the Democrats are smart, that's what they will say.
This slimebag Bushite tactic of blaming THEIR murder of tens of thousands of innocent people, and THEIR torture of prisoners, and THEIR massive thievery on the opposition party whom they bullied without mercy, and deliberately and systematically disempowered in Congress, and slandered as "weak," and kept "national security" secrets from on a massive and unprecedented scale, and lied to, and threatened, and fear-mongered and war-mongered against, and Diebolded out of office, HAS GOT TO BE STOPPED, and stopped cold.
The buck stops THERE--on their desks, on their watch--not mention the bucks they've stuffed into their pockets as war profiteers.
But there is an underlying truth that must also be told--that goes beyond politics and holding these Republican fascists accountable. And it is this: When those Congresspeople--Dem and Repub--voted to give Bush the authority to go to war, they violated their oaths of office, which require that they uphold the Constitution. That resolution was unconstitutional. Senator Byrd said so, but no one listened. The Congress CANNOT give away its power to declare war. Period. So, in truth--if justice could be done--all of them, those who voted to give their war powers away, and the president and his regime who usurped that power--and bullied and threatened and lied to get it--should be impeached.
That is not going to happen, because justice cannot be done in the present circumstances. We are dealing with an opposition party, on the one hand, which is controlled by leaders who are hogtied to big military budgets, who probably DID support Bush's war, in many cases, no matter what they say now. They will never acknowledge the illegality of this war. They just wanted a "better" war--an efficient war, a successful war--in the Middle East. They probably would not have instigated it; but they let Bush do it.
And don't think they will not pursue it, if and when they re-gain power, because they very likely will. We are likely going to see a huge US military presence in the ME for the foreseeable future, possible incursions into other countries, a military Draft, and continued huge military budgets. The main differences will be that the Dems may tax the rich to do it; they may involve more countries and the UN, and will not bludgeon Congress; they will possibly seek genuine democracy in the ME; and they'll have a somewhat better social policy at home. That's our Dem leadership.
And, on the other hand, we have a ruling party who gained power illegitimately, kept power illegitimately, and has proceeded with a fascist agenda on every front, the likes of which we have never before seen in this country.
So we are in dire straits as a nation. And the only hope we have of improvement--or at least a breather from outright fascism--is electing Democrats, if we are able to do so with Bushite voting machine companies controlling our election system (with "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code--which the bugger Democrats let them get away with!). We thus need OVERWHELMING votes to overcome election fraud. (Kerry's 4% to 5% margin wasn't good enough. We need more like a 10% margin to win.)
It's a dark picture, I know. But I think it's a pretty realistic one. And the fundamental premise of what has happened cannot really be addressed at the present time--that the Iraq War resolution was illegal, and that Congress does not have the right to give the president preemptive, elective war powers.
IF Congress had not done so, then, when the debate went to the UN, Congress would have been the entity to judge that debate, to evaluate the opposition of major allies and the rest of the world, and to give the UN weapons inspectors a little more time to complete their inspections. Not Bush. Not Cheney. Congress! That was their rightful, constitutional role--to provide that "balance of power" over against the executive's tyrannical impulse (and long term plan!) to go to war without justification.
Now we are AT war--and a colossal disaster it is, with the rightwing mullahs now in charge of TWO countries instead of just one! And the warmongers of both parties are actually pleased with themselves, because they think they've accomplished something--a permanent US military presence where the oil is, and where Israel is--and nifty new powers with which to make war, threaten war, fund war for all their corporate buds, and throw people into prison without charge, and torture them, if they get in our way. (Where are these Dem leaders' statements of outrage at the torture of prisoners? Where are they?! I guarantee you they are going to hold that power in reserve and NOT disavow it.) (--unless Gore runs and wins; he's very opposed to torture.)
Why would I support such Dems? Why would I 'vote' for them (for what it's worth)? 1) Because I have no choice--it's fascists vs. War Democrats (no antiwar candidate will be permitted to reach the White House); and 2) Because I think we can pressure them on election reform, and restore transparent elections--the key to all change.
I think we need to strategize on a basis of truth. I think we should fully support whatever Dem candidate is chosen for us (with maybe one or two exceptions), give them a big grass roots outpouring once again, and get a seat at the table for the majority of Americans, who want peace, and--if they knew about it--would want honest elections.
I'm not saying don't fight for antiwar and election reform candidates in the primaries. Let's do that, by all means, to keep the views of the disenfranchised majority up front. But when they sucker-punch us again with a big military budget, corporate Democrat--or lie to us (as "peace candidate" LBJ did in 1964)--we need to be very smart in how we react, and what we want in exchange for our support. (And, despite Diebold and ES&S, they do need our support. D & E cannot manufacture elections--not yet anyway. They can only tweak the vote--a few percentages here and there--and have to do it under the radar as well--to prevent exposure of their hackable machines.*)
Peace Patriot to the Dems
So, GO TO IT, DEMS! Make Bush, Cheney and their Cartel ACCOUNTABLE. Don't take any more crap from these people. They deserve more than a drubbing. They deserve to be in jail, the lot of them. They should be beaten into the dust, their every lie and every crime exposed, and every penny they've stolen accounted for and retrieved, and every law they've passed rescinded, and every court appointment they've made invalided. We are sick of this junta. They've nearly destroyed our country. And they DID plan and implement the murder of tens of thousands of people, NOT you! You made a big legal and policy mistake--out of fear, out of corruption, or out of sympathy with their geo-political goals--but I know--and I think we all know--that you would never have done what they have done to our country, or to Iraq. And you have a right and a duty to say that!
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*Note: An exception occurred in the recent Ohio initiatives election on--of all things--election reform, which got Diebolded in a whopping 60/40 flip. The 4 election reform initiatives were winning 60/40 in pre-election polls, and ended up with a 60/40 LOSS! Something rotten in the state of Ohio, to be sure. See Bob Koehler's column:
http://www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?custid=67&catid=1824 
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