pres..

He was a GOOD Pres. an OK Pres. but his welfare programs and NAFTA were the results of bargaining with the GOP and have affected the most vulnerable in this country.
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dbt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 06:41 AM
Response to Reply #16
17. Furthermore, Hillary will need Poppy's blessing
if she, as a nominal Democrat, is to have ANY chance of being elected in Diebold Amerika. Bill cannot utter a word against the Boy King unless he wants to unleash the BFEE Destruction Machine again.
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LightningFlash Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 06:44 AM
Response to Original message
18. This kind of thing really has to be watched carefully..
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050616/ts_usatoday/christianrightgroupssetsightson08

These people just as much as anyone else deserve to be prosecuted....Paul Weyrich, Richard Scaife and the whole lot of them were organizers for the idea of this war, many wars to follow, and they are totally out of control.

They represent the far out of hand right, a fascist fake christian agenda. They need to be driven out of power permanently, these types of people are mentally ill. It is the exact same as the McCarthyism of the 50s and all above...
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annabanana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 06:49 AM
Response to Reply #18
19. Considering that the majority of Americana are NOT
in their way of thinking... we could use their machine against them... a little jiujitsu...

If they are sending out "values indicator" questionaires, a "positive" rating from them is just as powerful a "negative" rating from most of America.
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LightningFlash Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 06:51 AM
Response to Reply #19
20. Bingo...Dean could frame this into a huge offensive!!!
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Deja Q Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 06:51 AM
Response to Original message
21. Opportunists. Politicians are nothing else BUT.
I've said before they do things first and foremost to better themselves and those who bribe donate the most to them.

I'd like to know how many elected officials are middle class or lower and I bet the number is under 10.

Pusillanimous leeches.

I think I'm staying home on 2008. And there is one reason alone why I am bothering to vote in 2006, and let's face it I'm not even sure why I am...

And maybe Clinton can explain why intelligence of 2002 was fucked up yet intelligence of 1998 was spot-on, huh? That's not a repuke meme, that's the sad reality. Clinton made much the same noises as * had, Albright and all. Thank God that Clinton didn't go all the way * had, otherwise he'd have been locked up for war crimes and the Dems put to ruin for good.
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Daphne08 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 07:25 AM
Response to Original message
23. Too many of them are corrupt.
It doesn't please me to say that either.

We want so badly to believe that all of the members of Congress are working FOR us, but I ask, what have they done TO us, the People, lately?

They have allowed our civil rights to be stripped from us by this administration and they've allowed our pocketbooks to be picked by the corporations!

So, of course I don't doubt that most of them knew about the facts of this war. I certainly suspected it.

I mean, how difficult was it to figure out?








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sendero Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 07:30 AM
Response to Original message
24. I don't think..
.... that Dems went along because of any "profit motive" or anything of the sort. How are they going to profit from this, do they all own defense stocks?

No, I think it was much simpler - and I was there :) They are chickens. They felt like they could not win against the Bush propaganda effort and public opinion. The country was angry and lashing out, and they didn't have the guts to stand up to it.

I'm really not sure that is any better, but I believe that is what happened.
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BooScout Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 07:31 AM
Response to Original message
25. Most of them knew.....
...and that's why I am thoroughly disgusted with just about any politician these days. I think the Dems knew a lot more than they are letting on. I will never forgive them for voting to support a war in Iraq. All of us here knew it was wrong at the time and you cannot convince me that they were "tricked" or "misled" into voting for it all.
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Tierra_y_Libertad Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 07:57 AM
Response to Original message
26. Vote issues. Not party. Politicians don't lead, they follow.
Everybody is looking for "leaders". We're the leaders. Politicians follow the votes and the money. Conyers, Durbin, Boxer, etc, aren't "leading the curve", they're following the curve that the voters are making. (Note: I admire and respect all of the above, but keep in mind that they are still politicians). As long as we, the voters, continue to accept the tepid political maneuvers of "leaders" such as Kerry, Lieberman, Edwards, Biden, et al, we surrender our leadership.

Against the war and occupation? Vote for candidates that are against the war and occupation.

The "not as bad as" option is just fine when it involves naming a bridge or some other issues that have little impact. But, when it comes to killing people, destroying the environment, taking away civil rights, "not as bad as" means that somebody is going to die, a forest is going to be destroyed, some peoples civil rights are going to taken away, and it isn't "not as bad".

Politicians are in office because we put them there. They're supposed to work for us, not corporations or their own ambitions that they are far too eager to promote by following the path of least resistance.



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dgocracker Donating Member (11 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 09:56 AM
Response to Reply #26
31. Compromise
Politics in about compromise. There are many people in this country with many different views. The only way to accomplish anything is to compromise. This means we have to give up some of the things we hold dear, but it must be done. You can't please all the people all the time. The administration is not very compromising, they don't have to be. I do think this will come back to bite them though. If you refuse to compromise you will not be let into the discussion. The radicals are on the fringe of society. You don't see many ELF members on Capitol Hill, they have to resort to blowing up hotels which only gives decent environmentalist/conservationists a bad name. Sticking by your ideals is fine, if you don't want anything to change. The trick is to know when you are compromising and still retain your core values.
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Kansas Wyatt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 09:22 AM
Response to Original message
29. Maybe the Democrats who signed on, not the DINOS, were afraid....
Of the Republican Attack Machine in their next election. Like, 'How dare you not support America in this time of war and do not believe in our troops.' Maybe they were not willing to face the firing squad that brought you, 'I voted for the war, before I voted against it.'

Everyone there knew that they risked being systematically destroyed if they opposed Der Fuhrer.
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PATRICK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 09:57 AM
Response to Original message
32. It sounds like another lie
since the excuse at the time was that Bush was assuring them, as the justification of the vote, that war would be a last resort. Kerry in particular made a big point to his critics of holding Bush accountable for this.

Now to admit they had doubts as much as any rational less informed person in its own miserable way matches the WH and media performance. Criminals in court facing a deaths sentence are given the benefit of the doubt. By putting the wrong perspective on just about everything the benefit of the doubt was ceded to the prosecutor of war and denied the troops who sentenced to die there for decades. Are still dying, under the auspices of this entire government.

People die for lies in this country- so long as those suffering are not the responsible liars.

This is not "toughness" "wisdom" "vision" or "responsibility" it ends being "dancing with Adolph". Somehow the people dying under the seal of the incredible war vote have never sunk in as a priority of conscience with certain would-be Dem leaders.

Byrd says he lived a lifetime of regret fro his Vietnam vote and the subsequent body bags returned to his home state. One huge consequence is not being able to stop a repeat. His fellow Senators that shoved aside his witness should be even more haunted for being more and much more forewarned.
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annabanana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 02:12 PM
Response to Original message
33. kickety kick
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UdoKier Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 02:20 PM
Response to Original message
34. I agree. Most dems who voted for IWR knew the "intel" was bogus.
Even at the time, it was widely reported that Bushco was drastically distorting the intel. The dems in congress knew it was bogus but caved in, either to DINO ideology, or to fear of not acting on post-9-11 hysteria. It was their job to cool and collected, not be cowards in the face of hysteria.

And I also agree that all this bunk about them being "fooled" by Bush's bad intel is just a bunch of CYA.

In a perfect world, every single dem and repug that voted for the war should be REMOVED FROM OFFICE, because they were complicit in a huge crime.

But unfortunately, this country has no history of holding its leaders accountable for fraudulent wars, even in the 1800s.
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slybacon9 Donating Member (848 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 02:47 PM
Response to Original message
35. Vote your heart
you are right whoever said that above. my dad told me that once. i wish i would have listened. then i would have lost, but i would have felt right.

I didn't fight anything this election. I gave in.

I voted for a guy who voted to go to war. Just like the opposition did.

It is everything i am against. And I'm sorry to the families of the dead. .

They work for us. We are their boss. We hire them and fire them. Not the other way around.

It's time to be accountable if I want things to change.

Somethings I compromise. War is not one of them.

I don't care if we lose every election from here on out. I will not vote for people that do not fight this now.

I will save my vote for Sheila Jackson Lee before i ever vote for a middle of the road Hillary.

John Conyers before John Kerry.

No more Hollywood politicians.

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lancdem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-17-05 03:44 PM
Response to Original message
36. Thr Big Dog didn't agree with Bush on the war
He's said many times he wanted the UN inspections to continue. I think some Dems had suspicions the intelligence was being manipulated, but nothing concrete to prove it - until now.
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