No, not YOU guys… THOSE guys.
Encouraged as I am by Ms. Pelosi’s threat of sanction against the Vichy 15, I wish to put on notice all the spineless, capitulating, groveling, sniveling so-called Democrats: BE DEMOCRATS, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES.
Crossposted at my new community blog: My Left Wing
I am so goddamned disgusted with Nelson and Lieberman and Landrieu and Biden (to say nothing of the 15) and… jesus, is there a single Democrat with whom I am NOT disgusted? Well, yeah. There have been some signs of spine: Boxer, Conyers, Slaughter, Pelosi on occasion… yeah. I ran out, there. I’m sure there are more. Feingold? Okay, fine, Feingold – he may be of sterling liberal character – but I sure as hell don’t hear him talking much.
It’s easy for me to vilify Lieberman and Landrieu and Nelson. They’re obvious. But Biden? That smooth talker? Yeah – Mr. MBNA. It’s clear to me that Joe Biden IS a liberal, at least in his heart. But it’s not enough to BE a liberal – you have to fucking ACT like it. Biden’s vote on the Bankruptcy Bill shut him off forever from the sunlight of my approval, that’s for fucking sure.
It’s taking me time to come to terms with the fact that neither John Kerry nor Howard Dean nor Barbara Boxer –in fact, that no Democrat on the radar right now is the Saviour of Democracy and America that I hoped there would be. Because to save the world and the country and the Democratic Party will take the one thing, in mass quantities, that seems to be missing from most Democrats’s characters: Motherfucking COURAGE. Dean and Gore have it; but so far, I haven’t seen them take the national stage and command an audience the way it MUST if this long, national nightmare is to be dispelled.
Frankly, what we need is MORE impolitic behaviour from our Democrats, not less. FUCK the apologies, goddamnit.
THE GODDAMNED WORLD IS COMING TO AN END. When, exactly, will it be acceptable to start SCREAMING YOUR HEAD OFF ABOUT IT? When, exactly, will the elected members of the Democratic Party stop acting as if the future of their individual political lives is more important than the future of the WHOLE CIVILIZED WORLD?
WHY is there not a unified voice coming from the Democratic Party, proclaiming loudly and clearly that George W. Bush and his Administration are RUINING THE WORLD? WHY is there not an outright WAR going on in the House and the Senate? Why is the first refuge of our elected Democrats always CONCESSION and bullshit BIPARTISANSHIP? POLITESSE? DIPLOMACY?
FUCK DIPLOMACY. For the love of motherfucking GOD, people, the Republicans have NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in bipartisanship. What they want is to eradicate the concept of opposition. What they want is Republicans and RepublicansLite. Whipping boys. And THEY HAVE IT.
I feel a wee bit o’ fire in the belly as I write this. I don’t have any answers, but BOY OH BOY, there had better be some forthcoming from the so-called Democratic powers that be. Of myself, I may be a powerless being, but I am part of a rapidly growing entity that is Really Fucking Sick of Being Sold Down the Fucking River By Its Own Party.
I’m a big girl, I can take it.
But let me say this first: I don’t believe in the circular firing squad. But there is a time to stand up and say, “This behaviour, Democratic REPRESENTATIVES, is wholly unacceptable. Straighten up and fly right, or we’ll sack the fucking lot of you.”
That time is NOW.
CHENEY’S Energy Bill:
(From TocqueDeville’s My Left Wing diary, With Democrat(ic) Support, Bush’s Agenda Moves Forward):
Here are the Senate Democrats who voted for Big Money, Big Energy and against you.
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Here are the Senate Democrats who first voted for the Energy Act last month and then voted against it when it was sure to pass anyway. Nice try.
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Boxer (D-CA)
Carper (D-DE)
Clinton (D-NY)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Leahy (D-VT)
Murray (D-WA)
Reid (D-NV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
You can almost always count on Feinstink to do the wrong thing and Boxer the right thing. I’m with you Maryscott. All the way! They keep caving to the repugs so we might as well just get right to the one party system and then watch exactly what the “either you’re with us or against us party” wil do!
Said it before and I’ll say it again: I’ve been an independent before and will gladly do it again. The Dems either get their act together or expect folks like me to abandon their sinking ship.
I hear what you’re saying, but what brings you to Al Gore? He’s the “screw CAFE, let’s have SUVs” man. And the “screw the Snail Darter, let’s build another dam” man. He’s just one more of the easily-bought politicians that have taken over Washington D.C.
How about somebody like Kucinich?
Well, I suppose we have to vote for somebody who’s “electable.” Great.
Have you READ Earth in the Balance?
Yep. He writes a good book. But in eight years as VP he took us into the SUV quagmire, and his senatorial environmental record also sucks. He’s a great talker and a great politician, but a lousy doer.
He had his chance.
Like you, I am disgusted at what passes for the Democratic Party now. So we need to take a page from Grover Norquist’s book.
Every candidate running for office on the Democratic Party ticket should be required to sign a pledge that he or she supports.
–Health care for every American.
–Access to a good education for every American regardless of ability to pay.
–The right to privacy without government interference except for critical government needs (as in criminal cases.)
–A secure retirement payment from the Social Security system.
–The right to organize a union without being fired for it.
This is the core. I have a few others over at Politics Plus Stuff but they are of less importance than these.
Then we need a PARTY that puts together a position on these Republican initiatives like Stem Cell research and the bankruptcy bill, and which tells Democrats that if they vote against the party, it will be remembered. Or that tells them when they are allowed to vote their conscience.
The key is that the party develops a clear postion and people know what Democrats stand for. The importance of that is that the when someone like Biden steps off the reserveation, IT IS CLEAR THAT HE IS PLAYHING HIS OWN GAME! This puts a brand on the party so that people know what it stands for.
This would require some organization like Norquists’ organization that got the pledges and publicized people who strayed off the reservation.
It should also be both national and at state level.
Republicans are winning because they have systems like this in place and we don’t.