[Dialogue] How Horrible!

Fri May 25 17:42:59 EDT 2007

Boy is this right on target!.  Michael Lerner hit the nail on the head  when 
he posed the rhetorical question, (paraphrased)"why should we vote for  
democrats when they don't have the courage to end this war?  How could they  ever 
have the courage to defend our country from the real threats we  face?"

What a horrible disappointment to have Amy Klobuchar, our  Minnnesota  
Welstoneian hope, vote yes!

I feel abandoned and alone.  This is the political Dark Night of the  Soul.

Dick Kroeger

Published on Friday, May 25,  2007 by _Working For Change_ 
(http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/05/we_gave_them_our_hearts_they_g.html)   
We Gave Them Our Hearts, They Gave Him A Blank Check
by David Sirota

It is a dark day in our nation’s history. That sounds melodramatic -  but it 
is true. Today America watched a Democratic Party kick them square  in the 
teeth - all in order to continue the _most  unpopular war in a generation_ 
(http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/may/24/poll_public_over
whelmingly_wanted_withdrawal_timetables)  at the request of the most 
unpopular  president in a generation at a time polls show a larger percentage of the  
public thinks America is going in the wrong direction than _ever  recorded in 
polling history_ (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/24/opinion/p
olls/main2846638.shtml) . 
The numbers are not pretty. First, _216 House Democrats  cast the key vote_ 
(http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll418.xml)  to send a blank check Iraq War 
funding bill over to  the Senate. As I reported at the beginning of the day and 
as the _Associated  Press_ 
(http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/WireStory?id=3210812&page=2)  now confirms, the vote on the rule was the vote that made it  
happen. As the AP said: “In a highly unusual maneuver, House Democratic  leaders 
crafted a procedure that allowed their rank and file to oppose  money for the 
war, then step aside so Republicans could advance it.”  Nauseating. 
In the Senate, we saw lots of promises and tough talk from senators  telling 
us they were going to do everything they could to stop the blank  check. Some 
of them bragged that they were going to vote against the bill  - as if that 
was the ultimate sign of heroics. Then, _not  a single senator found the 
backbone to stand up to filibuster_ 
(http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/05/mr_smith_if_you_are_there_your.html)  the bill  a la Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. To 
quote the Big Lebowski, “These men  are cowards,” because apparently, Senate 
club etiquette comes even before  the lives of our troops. 
The blank check _sailed  through the upper chamber on a vote of 80-14_ 
(http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congres
s=110&session=1&vote=00181)  with 38 Democrats (the  majority of the party) 
voting yes. In all, at a time when 82 percent of  Americans tell pollsters they 
want Congress to either approve funds for  the war with strict conditions or 
cut off all funding immediately, 90  percent of House and Senate Democrats 
combined voted to give George W.  Bush a blank check. 
The worst part of it all was the overt efforts to deceive the public -  as if 
we’re all just a bunch of morons. House Democrats have the nerve to  
_continue  to insist_ 
(http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/05/madame_chairwoman_you_are_very.html)  the blank check they helped ram through the House was all  the 
Republicans doing, and that a sham vote on a GOP amendment today -  which 
most Democrats opposed for show - was the real vote for the war.  But, again, as 
the AP reported, it was their parliamentary motion - passed  so quickly and 
under the devious pretenses of mundane procedural necessity  - that showed their 
calculated complicity. Now, tonight, the Democratic  Congressional Campaign 
Committee is actually _sending out  fundraising emails_ 
(http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/24/22420/8047)  claiming “the House just passed legislation 
that  will go to the White House that includes critical issues Democrats have  
been fighting for including canceling the President’s blank check in  Iraq.” 
Beyond nauseating. 
I’m not a purist nor am I a “pox on both their houses” kind of guy. I  have 
worked to elect Democratic politicians and _I  supported Democratic leaders_ 
(http://davidsirota.com/index.php/2007/03/21/a-memo-to-the-progressive-caucus-on
-the-eve-of-the-iraq-vote/)  when they pushed an Iraq funding bill  that 
included binding language to end the war. But what happened today was  perhaps the 
most stunning travesty I’ve seen in a decade working in  Democratic politics. 
A Democratic Party that six months ago was elected on  a promise to end the 
war first tried to hide their complicity in  continuing the war in the House, 
and then gave a few token speeches as the  blank check sailed through the 
Senate club. And it all happened, as the _New  York Times_ 
(http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/may/24/dem_leadership)  reported today, 
because these Democrats believed criticism  from President Bush - the man who 
_polls show is  the most unpopular president in three decades_ 
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18505030/site/newsweek/)  - “seemed more  politically 
threatening to them than the anger Democrats knew they would  draw from the left.” 
Democratic politicians, Capitol Hill staff, political consultants and  all 
their lobbyist friends sitting comfortably tonight in their Northwest  
Washington homes believe the public thinks Democrats are “weak” because  they don’t 
more strongly support leaving American troops to be killed or  maimed in the 
middle of a bloody civil war in a country half way around  the globe that had no 
WMD and had nothing to do with 9/11. What they seem  unable - or unwilling - 
to realize is that the public has believed  Democrats are weak not because some 
in the party have opposed the war, but  because many in the party refuse to 
wield the power the public entrusts  them with on all sorts of issues. At least 
on Iraq - the biggest issue of  the day - the public’s perception has proven 
right. As I wrote to one  congressional lawmaker in an e-mail correspondence 
we had today: “The  spoils go to those who use the power they are entrusted 
with, while infamy  goes to those who squander it.” 
In the movie “Say Anything,” John Cusack famously laments after being  
dumped that “I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen.” The American people  gave 
Democrats their heart in November 2006. In return, Democrats gave  George Bush a 
blank check in May 2007. We gave them our heart, they gave  him a blank 
check. That will make May 24, 2007 a dark day generations to  come will look back 
on - a day when Democrats in Washington not only  continued a war they promised 
to end, but happily went on record declaring  that they believe in their 
hearts that government’s role is to ignore the  will of the American people. 
David Sirota is the author of the book _Hostile Takeover_ 
(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307237346?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeAS
IN=0307237346&adid=0FHVNGWXGZSQMR0V6WND&) . To subscribe to Sirota’s regular  
newsletter, go to _www.davidsirota.com_ (http://www.davidsirota.com/)  and 
sign up on the left hand  side. 
© 2007 David  Sirota

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