I think we now have a new moniker for those noodle-spined Democrats we so despise: Cave Democrats. Now we need to develop an index that would show us which Democrats cave the most.

To create the Cave Index we must identify all the votes on legislation in the past few years that would give Bush what he wants in opposition of the desires of the Democratic base, and then calculate what percentage of the time each Democrat voted to cave into the President's demands. This will be the Cave Index, an easy to understand value we can use to evaluate our politicians.

I think we are beginning to see the first real results of the many years of hard work and vigilance on the part of our very talented bloggers. Both parties had better pay better attention to what we are saying. You have been a big part of this, Glenn.

---We should fight wars with massive bombing campaigns and unleashed force, unconstrained by excessive concerns over "collateral damage" and unimpeded by domestic questioning.---

According to Wikipedia as many as 3.4 million people died in the Vietnam War, only 58,000 of them were Americans. How much f*ckin' collateral damage does it take before these war-loving, genocidal maniacal assh*les reach their gag limit? When would they stop? When every living Vietnamese was finally exterminated? Someone needs to ask them.

That this rabid desire to crush our enemies without regard to the deaths of thousands, even millions of innocent people still reverberates throughout our military and our government - and many of our people - shows just how low we have fallen. We are a menace to the rest of the world.

I spent time on the phone this afternoon with a Rep. Van Hollen staffer who has been working with the ACLU to thwart this new "compromise" bill. I asked WHY, why are the Dems doing this and she said she doesn't know for sure but she thinks Dem leadership is afraid there will be another terrorist attack and the Dems will get blamed for holding up a new FISA bill. I told her in my opinion the Dems are more likely to get attacked by their base...and she agreed. She really sounded frustrated and depressed.

I'm assuming the timing of this (just after Obama wrapped up the nomination) and the fact that no Democrat is speaking out in anger or fighting this publicly means that Obama is actually behind this and has put out the word that everyone must get on board.

That's the only explanation that makes sense to me. Otherwise I just crossed into the twilight zone sometime last week and didn'y know it...

Seems the only political pleasure I get in life these days is refreshing the ActBlue contribution page every couple of hours and watching the total amount grow. Damn, that feels good! Way to go people!

For me, this FISA capitulation is the final straw, and I see that I'm not alone. I am an American first and a liberal. I'm a registered Democrat ONLY because I have been assuming it was the party that embraced many of my liberal ideals.

In a way they still are, but over the past year I've noticed a strong resentment among Democratic politicians directed at us, and I think that has hardened into a near hatred of our bloggers. While the Republicans embrace their bloggers and hand feed them, Democrats seem much less inclined to work with us. The Democratic leaders especially. In fact the secrecy surrounding Steny Hoyer's compromise negotiations was designed to keep us from finding out and mobilizing...and it seems to have worked. Lesson learned.

The irony here is that the Democratic party despises it's base. Since 2004 we, the angry, energized progressives, have helped repair and re-energize the party from it's truly dismal 2002 version into a party that now controls both houses of Congress. We've donated tons of money, we've knocked on doors, we've encouraged qualified candidates to run, and enthusiastically supported them on our blogs. Where do you think the Democratic party would be today without us?

And this is our payback! A huge kick in the nuts (that's how it feels to me). Now that Obama has an army of young, enthusiastic (and naive?) supporters, they don't need us. To them we are the people who embarrass them by criticizing their MSM friends, we embarrass them when they cave, we call and argue with their staff. All they want is to be left alone to enjoy their prestige, their new power, and the flow of money from their new corporate friends.

It's time to cut our ties with the Democrats and concentrate on issues, and on defeating the bad politicians and supporting the good ones, independent of party (we desperately need new parties). I no longer want anything to do with the Reids and Hoyers and Rockefellers.

One more thing (long rant, I know), I found the following two posts immensely helpful in calming me down last night and I recommend them to all who, like me, need an alternative to our negativity.

Digby - Talk to the Hand

http://tinyurl.com/4r3p98

Hilzoy - FISA: Why it Matters

http://tinyurl.com/3ovxnr

---Part of me wants to cling to a glimmer of hope...And, part of me just wants to get it over with. Slow motion train wrecks just aren't my forté.---

Yes, I feel the same way. If this was a novel, I wouldn't be able to put it down. Unfortunately I can't turn the pages of my life any faster.

For gods sake, bucks4mccain - and all you righties out there pissing yourself, grow some balls willya'? I thought you hated nanny states where the government takes care of you.

Disgusting!