THE STAIN OF GEORGE BUSH - PART DEUX
This is simple enough to write about, yet difficult all the same. Because this list is going to include Democrats who decided that association with George W. Bush was more beneficial than standing up for the values, principles and ethics that truly define the Democratic Party.
Most of them are members of the DLC/Blue Dog Coalition, and I don't need to bother naming them - they're the reason I developed this blog. Yet, there are others who got momentarily drunk on GOP Grog, or feeding at the corporate trough and lost their natural minds. This is part two of "The Stain of George Bush".
Ah, hell, I may as well list DLC/Blue Dog Members, too; it's more fun!
The Democratic Party is supposed to be an opposition party. Yet from the fraternizing done by the likes of the few I will name here, you couldn't tell where the opposition is. However, they are just as stained from their association with Bush, and smell just as foul. Roadkill probably has a better scent.
(1) The Gang of 73 who voted for that Bankruptcy Bill - I would love to have a camera trained in the offices or Town Hall Meetings of every one of these gang members when they return to their districts and explain to their constituents who probably are on the brink of needing to file bankruptcy, just to get financial relief and make a fresh start, why they are voting to send them to Debtor's Prison? According to statistics at TechPolitics.org, the cost of their vote that was paid by the Credit Card and Banking Industry? On average, $8000.
Never have I known a congressional vote to be bought so cheaply.
But we all know, these gang members aren't going to allow themselves to be cornered and confronted in this manner anytime soon. If they do, it is strictly by accident. Most notably, the 20 members who wrote Denny Hastert, urging him to bring the House version of the BK bill for a swift passage vote, need to be on television, explaining to their constituents why they are asking them to give up eating hamburger for cat and dog food.
(2) Democratic Members of Congress who think the privatization of Social Security was a good idea and allowed themselves to be seen either promoting it, or welcoming Bush to their states to promote it. If I start naming everybody who's guilty of this, most likely, you are going to find their names on the list of losers voting for the BK Bill and other legislation designed to take out their districts in large numbers. These congress Critters KNOW WHO THEY ARE, so don't think I'm hiding you out because I'm not naming names...yet.
(3) Joe Lieberman - Long before this picture of Bush kissing Lieberman began to make the blog rounds, Lieberman was suspected of being a Democrat in Name Only (DINO). It started with him dissing Bill Clinton about the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The family usually reprimands a wayward member privately, but no, Lieberman ran to the floor of Congress, screaming to be the first in Line to diss Dear Leader Clinton. That kiss from Bush at the SOTU this year is more like the kiss Judas gave to Jesus.
(4) Dianne Feinstein - California's Senior Senator has really been pissing off us Californians. First, she had the opportunity to keep the Governor's office in Democratic hands if she had ran for the seat against Ah-nold "Boobengrabber" Schwarzneggar. Does she do the right thing?
NOOOOOOO, she stays out of the whole recall mess and allows Gray Davis to be hoisted by her petard and left hanging. Her cheerleading of Condoleezza Rice did NOTHING to endear her to us; and the fact that her husband ripped off the United Carpenter's Union when he, under the guise of being their "investor" proceeded to invest their pension and lose the investments to the tune of some $40 million dollars, while Feinstein's hubby himself pocketed a cool $8 million in commission. Did I forget to mention that her husband's antics probably violated a slew of Federal laws; most notably the one where a union can't invest the pension fund of it's members unless THEY VOTE ON IT. That didn't happen.
Plus, she's too chummy with Lieberman, and defends Bush's policies and nominees more than questioning them. That alone landed her on this list. Not to mention, she's been in Bush's presence far more than we in Northern California would like.
(5) The Gang of 15 Sellouts who Voted for CAFTA - everyone's after this bunch. NO amount of time in the spin zone can wash away the stain or stench of being associated with Bush on legislation guaranteed to send more jobs out of the country, and assist in relegating America to the third world status of the nations in that Agreement. Guess Greg Meeks likes his corporate sponsored Jamaican vacations too much to do the right thing, huh?
(6) The 47 Democrats who flew back to Washington over Palm Sunday/Easter recess and decided that Congress' job was to interfere in a person's right to live or die (Terri Schaivo). Even though at least 70% of the country said it was NONE OF CONGRESS' BUSINESS! Those who voted for that legislation designed to prolong the life of one, brain-dead white woman, who was in a comatose, persistent, vegatative state; who had been examined by at least 20 doctors and told there was no hope for recovery - well, all I can say is they must have been thinking they were doctors like Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and made similar diagnosis from a video tape. And Bush interrupted his vacation to sign this into law - when he wouldn't interrupt his August 6, 2001 vacation in light of receiving a memo titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S." Imagine where America would be if he had!
Frist is being challenged about his right to retain a licence to practice medicine in the state of Tennessee - while the 47 Democrats who voted with him should be jailed for impersonating God and members of the medical profession, while imitating Bush and interrupting their recess to act like the President they so admire. Oh, the smell of this....
(7) The Gang of Seven "MIA" Democrats who didn't vote on the Federal Budget - There's no excuse for your failing to not show up and vote on the most important piece of Legislation - save for Articles of Impeachment, that is. Yet, seven of you didn't bother to show up, but you probably showed up to vote on legislation that harms more than helps your district, and sells out the middle and working class who voted for you. I mean, this bloated, pork-laden budget passed by only seven votes. And their absence allowed it to happen. In fact, one representative was too busy in his district slurping down coon at a "coon supper" to go to DC and cast a vote one way or the other.
The Stain of being Associated with George Bush. These Congressional members may believe that they aren't associated with him at all. Yet, their votes and support for egregious, harmful legislation demonstrates more association with Dear Leader than they care to admit (to themselves and their constituents, anyway). And the stain starts out as a stain - then it becomes a sore that festers and rots, developing a foul stench that smells like the death of one's soul, until that individual dies.
They don't die physically, but they die in all the other ways that matter; emotionally, spiritually and morally. Once you have died this way, you may as well be dead physically, for all the earthly good you do anybody.
Is one's soul the price they pay for associating with George W. Bush? You be the judge...
posted by The Christian Progressive Liberal at 2:53 PM
6 Comments:
If you get rid of the DLC, you are also getting rid of those of us who are anti-affirmitive action but who still in some way retain some resistence to being Republicans.
Are you sure you don't ever want us voting Democratic? Can reasonable people differ within the Democratic party on this issue? And if so, who will voice are concern and dissent on this issue without the DLC within the DNC?
The fact that you are anti-anything that levels the playing field already tells me that there would be no common ground for discussion.
The Democratic Leadership Council is the reason for double-speak and the Democratic Party as a whole being unable to articulate a coherent message regarding what the Party represents. DLC aspires to be Republican-Lite, and given a choice, the people will vote for the Real Republicans.
Their tactics and track record in national elections that count has resulted in the total and corporate take over of all three branches of the Federal Government, and one-party domination. Unless the DLC is coming to the table to say something that is effective and provides desired results, they can either flip their own script or be eliminated.
Given their track record, that is why this blog is so named.
Social-Democrats were always against quotas of any sort, and discrimination of any sort. That includes reverse discrimination.
While I am not suggesting that social-democrats are the DLC, I don't see such an organized wing within the Democratic party, and would be interested to know if I am incorrect, as you seem to know more about the workings of the Democratic party and its factions than I do.
But social-democrats themselves were hardly "Republican-lite", and if they have indeed been driven from the ranks of the democrats, this is interesting to me.
David:
That is my FRUSTRATION - that there seems to be no working wing of the Democratic Party to articulate the issues, and what the party represents. It has been totally co-opted by the DLC. The only way to counter is to develop a working progressive wing of the party, and while slow, there seems to be signs of life coming from that sector.
I agree that Social Democrats are not the DLC - because DLC types are those who march in lockstep with the opposition, instead of BEING THE OPPOSITION. If you are going to imitate someone, you may as well run with them, as opposed to saying you are the opposition, yet run with those whom you are supposed to be opposing.
I'm not sure if I answered your question, so let me know.
Well, I think we share some points of frustration - like on the bankruptcy bill, which lacked a Democratic fight when we both would agree there should have been one.
I guess we would disagree on an issue like affirmitive action, where I don't see a democratic nuance - that is to say, a group which also attacks legacy, which I consider affirmitive action for the rich, which we both know the Republicans aren't going to attack.
So I guess as someone whose influences include but are not limited to the Social-Democrats, I am sorry they don't have a place in the current Democratic party, and I guess you might to some degree agree with me, but I don't specifically see the DLC as the cause of that.
David you hit the nail on the head. While the concept of affirmative action has been taken totally out of context from it's original intent, I don't care for "legacy" being used to open the doors for those who haven't obtained opportunities based on merit. So I think while we may not totally agree, there is an area for common ground.
I think you are more social Democrat than DLC - and there's a big difference. As I stated, the DLC offers no real alternative or opposition, and you do not continue playing nice with the opposition, when time and time again, they have literally handed you defeat after defeat - even while staring you in the eye and saying they will play nicely.
Out comes the knife to stab the DLCer in the back. And you will see more of this as we approach 2006, because more DLCers are going to get left behind trying to build a bridge to the GOP that they don't want.
Look at Zell Miller. Now that he's no longer in the Senate to trash his fellow Democrats, all he has to say for himself is that he's "a caretaker of cemetaries."
Where's the GOP that so warmly embraced him last Summer while ridiculing John Kerry about his service in Vietnam? Where's that bunch that was egging him on and invited him to New York as their key note speaker?
They are no where to be found, and they are probably not taking Zell's phone calls anymore.
Common ground occurs when two parties both agree on a meeting point and agree not to engage in dirty tricks or veer from their agreement. The GOP doesn't do this, and the DLC keeps trying to make it work and getting the same, if not worse, results.
You simply cannot do the same ol' thing and hope for different outcomes - law of nature.
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