[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?
