There is a Congressional position called the "Whip" isn't there? Maybe it's just in our psyche that we have to be ruled and subjugated, not treated as equal participants in our government.

Why is it, exactly, that despite the polls showing most Americans would prefer the Dems to act like they have a spine, they refuse to? If they'd actually taken steps to take the US out of Iraq, or at least shove a stick in Bush's spokes, they'd be way more popular. You know, out in the real world. Do they really think that the Beltway "journalists" reflect what the country on the whole is thinking? Or do they just not care, as long as they don't tick off a few people with money?

There is a logical explanation of this incredible passive acceptance of the administration and it's plans.

In essence - Do nothing, as the administration and Republicans in general are so unpopular they will lose the next election automatically.

To actively oppose them is to run the risk of getting caught up in an argument (the horror!), or worse still being called 'unAmerican' and a 'terrorist enabler.'

Yes it's a gutless and pathetic strategy that is also cynical and immoral.

But it will work.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1694097,00.html

Taking a public stand against torture confers little political advantage for members of Congress — and it carries the risk of being branded as soft on terrorism.

(the lede)

Hmm......

Seeing that the tone of press coverage is often the deciding factor in whether something carries "political advantage", it would appear that Time magazine is pro-torture.

After all, we have it on good authority that torture saves lives. I heard it on CNN. And I saw it on 24.

It's good to know that the media is doing its part to protect us from the Islamofascist threat by making sure that human decency doesn't enter into our thinking.

~A rain shower! The sprinkles should sweeten everybody's mood?

But not those impetuous carousers of each other's nasal nose.

Those weak caresses of the whores thighs will steal anything.

I should go back to read slowly. I'll be ordered away today?

I think you are being a little too rough on the Democrats. It's not like Bush has diddled an intern in the Oval Office and then quibbled over the meaning of sexual relations. A little prespective, please.

OTOH, even Chomsky recognizes there are degrees of difference between Hillary and the current administration vis a vis Iran.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX3sXCgAQUk&feature=related

I think I like this site: The Real News.

http://www.therealnews.com/web/index.php

A rational person--that is to say, someone who lives outside the beltway--can't help but be mystified, (not to mention dismayed) by the continuing capitulation of the Democrats to Li'l Butch's criminal agenda. Are they so unaware of how this plays to their constitutents? Do they not care? Do they really believe they're exercising masterful triangulation to insure they come out on top in next year's election? Are they simply so craven they cannot stand up and say "NO" to this administration's policies? Can they really believe they're demonstrating any kind of fortitude or intellectual integrity, not to mention defending the Constitution?

Can they really be so fucking stupid?

Or is there a much simpler answer to their behavior? Might they not simply be outright accomplices to the President's crimes? Might they not agree with and wish to further his agenda? Might they not lust for their own opportunity to exercise pure, unchecked power next term, as Li'l Butch has done for his two?

I'll go with: cowardly, stupid and criminal!

what are they thinking?

seriously.

there is really only one way on earth to look weak (to prove that you have no character or conviction) to this country and the world and that is to give bush what he wants.

and they do it every time. every damn time.

it would be laughable if it was not so pathetic - not so depressing.

let's face it: Rove succeeded. he got his permanent republican majority.

at least from my perspective. I am at the American Geophysical Meeting in San Francisco. The featured topic is climate change, and of course it makes every other problem look small. realclimate.org has some reviews, but has not yet posted coverage of Lonnie Thompson's talk on abrupt climate change. Must be depressed. If the dems cannot get together to stop the war, consider the difficulties of stopping green house emissions, or finding another method of cooling down the earth.

The Bush administration has used its warrentless wiretapping program on Democrats in Congress, and they have quite the dossier.

There isn't any -- it's a virtual vacuum of political ineffectiveness.

No apparent policy.

No strategy.

No rhetorical message management.

No party discipline.

When do the House and Senate Dems get to vote on their leaders again? How can these guys tolerate this situation? They're going to have to run on this dismal record.

The Democratic leadership's Beltway peers, the pundits they appreciate, and the consultancy class see it as a victory whenever the Democrats defy their own base to support some hawkish initiative.

It's these opinions they care about, and those people only make fun of the Democratic leadership when they give in to their dirty fringe crazy unsophisticated 'base'.

Defying their own base / majority of US public to favor hawks: Strong, Bold, Unconventional.

Acting for their own base / majority of US public to defy hawks: Timid, Yielding, Controlled By 'Interest Groups'.

Holy Howl Girls, Belly Dancers, and wow- if the Preacher Man on Capital Hill can save me a dirty politic-o whore after the Alleluia Alter Boy Choir call hymn-song is done- I'll pass.

Save them dirt-balls for the GOP's sleazy.

However, if the rural country gal will escort me, I'll lug the jug.

Hallelujah! Isa' feel like plowing in that moist honey dew. Yow.

methinks Isa best seek out some green lovage, and make sweet celery soup.

O, Alleluia.