Author: PDiddie

I’m officially ready to adopt the Republican terminology of denigration for those who have chosen to wear the label proudly. I’m not going to call them Blue Dogs or moderates or conservative Dems any longer. They are Democrats.

They are not Democratic.

The distinctions have been demonstrated several times just this week, brought into sharp focus by the conduct of Democrats and Democratics regarding the attorney general’s imminent confirmation in the Senate and the vote to impeach the vice-president yesterday in the House.

See if you can predict where this goes:

Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein are Democrats; Russ Feingold and Patrick Leahy are Democratic. Steny Hoyer’s definitely a Democrat. Dennis Kucinich is obviously a member of the Democratic Party.

Hillary Clinton? Democrat. John Edwards? Democratic.

Democrats kow-tow, appease, relent, capitulate, quaver, acquiesce, give in, and give up. They vote to fund the war in Iraq, they vote for torture, for wiretapping, for immunity for for wiretappers, and against S-CHIP and impeaching Cheney.

Democratics do not.

Members of the Democratic Party stand for the people against the powerful. Democrats take a poll to figure out where they stand. Democratics want campaign finance reform, as in publicly funded elections; Democrats crowd up to the corporate trough to suck swill right alongside their conservative swine-brothers.

The thing is that some Democrats are occasionally Democratic, but you nearly never find a Democratic going Democrat. It’s a matter of principle that no poll, no lobbyist, no check in any amount can influence. And the other thing is that a Democrat is capable of being made into — or back into — a member of the Democratic Party, essentially because of that knack they have of being easily influenced.

I’m only supporting and voting for the Democratic Party from now on.

A supervisor with CPS Energy (San Antonio public utility) displays a hangman’s noose over two separated bibles — a symbol of white supremacy — in his cubicle at the downtown office.  Photo here.  Management has not responded to numerous complaints about it.
Almost as incredible is the fact that the CEO of CPS Energy, “the nation’s largest municipally-owned energy company providing both natural gas and electric service”, is an African-American, as is the chief administrative officer.

With everything that’s been in the news of late regarding nooses …

KSAT (TV-12) did a report on last night’s newscast and there is video also at the link.

It’s a small, small world for pardons, after all.  Emphasis mine.

President Bush’s commutation of Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence highlights some interesting connections between Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, a former fugitive from justice, an ex-president and two leading 2008 White House hopefuls.

Before entering government, Libby was a private attorney who represented billionaire international commodities trader Marc Rich. Rich was indicted in 1983 by then-U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani on charges of tax evasion and illegal dealing with Iran during the American hostage crisis.

Rich fled to Switzerland. He also occupied a spot on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.

Giuliani, former mayor of New York, is now a leading Republican presidential candidate. He endorsed Bush’s decision to spare Libby jail time even though he’d tried to put Libby’s client behind bars.

“After evaluating the facts, the president came to a reasonable decision, and I believe the decision was correct,” Giuliani said.

Rich’s fugitive days ended when President Clinton pardoned him in January 2001, a move that prompted a congratulatory call from Libby to Rich. The pardon raised questions about whether large donations to the Democratic Party and the Clinton Library by Rich’s former wife, Denise, had anything to do with it.

Clinton, of course, is married to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who is a Democratic front-runner for the White House. She blasted Bush’s decision on Libby, leaving out any mention of Libby’s connection to Rich — or Rich at all, for that matter.

I didn’t think I had still had the capacity to be slack-jawed.

With Bob Gammage’s announcement that he will enter the race for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Texas, it’s time to poll Texans (OK, all y’all).

Here are the websites of the three announced candidates:

Felix Alvarado

Chris Bell

Bob Gammage

Who do you like?

It would also be interesting to know if any are planning on holding out for Kinky Friedman.

There are similar polls at DKos and MyDD.