This Revolution Could Be Televised On Fox

[babylonsister]

This Revolution Could Be Televised On Fox
Submitted by dlindorff on Tue, 2007-11-13 16:14.

By Dave Lindorff

Now even the New York Times is saying it. In an editorial on Oct. 20, the Times wrote, “Every now and then, we are tempted to double-check that the Democrats actually won control of Congress last year.” Noting how the Democratic House and Senate had rolled over and given the president permission to massively spy on Americans without showing any probable cause, the Times concluded, “It was bad enough having a one-party government when Republicans controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. But the Democrats took over, and still the one-party system continues.”

There is no question about it. The Democrats, after persuading voters to hand over control of Congress to them last November, have been worse than failures. They have betrayed the trust of the voters.

Although the party clearly has the power to end the Iraq War by simply refusing to approve funds for continuing the mayhem and madness, it has instead given the president every dollar he’s asked for to continue it, and then some. Although every leading Democrat admits that the president has been torturing the Constitution, not one member has submitted a bill calling for the president’s impeachment, and the one bill submitted calling for Cheney’s impeachment, submitted by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, has been pushed off on a siding by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her gang of “leaders.” More recently in the Senate, where 41 Democrats could stop any presidential appointment, 53 Democrats instead approved a new attorney general, Michael Mukasey, who refuses to say waterboarding is torture and illegal, and who, even worse, says that in his view the president has the power to ignore laws passed by the Congress.

I would go the Times one step further. There is no need to check to see if Democrats won control of Congress. It doesn’t matter. The Democrats have simply ceased to be an opposition party. The party of Franklin D. Roosevelt is now simply a collection of incumbent hacks who are looking to their own re-election, and who stand for nothing.

So what is to be done?

more...

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/28668

[bbgrunt]

1. k & r. It is time for the dem leadership to "get it".

[Sean Stuart]

2. The Right is right when they say the Democrats do not lead.

It pains me to agree with those knee-jerking blow-hards on anything but it's true. I celebrated as much as anyone after Election Day 2006, but what has the Democratic majority given us in return for our votes, other than a few leftish economic measures in the first 100 hours? The two major issues that concern most liberals at the moment, the Iraq War and our Constitution, are still completely and totally controlled by the White House while the Democratic Leadership pretends they're helpless to act.

The Republicans have no trouble accomplishing their agenda when they're placed in power. Damning polls and public opinion, they will turn this nation into Pinochet's Chile. Evil? Yes. But also, Leadership - something a great many people will vote for, even if it is likely to lead down the wrong path. The Democrats on the other hand, even with public opinion behind them, and not to mention Justice and Righteousness, are unable to lead and unwilling to act. This is why they lose, and why they will continue to lose.

You can here it now across the nation: Oh yea, now I remember why I didn't vote for them for the past eight years - THEY'RE WORTHLESS!!!

The bottom line is they're not giving us a reason to vote for them. And "we're not as bad as Bush" isn't going to cut it when they give him everything he wants.

Sure - part of it is the corruption they've invited from the forces of the Right. The Republicans can take money from corporations and the wealthy without hypocrisy or ideological conflict, because the core of their governing philosophy revolves around serving those very interests without boundary! But the Democrats, supposedly the party of the left, accept their money too. I imagine the Democratic Leadership would be more willing to defend the Constitution from unwarranted spying if the Constitution could come alive and donate enough money to their campaign coffers to exceed what they get from AT&T.

To repeat a good line from the movie American President:

Lewis: People want leadership, they want it so bad that they will crawl across a desert toward a mirage and when they get there, they are so thirsty that they drink the sand.

Andrew: People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty Lewis, they drink the sand because they don't know the difference.

[MLFerrell]

3. Very well said, and welcome to DU!

:hi:

You'll like it here!