Democracy for Vancouver

And the already known becomes known. The Money Party is alive and well. Thank you Dick Cheney Democrats. Without your leadership, we might have to fight them at home! Oh dear.

At least you know what you are voting for when you vote Republican. I’ll take Ronald Reagan over this crap anytime. But Obama and Clinton voted the right way and Edwards certainly would have voted the right way. So there is a small ray of hope here. And of course I don’t even have to wonder how Kucinich voted.

But I think the Dems are going to have a hard time convincing anyone for a long time that they are any different than the rest of The Money Party unless they manage to stand up to Bush and actually accomplish something besides lip service very soon. And I mean very soon. I’d rather vote for candidates I disagree with than spineless hypocrites.

I suppose none of this matters because the MSM along with the party faithful support and special interest money will make it a “slam dunk” the electorate will keep re-electing them. And they all know that.

So much for calling and emailing your representatives. Next time try sending a letter with cash inside (lots of it).

Happy Memorial Day. There is nothing to celebrate.

Update from Sirota:

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 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 reported today, because these Democrats believed criticism from President Bush - the man who polls show is the most unpopular president in three decades - “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.