Barely a Victory
I held off writing about the midterm elections until we knew everything for sure. Now that we know the Dems have control of the House and Senate, let’s admit one thing to ourselves before we get too excited: This was a very small victory.
First, the Dems’ majority in the Senate is tiny. This means that they could need Republicans to vote with them on bills. This isn’t good. Any bill a Republican would vote for isn’t a good bill. After all, let’s not forget that it was the Republicans who abolished slavery, and it’s widely known that blacks had it worse after slavery than they did while it existed. This is an early example of Republicans, just as they have in Iraq, immorally thinking ahead instead of bowing to the immediate hardships of the present.
Second, an unfortunately large number of the newly elected Democrats are relatively moderate or even conservative. From Bush’s perspective, if Democrats were going to take Congress, these were some of the best candidates. And let’s not forgot that we still have to deal with Mr. Triple Threat (traitor, fascist, and thief of what should have been a Democrat seat), Joe Lieberman. Basically, Congress went from being Republican to Republican Light.
Third, and most dishearteningly, last night on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Howard Dean said that the Dems will not impeach Bush. This means that Nancy Pelosi sold us out. I really had faith that she would initiate impeachment proceedings. Now we see her at the White House making nice with Bush and saying they’re going to work together. That’s disgusting and it makes her just as bad as he is.
I just don’t understand. It’s obvious that for the good of the country the Dems should investigate and vilify our path to war, and make public all our immoral national security strategies so that the world (including jihadists, because we need to treat everyone equally) knows exactly how we're protecting ourselves. As I’ve written before, the very best way to undermine this war would be to impeach Bush and then Cheney once he took over. Nancy Pelosi, being the Speaker of the House, would then become our president. But today Nancy has proven that she’s a coward. She doesn’t deserve to lead us. She's become a tool of the right wing.
One last thought. While discontent about the war was an issue, Dems otherwise won this battle largely for superficial reasons. Would it surprise anyone if, in two years’ time, Americans were resentful that Republicans lost as much national power as they did because Mark Foley made a pass at a male page and George Allen called someone “macaca”? This could be a shot in the arm for Republicans who, in 2008, could easily exploit the fact that the Dems still don’t really have an organized platform about … anything.
For now, yes, we can celebrate a small victory. But don’t hold your breath for a much-needed redistribution of wealth, let alone a nation-wide hippie commune.
First, the Dems’ majority in the Senate is tiny. This means that they could need Republicans to vote with them on bills. This isn’t good. Any bill a Republican would vote for isn’t a good bill. After all, let’s not forget that it was the Republicans who abolished slavery, and it’s widely known that blacks had it worse after slavery than they did while it existed. This is an early example of Republicans, just as they have in Iraq, immorally thinking ahead instead of bowing to the immediate hardships of the present.
Second, an unfortunately large number of the newly elected Democrats are relatively moderate or even conservative. From Bush’s perspective, if Democrats were going to take Congress, these were some of the best candidates. And let’s not forgot that we still have to deal with Mr. Triple Threat (traitor, fascist, and thief of what should have been a Democrat seat), Joe Lieberman. Basically, Congress went from being Republican to Republican Light.
Third, and most dishearteningly, last night on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Howard Dean said that the Dems will not impeach Bush. This means that Nancy Pelosi sold us out. I really had faith that she would initiate impeachment proceedings. Now we see her at the White House making nice with Bush and saying they’re going to work together. That’s disgusting and it makes her just as bad as he is.
I just don’t understand. It’s obvious that for the good of the country the Dems should investigate and vilify our path to war, and make public all our immoral national security strategies so that the world (including jihadists, because we need to treat everyone equally) knows exactly how we're protecting ourselves. As I’ve written before, the very best way to undermine this war would be to impeach Bush and then Cheney once he took over. Nancy Pelosi, being the Speaker of the House, would then become our president. But today Nancy has proven that she’s a coward. She doesn’t deserve to lead us. She's become a tool of the right wing.
One last thought. While discontent about the war was an issue, Dems otherwise won this battle largely for superficial reasons. Would it surprise anyone if, in two years’ time, Americans were resentful that Republicans lost as much national power as they did because Mark Foley made a pass at a male page and George Allen called someone “macaca”? This could be a shot in the arm for Republicans who, in 2008, could easily exploit the fact that the Dems still don’t really have an organized platform about … anything.
For now, yes, we can celebrate a small victory. But don’t hold your breath for a much-needed redistribution of wealth, let alone a nation-wide hippie commune.
Labels: impeachment, liberal, nancy pelosi, politics, satire
posted by Ike | 11/09/2006 06:21:00 PM
2 Comments:
Pelosi most likely said this to remove any appearance of conflict-of-interest that would arise if she were thrust into the presidency as a result of the coming impeachment.
Meanwhile, in the background, John Conyers will be holding hearings in the Judiciary (the committee that would write up the articles of impeachment). What we need to do is to pressure Pelosi not to interfere with Conyers' impeachment hearings. Sending her Do-It-Yourself impeachments legitimizes her when she joins the impeachment movement in the future.
This is great news! I just signed up for my Action Alerts!
Impeaching the president is the perfect way to weaken his strategy of "freedom" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hopefully, it will embolden the freedom fighters by suggesting that we're not behind Bush's defense of the fledgling "democracies" we've created. Also, it shows the world that we're determined enough to put America through hell just to replace Bush with Cheyne shortly before they're both scheduled to leave the White House anyway.
Conyers for president!
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