[From the diaries by susanhu.]
Look, I’ve never been much of a C-Span type. I really haven’t watched my “government in action” in real time probably since the Watergate hearings. So maybe my perspective is a bit off-kilter.
But as I sit here the morning after, and contemplate what I witnessed on the television last night, I cannot but think that this was one of the most base, vile, disgusting spectacles I have witnessed in quite some time.
Not just the Repub wingnutters, and their lying, stupid inanitiies. Not just the amount of utterly wasted time on this political sideshow while the real business of government slipped to the bottom of the in-box.
I was embarrassed — ashamed — of what I saw on the television last night. This is our government? These are the people we fuckin elected to represent us? These clowns? These poseurs? These self-absorbed, pompous assholes?
I barely saw a REAL human being on either side. Perhaps Murtha came the closest, but he pretty much just reread his speech from the day before, and a couple of letters from constituents, and basked in his share of the utterly insincere standing ovations that were thrown around by both sides like some cheap Mardi-gras beads.
It was sickening.
Sure, this was a political stunt by the Repubs. Sure, it was never meant to be a serious debate about the war. But it was a chance to say something real, something meaningful about how to STOP a fuckin war. How to stop people from fuckin dying. And the Dems side-stepped it.
Continued below:
Shocked — shocked — at the besmirching of poor ole Jack Murtha’s reputation. That’s the best they could muster. Hey, as Rahm Emanuel (D, Ill.), said the day before, “At the right time, we will have a position.” That’s not talking about the right time to save a few lives in an unnecessary war. No, that’s the right time to figure out how my position will best enhance my chances for reelection.
So the Dems hemmed and hawed, huffed and puffed, postured and posed, and did nothing. They couldn’t even put together a political stunt of their own in response, like walking out in protest. Instead, they sat there and took the Republican bait, and voted for (or against, I suppose) the resolution.
Okay, so?
Oh yeah, and then they went on a two-week vacation.
I wonder how many will die in the war they refuse to deal with in those two weeks. How many young men and women will have their bodies maimed for life, their souls scarred forever, in those two weeks?
But, hey, no problem the Dems will have a position at the right time.
Aren’t you just so fuckin proud to be an American?
Rahm Emanuel is one of the main reasons I refuse to give money to the DNC. I have the power to figure out if there are candidates out there whom I can respect. Not one cent of my money is going to Emanuel, Lieberman, et al., even if they do have a “D” after their names.
The hubris among our elected officials is beyond belief.
Rahm Emanuel is one of the main reasons I refuse to give money to the DNC
Apologies in advance to any fans, but when I heard him speak, I thought ‘epitome of sleaze’.
the DNC?
Rahm doesn’t have anything directly to do with DNC, but DNC supports all the Democratic candidates, including monetarily.
I’m glad the caucus had his back (finally!) with the quick character assassination that comes so easily to rethugs. That, in itself, is a thing of beauty and a sign of hope.
I know–and I apologize to you for having such low expectations.
That said, they need to just stop the BS. Why do they continue to defend the indefensible?? Just stop all these damn lies. Just stop all the maiming and death. Enough!
Murtha gave them an out. Take it.
Auntie it’s almost a shock to the nervous system.
I must admit, I was pretty friggin shocked when I learned what Murtha said earlier this week. And I thought, Surely if Murtha has had enough, then the Caucus will get behind him.
And I’m so pissed that I was wrong, for reasons political, professional and personal.
Maybe I’m used to progressives/liberals being shit on, but the very holy grail that Murtha represents that the “leaders” so desperately want to appeal to–and they shit all over him. They are not “ready.” He doesn’t speak for me (sound familiar?). We don’t want to release a position yet.
WTF?
We gave them the opening for the rethugs to pull this stupid-ass stunt (even though luckily, it will backfire … stupid punks). We don’t even realize our power, here. And these folks have faulty memories: when Dems had the House/Sen/WH, repubs attacked and attacked and attacked some more. No they didn’t win votes. So not the goddamned point. But they stood for something and were relentless.
We should have these goddamned rethugs on the ropes and we don’t because we are so vested in keeping up george bush’s illusions that do NOTHING but maim and kill.
To quote Al Pacino in the Insider: “The cat, TOTALLY out of the bag–and you’re still standing there, debating. What the hell else do you need?”
Well, I could at least use the quote as a new sig.
the Dems turn their back on Murtha night before last. There will undoubtedly be more dead — 13 Iraqis this morning — the longer this goes on. I called my representative, who was not on the floor yesterday afternoon but in a meeting. I told the aide that Rep. Berry, a conservative Democrat from Arkansas, had better get down there and stand with Murtha because the repugs were demeaning all veterans.
I read Murtha’s bill over at Steve Clemons’s site and, frankly, don’t see what’s wrong with it. Only Halliburton is gaining from this war, and that makes me want to VOMIT!
After all this time, why don’t the Dems have a position? If this is not the “right time,” I don’t know what is.
Thanks, leftvet.
PS I have to admit it was good to see the repugs make such fools of themselves, especially Hunter. Some of the other Dems made good speeches, but that doesn’t save lives, mend injuries, or cure lifelong disability.
And the lifelong disability that the survivors of the invasion of Iraq will/can sustain is not being addressed by bushco. Only the profits for the oil companies are. The rest is left for the next admin to clean up, assuming there is one capable of doing so!
True … you can see that the D’s were still afraid to say that Bush is a liar … more like “we pursued the wrong policy …” etc., etc. I posted on Rahm myself yesterday (using the Monty Python “Run Away!” theme …). It’s unbelievable … he probably polls before he orders Chinese takeout. Asshole.
Yes, these were my thoughts to the letter last night while watching. I was almost able to speak with Murtha to the letter having watched his speech the day before.
There was little to nothing of substance — the sole exception being perhaps the one speaker who called out the administration for not responding to Murtha’s inquiries after five months.
More instructive was listening to the callers who were identified by one of ‘(for) Democrats’, ‘(for) Bush’ or ‘other’. I was particularly intrigued by how the Bush/R supporters think. My mouth dropped open as I heard Iraq compared positively to World War II. I could only think to myself “we’re in big trouble” as I heard a Texan woman insist that by staying in Iraq, we were keeping the bad element out of the US. She started babbling and shrieking that liberals enjoy insurgency and the baddies, in general — her meaning was quite clear as she specifically referenced ‘they love it in LA!’ — so much so, that the next caller was at a loss for words.
oh, my.
We still don’t have a Mission yet!!!! It’s just one big free for all and the only reason that people say that if we leave right now soldiers died for nothing is because there is no mission……there is nothing and therefore when they die there they die for nothing and Iraq has no end because we haven’t declared what goal we reach that will end it for us!
The mission: control of oil and put more $ in the pockets of Halliburton. Mission accomplished.
I’m so with you on this one. I think our country is absolutely starved for real leadership that tells the truth and has honest motives.
It seems like the people are in the lead on this and our elected officials are too busy trying to find out what we’re ready for – they aren’t able to actually do anything.
I just heard on CNN that Feith is under investigation by the Pentagon (I think it was the Pentagon) for illegal collection of intelligence prior to the war.
So maybe it’s the people and the professionals in our government leading the way and one day our elected officials will catch up to where we’re going.
If that is the case, every single one of them should be tossed out of office! Elected officials are to represent the population, not the people bowing down to elected officals.
That is, if our form of government was a democracy!!!
Totally agree. Unfuckingbelievable.
I cut that out a long, long time ago.
Thinking of hauling ass to Canada!
I did that a long time ago.
; ^ )
Wondering if I could get dual citizenship…At one time, my parents and grandparents owned property in Canada for about 5, 6, 7 years, something like that…
Also je parle franacais un peu. Plus, I am a winter person–I love hockey!!
(No snark intended–had to put that last bit in!)
depends on which team… if it’s the Leafs, sure, come on up… but if you’re a Habs fan tough luck…
😉
Definitely the Leafs! Habs knocked the Red Wings out of the playoffs too many times!!!
ooohhhh…. low blow…
(I do have to admit that the Hab’s fans name for the Maple Leafs is a classic… the Make Believes…) 😉
LMAO!
Last night as I watched the Repugs go on and on about freedom in Iraq I thought of a plan.
Since we’re so into freedom and elections, how about if we put our involvement on the ballot? The upcoming elections could include the following question:
“Should the military of the United States stay in Iraq?”
Then we abide by what the people most affected by all of this actually want.
I’m actually partly serious about this.
I’m having trouble with this diary and the responses. All of you sound like policitcal newbies as played by Dana Carvey in a dress.
Congress has been like this since 1790. Read history. Haven’t any of you seen the British House of Commons debate? It makes the US House of Representatives look like a <snark> tea party. House members fought with canes in the pre-Civil War era, and had fist fights on the floor. The Senate was always a touch more gentlemanly, probably because its members were/are older and can’t punch each other out for power as much.
Guys, it’s about power, and money. It’s about who gets to run things and who gets jobs for their District. These past few days we’ve seen complaints about Parlimentary procedure by those who can’t figure it out. The Parlimentary rules were invented to keep the Parliment from sticking swords in each other.
Don’t be sniffing at me like the Church Lady, it makes you look out of touch with what is. Congresspeople aren’t there to be ‘Mr. Smith goes to Washington’, they’re there because they have weird egos, want power, money, and to win. “Oh, but they should be working together for us!” They are –as an aggregate, it’s just that you want it to be like Ms. Olson said it would be in fifth grade. It isn’t, the stakes are too big. The stakes have been too big for centuries.
cuz the Dems can’t, won’t and don’t do what it takes to win.
I don’t see too much of the whiny lib dem snivel about unethical meanie liars –
I see people fed up with “our” incompetent “leaders” who won’t fight.
rmm.
The House Dems beat the shit out of the Repubs last night, fundamentally changed the terms of the debate, changed the perception of the debate among the people capable of understanding it, disarmed the “unpatriotic” label, and shifted the ground from under the Republican’s feet, smashed Rove’s latest orchestrated attack, and forged even greater unity among the Dem Caucus. Nope, nothing happened.
Hear you on that one! Real problem is that people cannot differentiate between the dems and the repubs. It’s not apathy, it’s more like a “who-gives-a-fuck, they’re-all-the-same” attitude.
because some people said “things”. I am upset because some people folded up like orgami and hot air blew over the land. It was mostly bullshit. I am all for a good brawl sans the bullshit. When the egos get in the way though all we seem to have is bullshit on both sides and soldiers continue to die while the egos go vacation. I am all for dishing up the truth in hot steaming piles served up on enormous platters!
Beware of metaphor. Whose truth? In hot steaming piles on platters.
The truth is so foreign to these people they will swear on a stack of Bibles that it is burning them to death!!! It has been denied so long that it is piling up and piling up and it will take huge platters to serve it all now.
The problem isn’t so much last night’s laughable behavior — which, rolfyboy6 is right, is pretty much par for the course — as the underlying fact that the Democrats are still not against the war. Not after the lying. Not after the quagmire. Not after public opinion has decisively turned against the war. Not even after an important hawk calls for early withdrawal (though we should be careful not to overpraise Murtha; Pesto nicely captures my concerns in this dKos comment).
Reports are that about 70 House Dems are willing to actually back Murtha. That’s around 1/3 of the House Democratic caucus.
And don’t for a minute think that this is a sign of spinelessness or the Democrats’ unwillingness to get their act together. A spineless party follows the polls. For months now, most House Democrats have supported the war despite the polls.
Democratic hawks’ support for the war is a measure of the depth of their militarism. And they are as responsible for the disaster unfolding in Iraq as Congressional Republicans are.
Exactly. It’s not the incivility or the egos: it’s the fact that we have no real opposition party.
This is why US progressives need to build a base from the local level up, prove that progressive policies work, and put pressure on national Democratic politicians (it works) while continuing to hold noses and vote for the bastards because they are significantly better than the other bastards. If such a bottom-up development happened, a national coalition of local and state-level progressive parties could eventually emerge as a viable national alternative. But without a huge and solid local base, any third party is doomed.
at least in Japan they actually do something when another member impugnes character or integrity.
Doesn’t have to be a fist fight, but how about abstaining from the sham vote, or as leftvet says, walking out and refusing to take part in the fraud?
I think they did a reasonably good job of making the case. Walking out leave the Rethugs with unopposed air time. Yesterdays display can only have hurt Republicans.
That said, Rahm Emanuel makes my skin crawl and that bloated sack of blah-blah the Dems have for minority whip is hardly credible as a human being. It takes the full force of seeing those robo-saurian Republicans like Duncan Hunter who always seems like he’s just crawled in front of the lights after a dinner of blood and anti-freeze or that clown floor leader from Georgia who is impersonating a fourth rate actor over-doing an oozing confidence man to make the Dems even faintly palatable.
since Raygun won in 1981, when I was 21 and working for a year after dropping outta college
dropping out cuz I was piling up loans like no one’s business and I didn’t see what the end game was with a poli sci degree
working for $4.25 cuz my family was on welfare and the unemployment rate in MA as over 10% and I was lucky to have a job
when I went back to school in the fall of ’82 my grant money was cut cuz I had made too much money. fortunately I was in culinary school and I could easily work full time from Thurs to Sun.
anyway, I’ve always had a respect for the Thugs. they are good at what they do. sure, they are evil, mean, blah blah blah – but, they win !
anyway, my rant is my first booman diary.
“I respect Murtha, Thugs, & Few DC Dems”
rmm.
I forgot the sentences about
living in Boston or Seattle for the last 27 years, listening to my drippy lib acquantances complain about what the thugs were doing –
and what the thugs have done has completely, totally negatively impacted me for 27 years –
and I always want “leaders” who are gonna kick thug ass, NOT find excuses to lose.
as least the thugs, in a warped way, make sense. they don’t care about anyone, they want to screw everyone, and they do it well.
Hi rmd. Welcome.
well, the Dems’ are vacuous and unable to actually DEBATE the war b/c they don’t stand for anything, other than maintaining their seats at the corporate table.
If they actually had anything they believed in, if they really gave a shit about stopping the war, they would have stood up, en mass as the Republicans made their final statement and WALKED OUT, refusing to vote on that bullshit bill.
They didn’t, because they aren’t fighting FOR anything.
And they won’t fight for anything until things get a hell of a lot worse, i.e., body counts, protests against the leadership, an uncensored media, and so on.
Yesterday’s performance was pretty bad, but I do think it served a kind of purpose. I think it was intended as political theatre, rather than as an effort to accomplish something substantive, and I think the Repubs are going to get very bad notices. (And wouldn’t I just love to see Frank Rich write a review of it.)
Yes, the Dems are not as organized as we’d like, and yes, the Repubs are slimy swamp dwellers, but what this did is bring the simmering discontent out into the open, in Congress, where it’s going to get prime time all weekend. And Joe and Jane America, who haven’t a clue about what’s going on because they’re so busy taking the kids to soccer practice and working two jobs to support the McMansion, may have their bubble pricked. Just a bit.
Engaged and committed and sometimes articulate as we are, bloggers are also a small numerical minority in the overall nation of 300 million. It takes a lot to wake the populace up, to overcome the inertia of doing nothing other than day-to-day, but it is happening. And I think we’re a good bit closer to critical mass than we were even a few days ago.
And when we reach critical mass, the political world may just turn on a dime.
The Democrats in congress are not different enough from the Repubs to make much of a difference on any important issue.
Political ambition leaves precious little room for principle, and the Dems are just as good at proving the veracity of this ugly truth as the Repubs are.