Scott McClellan has answered like two questions today and I have been sitting here for almost 3 hours now. This is because the House has been "debating" and voting to give the telecoms immunity for spying on us.
Goodbye 4th Amendment. If "the terrorists" wanted to destroy our way of life (you know... freedom), they have done a hell of a job scaring Congress into becoming their best allies.
The House of Representatives-the saner of the two branches- passed this gift to the Bush administration today. Let's hope Chris Dodd keeps his promise and stops this from going through the Senate in the coming days.
Every single member of the House of Representatives is up for re-election in 2008. That idea of voting out all incumbents is looking better to me all the time.
*Added Later* - After watching Scott McClellan's testimony, not much more than what was revealed in the book was revealed at the hearing. However, there will be some great sound bites from this hearing that might make it clearer to the undecided public that "untruths" were told in the "marketing campaign" run by the Bush administration to "sell" us into going to war. No big news though, and no questions about Karl Rove's "mailings". Oh well. That's Congress for ya.
Friday, June 20, 2008
George W. Bush Wins Again
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9 comments:
I was very disappointed in the so-called compromise that was reached - a capitulation to Bush and his cronies. What good is it to have a Democratic majority if we still do things the Republican way?
Enraging? yes
Defeated? ...not yet. :-)
..Rock
Also important to note that Barack Obama completely reversed his position on this matter. He once stated that he would support any measure to filibuster legislation that would give immunity to telecoms, but now has voiced his support for this FISA bill.
We deserve better.
Mauigirl - it's not a compromise - it's exactly as you say... a capitulation to Bush and his cronies. I'm disgusted by it and by Congress in general.
Rock - I'm hoping for Chris Dodd... and I haven't checked the news yet actually from this last week. I'm totally expecting to be disappointed in a few minutes when I do.
Chris - welcome to Little Country Lost! I completely agree with you about Obama, but I can't say I'm at all surprised. I expect to see him consistently veer to the right from now until November to please both the media and the dumbasses that haven't yet realized the John McCain would be a disaster. I fully expect to be disappointed again and again but he'll still get my vote because the alternative is worse. That's what we get in a democracy that we don't take care of.
Hi Jen,
I agree 100% with your comments to Chris J. However shamelessly flexible Sen. Obama has to be to win, he is our only option. The 'there-isn't-anything/one-we-can't-attack-with-our-military' mentality of Sen McCain and his fellow Republicans is simply unacceptable.
Their 'club' may push aside all the freedom, promise, and security (that American had come to represent) for awhile, as they clearly have for 8 yrs, but their days are numbered.
We will get back up on our feet again soon. Stronger and more open than ever before.
Peace,
..Rock
Hello again and thank you for the kind welcome!
Jen, you mention that you "expect to be disappointed again and again" with Obama's stance on issues leading up to the election. My question is this, what leads you to believe that you wouldn't be continually disappointed even AFTER a potential Obama election? Let me expand on this, if Obama is showing a willingness to alter his positions now to appease to specific interests, what would lead you to believe that he wouldn't be beholden to these same interests after the election?
Also, I think one of the points that is missing from the greater debate is the use of the term "moving to the center". I realize that no one has used this term in this discussion, but it relates. Obama's new support of the FISA legislation has been viewed as a "move to the center" in some circles of the press. I think that if supporting a bill that will retroactively give immunity to telecom companies for spying on Americans in violation of the Constitution is considered "moving to the center", then it is quite obvious how far to the right the "center" has become. The whole political climate has shifted post-9/11 and pandering to the right-wing in order to gain votes has never been a more dangerous move.
Rock - that's exactly right. He's got us by the balls (to put it how I do when speaking) and he knows that "liberal" votes are locked up. My fear is that Obama is going to move closer and closer to The Club instead of getting closer and closer to us. This fear was really kicked started with his FISA vote. He's too smart to think it was a compromise.
And Chris- "what leads you to believe that you wouldn't be continually disappointed even AFTER a potential Obama election? "
My answer is nothing. Nothing makes me think I won't be disappointed. I fully expect it. That's my realism, not my hope talking. But the reason my hope still exists is because the change we're really looking for will not be found in one man. It will be found in better Democrats/Independents/Whatevers being elected to Congress and putting pressure on the President. Our hope will be found in the defeat of more and more Republicans and their eventual irrelevance (most Republicans I know are already saying that they are libertarians and have always been libertarians. It's bullshit, I know, but it's bad news for Republicans as we know them in Washington). Our hope lies in the fact that even though Obama will likely not give back the power the Executive collected under Bush, even though he will likely not hunt down every Bush administration official and throw them in jail, and even though I fully expect many disappointments, I also expect more sanity. I do not expect him to launch any illegal wars. I do not expect him to torture. I do not expect him to completely destroy the Constitution. I expect him, at the very least, to stop the bleeding where it currently is.
The damage inflicted by the last 30 years of free-tradin', war startin' Club rule is going to take a long time to fix. Obama will not be the answer. Congress has to be. They are the representatives of the people after all.
And as for what you said about "the center", you are absolutely correct. The fact that Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove, Bill Kristol, etc. have jobs in the media is the proof that what we are being sold as "the center" is propaganda all in itself.
I think the only thing we can to is keep talking. Keep pointing these things out to each other and keep screaming at the media and the government. Even though it is painful and tedious, we need to write to Congress and to Obama every time they disappoint us, if only to let them know that some of us are on to them. Conversely, we need to remember to say thank you when they adequately do their jobs as I imagine peer pressure up there on the hill is pretty intense and it must socially suck to go against the grain.
Until more of us become Congress and change what this government has become from within, talking the best I can come up with.
And talking is soooo good, Jen. (I ask myself: Is there something I'm not saying now, ...that I should be saying?)
Please keep talking -- for all of us!! ...and take good care,
..Rock :-))
Thanks, Rock. I plan to :-)
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