Are Democrats no better than Republicans?

[lwcon]

Disgusted and frustrated as I am that any Democrats supported Bush's latest assault on the Constitution, let's take a look at the "Protect America Act" box score before we flip the bozo bit on "the Democrats":



Disgusted and frustrated as I am, looking at these numbers and saying Democrats are no different from Republicans still strikes me as the province of concern trolls.

The problem is a subset of Dems who are no different from Republicans. And you will know them by the trail of votes.

I'm not schooled on whether there were procedural opportunities for Dem leaders to prevent this vote from happening at all.

But given that it did, it's clear that Pelosi and Reid can't stop the bleeding in no-brainer votes, including the similarly unnecessary cave-in on the recent Iraq appropriation.

A failure of leadership and a failure of the led. That Blue Dog Democrats represented 30 of the Dems' 41 House yea votes suggests that our deal with the DINOs is as valuable as a Confederate dollar.

Yes, our stitched-together majority gets us some committee chairmanships, but so far there is little sense of "playing to win," even among folks like the estimable Henry Waxman.

At this point, it looks like until and unless we have fewer DINOs than the Old Testament, things aren't going to get any better — not without some genuine leadership, which is in very short supply.

NOTE: I was unable to find a Senate roll-call, so I backed into some of the numbers by reviewing various articles. I'll happily post corrections if more reliable figures are available.

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[jgraz]

1. I'm with Frank Dwyer -- complicit Dems are *worse*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-dwyer/throw-the-bums-out-ou_b_59185.html

But what about conventional realpolitik? What if by opposing these neocon fellow-travelers we allow Republican troglodytes to win those seats? Minimum wage! Supreme Court! Global warming! Don't we have to stick to the hoary mantra of so many of our sad past trudges to the voting booth: two cheers for the lesser-of-two-evils! You'll have to make up your own mind, of course, but for me the compromise is over. Evil is evil, and I won't ever again vote for evil, even if it is "less" evil than the other choice the broken system is offering me.

As a matter of fact, I don't think Feinstein and her ilk any longer qualify as "lesser" evils. Democrats who voted to legitimize the law-breaking of this criminal president, long overdue for impeachment, Democrats who validated his contempt for the Constitution and his betrayal of his oath of office are, to me, more evil than standard-issue cartoon-villain Congressmen from that president's own irredeemably discredited and disgraced party. Make no mistake: I loathe, I anathematize, all the fiercely malignant, greedy, mean-spirited, rubber-stamping, corporofascist Republican leaders, but they can neither surprise nor wound me. I know them, I know what to expect of them; I know what they believe and what they will do if they think can get away with it. ("Government is not a SOLUTION to the problem. Government IS the problem," their grotesque old hero intoned. That means NO TAXES! Their only principle. NO TAXES! Though our children and grandchildren may fall with the falling bridges or be blown up by the bursting pipes, NO TAXES! If our children and grandchildren are so worried about old bridges and pipes, let them raise their own taxes, if they want to restore the infrastructure, fine, but they can pay for it themselves, if that's how they choose to throw away their lovely money.)

No, it's only my own leaders, my Democrats, the men and women I supported and trusted and believed in and donated money to and stayed up late to cheer for, only my Democrats who can wound me like this. So what if Cheney treats the Constitution and the planet itself as just so many plump tame quail thrown up in the air for his venereal delight--Cheney can't break my heart. But Feinstein, Bayh, Webb: those are the heartbreakers.

I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. The Rethugs are cartoon villians, twisting their moustaches while they tie the country to the railroad tracks. But the enabling Democrats are far worse, far more disgusting and far more demoralizing for people like me who worked so hard to put them in power.

[lwcon]

3. It's glib to say they're worse, but...

... their hands are as dirty as those who put this stuff on the agenda, so it's a fine point anyway.

In any case, we're in violent agreement that these turncoats must be replaced, yes?

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[jgraz]

5. I wish someone could articulate it better than I can

At this point, the Rethugs almost seem like a natural disaster. They're pure evil and they're going to do what they want no matter what. But the folks who enable that disaster, who allow it to happen again and again while holding themselves up as the only ones who can stop it? That's just sickening, mostly because of all the good people who are drawn into complicity with them.

Fool me once...

[lwcon]

6. I think you said it rather well

I just want to make sure we don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. But we do need some fresh, clean bathwater in '08 -- not water full of blue-dog drool.

Also, I agree with you that today's Repubs are evil. Look up the definition in any dictionary, and the shoe's gonna fit their feet hooves. Which, indeed, makes their enablers more or less as bad.

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[Jim__]

2. Your point that it was only a fraction(although a large fraction) of dems who voted to

give bush more power, is well taken.

However, given the well-documented lying and abuse of powerof this adminsitration, I have to wonder, couldn't the Democrats have stopped this? Couldn't the Democrats have prevented this from coming to a vote? Given the total corruption of the bush administration, the Democrats are obliged to absolutely prevent things like this from happening. If the can't do that, they are useless.

[lwcon]

4. Yes, I'm wondering that, too

There may have been procedural options available to the leadership that weren't used -- if anyone knows that, please chime in here.

As constituted, they're not standing up for the Constitution, but for me that's a clarion call to help build a better Democratic majority next time around. Not just bigger, but also better by replacing the DINOs.

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