The Rude Pundit - Democrats in Congress: The Cowards of the Country

[meegbear]

Back years ago, the Rude Pundit remembers fucking hating the Kenny Rogers song "Coward of the County." You remember that one? It's about this punk-ass bitch-boy named Tommy who's so scarred by his father dying in prison for being a bad man that he refuses to fight for any reason, leading "everyone" to call him the title. In fact, his father's dying words were the bullshit last gasps of an asshole: "Now it don't mean you're weak if you turn the other cheek" and "You don't have to fight if you're a man." This makes Tommy avoid all confrontations, "twenty years of crawlin'," his narrating uncle tells us. But he still finds a woman who doesn't mind that he's a little bitch, and he marries Becky. And what makes Tommy finally fight? When Becky is gang-raped by the three Gatlin boys. Then he walks into a bar and guns them down, with the song ending in Tommy explaining his actions to his dead criminal father, hoping the ghost of his dad doesn't think he was weak. We were supposed to sympathize with Tommy for picking his battles.

So, in other words, because this worm of a man was too much of a pussy to have confrontations, poor Becky was savagely assaulted. Cause and effect, ya know? If the Gatlin boys thought that Tommy might blow their heads off, they wouldn't have touched Becky. And when the smoke clears, yeah, Tommy may have finally done something, but Becky's gotta live with the trauma and pain done to her, thanks to her pathetic husband. What's the triumph here? That Becky might not get gang raped again? Damn, the victory line's pretty goddamn low.

The Rude Pundit thinks about that song whenever he hears about every capitulation by the Democrats in Congress. Every day, it seems, we get news of another crawl through the dirt as the Democrats make themselves prostrate to the whims of the Republicans. If this is what being a majority means, then, fuck, why fuckin' bother?

Let's see what we've gotten in the couple of days:
- Nancy Pelosi forced California Rep. Pete Stark to apologize for giving voice to some modicum of frustration with the state of the war. Goddamn, at least "for the President's amusement" is a reason that makes some bit of sense as to why we aren't talking about the troops coming home. 'Cause, at this point, ain't this really the war of a paranoid whim? But if someone in the Congress says that, then the Republicans go as apeshit as a gorilla in heat trapped in a cage and those fuckin' bananas ain't gonna tickle a gorilla clit when it needs monkey love. So if the Republicans squawk, Pelosi jumps 'cause it might be distracting from debating whether or not MoveOn sucks.

- The Senate voted to confirm Leslie Southwick as a federal appeals court judge. A racist, homophobic judge in Mississippi is soooo 1959, but Harry Reid couldn't even put together a 41-vote filibuster to stop the nomination. Republicans can filibuster every fuckin' bill they want, but if Democrats dare to think about blocking a vote on a judge, that's a fuckin' abrogation of constitutional duties. This is a guy who thinks homosexuality is a choice and therefore because a mother exerted "her perceived right" to be in a lesbian relationship, she shouldn't have custody of her child. Bully for progress. With an extra "Fuck you" to Dianne Feinstein for even letting the nomination get out of committee.

Funding for the war, secret wiretaps, retroactive immunity for telecoms for privacy violations, the coming confirmation of Michael "If the President Thinks He Needs to Kill a Child to Appease the War Gods, the Constitution Can't Stop Him" Mukasey as our next worthless Attorney General - what's gonna be the rape of Becky, where the cowards finally take a stand against a neanderthal Republican party and its hated President? Of course, the problem is that Becky will have been raped to begin with. Will she ever recover?

Maybe Nancy Pelosi will follow through with the planned new vote on SCHIP today while several anti-SCHIPpers are in California for a fire photo op with the President. That'd be hardball politics, the kind that says, "Don't fuck with me."

(Oh, and the Rude Pundit knows he's given Democrats in the Senate a pass because of the Lieberman factor, but at some point, that ain't enough of a reason to keep backing down and backing down.)

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

[NoodleBoy]

1. yeah, they're so cowardous for only having a slim majority. fucking cowards,

if only they had balls the Congress would suddenly be 100% Democratic! Grow some balls!

[maxsolomon]

3. ANY balls would work. Even newborn balls.

The base's frustration at how they've used their majority is justified. When has the GOP or President Narcissist apologized for a slanderous comment 1/10th as true as Stark's comment?

The nation is in too much peril to play it this safe. I hate sports metaphors, but when you're behind, you have to steal a base or take a shot downfield.

[NoodleBoy]

5. unlike some posters here,

I don't envision Bush laughing giddily and drinking the blood of newly-dead soldiers when he hears the body count rise, so I don't think Pete Stark's comment was in the best of taste. He should never have said it, and he was right to apologize for it.

Anyone can make a dumb comment, it takes a real human being to realize they were wrong.

[Vincardog]

7. Funny I DO see Bush laughing giddily and drinking the blood of newly-dead soldiers when he hears

the body count rise. The boy king gets a hard on for death and destruction.

Stark's comment was only in poor taste because it was true. He should never have apologized.

[Coexist]

11. he knew American soldiers and Iraqi civilians would die horrible deaths

yet he worked the intelligence to get them dead anyway.

He gets no pass from me.

[maxsolomon]

13. its was METAPHORICALLY true

president narcissist projects none of the gravitas that a president should when he's volunteered others to die - during ww2, roosevelt didn't wheel around yukking it up about failed intelligence in front of the press.

sure, stark could have phrased it better. imagine if EVERY democratic congressman or senator (john kerry is exhibit A) used ridicule & rhetoric at half the skill that a 19th century politician could. bush could not have stood up to withering ridicule in 2004, and it was never used.

bush DESERVES disrespect. he disgraces the office. but he's going to retire into wealth & comfort and be hailed as a visionary by the right wing noise machine for the rest of our lives.

[mike_c]

2. automatic rec for the rude one...

Congressional dems not only bend over and spread their legs whenever the republican minority snaps their fingers, they seem to actually like it. Thank you sir! May I have another?

[OHdem10]

4. Rude Pundit has aced this one and yes, I remember

The Coward of the County.

Where have all the statesmen gone??? Those Congressmen who at
one time in our history were more concerned for the good of
the country rather than saving their behinds for the next election?

[acmavm]

6. I remember the old days when dems knew what was right and

fought for it. Now they know what pads their nests and screw the rest of us.

[travelingtypist]

8. Carla Faye Tucker anyone?

I am so sick of Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership.
I am furious that they made Rep. Stark apologize.

He spoke the truth. Period.

k/r

[depakid]

9. "why fuckin' bother?"

If had a buck for every time I heard that sentiment online and IRL in the past 10 months, I'd have enough money for a trip to Europe (even at these exchange rates).

It was sad enough that the Dems made themselves utterly irrelevant when they were in the minority- it's even worse to go from irrelevant to insignificant when the party ostensibly has the power.

Seems to me that there are about 13-14 Senators and about 40 House member that are primarily responsible for this- and they need to targeted in one way or another if the party is ever to regain its self respect.

[Perry Logan]

10. Yet they showed the highest Democratic unity score in 51 years. Go figure.

"President Bush's success rating in the Democratic-controlled House has fallen this year to a half-century low, and he prevailed on only 14 percent of the 76 roll call votes on which he took a clear position.

"So far this year, Democrats have backed the majority position of their caucus 91 percent of the time on average on such votes. That marks the highest Democratic unity score in 51 years."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1728952&mesg_id=1728952
http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002576765.html

Don't let the media rhetoric fool you. The Democrats have acquitted themselves quite well--especially given their bare majority in both houses, and a relentlessly obstructionist Republican minority.

[ShortnFiery]

12. Yeah, overall high unity EXCEPT for the all-important f**king issues like war, crazy RW judges and

health care for children. That's a ULTRA-LOW bar, and IMO, an example of applying intellectual dishonesty via statistics. :( :thumbsdown: