http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/#52345The Democrats don't deserve a vacation
Posted by Guest Blogger on May 24, 2007 at 1:09 PM.
This post originally appeared on Shakesville
Democrats said they did not relish the prospect of leaving Washington for a Memorial Day break -- the second recess since the financing fight began -- and leaving themselves vulnerable to White House attacks that they were again on vacation while the troops were wanting. That criticism seemed more politically threatening to them than the anger Democrats knew they would draw from the left by bowing to Mr. Bush.
Just a polite suggestion: Perhaps the Democrats should have considered, then, staying in Washington and not going on vacation. Because, you know, it would have been pretty tough for the Commander Guy to give them shit about it from Crawford if they're still in D.C.
But, hey, I can understand why they didn't want to give up their holiday, since staying on the job would have prevented them from marking with a solemn barbecue the national day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. What a slap in the face it would have been to fallen soldiers if the Dems had instead stayed in D.C. and tried to prevent more joining their ranks.
snip//
The real issue here is that the Democrats don't really want the responsibility of ending the war, because they fear Iraq is going to descend into chaos and they're going to be blamed for it, rather than the shithead-in-chief who started the thing, mismanaged the thing, and blew it from every conceivable angle. And that's a legitimate fear--because, well, the media sucks, the Republicans are better at spin, and that's exactly how they'll spin it when that scenario inevitably happens. The entire catastrophic fuck-up that preceded the Dems' ending of the war will be all but forgotten, and so the Dems are trying to wrangle a way to pressure Bush into ending the war, so they can take responsibility for forcing the issue while not burdening themselves with the imminent disaster that results.
Thing is, Bush is a stubborn asshole, and he won't ever play that game. And his party's a bunch of disingenuous, politicking twits who wouldn't do the right thing even if a lobbyist promised a golf vacation in Scotland as part of the deal. So what the Dems want--the ability to pressure Bush into ending the war, so they are credited with ending our involvement but not whatever comes after--they can't have. That's about the long and the short of it.
And while I did not support their sending the exact same bill over and over and over, I did absolutely support what their plan seemed to be, which was to send versions of the same bill over and over and over, until it became glaringly apparent to anyone paying even the slightest bit of attention that the problem was Bush. 100% Bush. All Bush all the time. Bush Bush Bush. But they didn't do that. And that's where they failed. So now it really isn't just Bush anymore.
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