Letters to the Editor
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Bottom Line
The Democrats who aren't going to fight the torture bill are basically as bad as the Republicans who support it because they too are playing politics with our rights and legal system.
The Senate Democratic leadership is basically saying: "It's more important for us to protect our electoral interests than to protect the constitution and the rights of ALL U.S. citizens."
It's contemptible. With Democrats like these, who needs Republicans? I haven't been this disappointed since the passage of the bankruptcy bill.
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Very Poor Response By Glenn Greenwald
I'm going to assume, as one of the few people here who has criticized this piece, that some of your reply was directed at me, Glenn. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I get the feeling I'm not.
That being said, let me address some of the points you've made in your reply.
Greenwald: I'm honestly amazed - and more than a little disturbed -- at how many people think that some sort of grave wrong has been committed when someone voices criticisms of the Democratic Party.
This statement makes my point exactly, Glenn. You've just admitted that you criticize the Democratic Party as a whole. I didn't write that, you just did.
Certainly there are times when Democratic members of Congress have not stood up to Bush. But there are certainly instances when they have. And the tone of some of your writing tends to be so virulent as to make average voters buy into some kind of myth that Democrats have gone along meekly with everything Bush and Cheney have ever proposed.
Was Social Security privatized, Glenn? Are they drilling in ANWR, Glenn? Was tort-reform driven through while Dems rolled over and played dead? Is Miguel Estrada sitting on the US Court of Appeals, Glenn? Has the estate tax been repealed, Glenn? Did the 9-11 Commission never meet? Have the Dems remained silent on the issue of both humvee and body armor for our troops? Have they shut up and slinked away on the issue of port security? Is Bush getting his wiretapping bill? Do you want me to keep going?
Greenwald: We're all supposed to be good Party followers and praise the Party Leaders even while they help to legalize torture and permanent lawless detention powers? We're supposed to refrain from criticizing the Party Leaders and simply accept that they know best and follow along meekly and obediently? That sounds a lot like the behavior of Bush followers, and not something I'm particularly interested in emulating.
This is quite funny, Glenn. I notice here how you start to use the term "Party Leaders," instead of just attacking Democrats as an entire, mindless entity. My guess is you've been successfully called out and are trying to backtrack. What's even funnier is that you attack party leaders on the torture bill. Why is that so funny? Because here's a quote from Nancy Pelosi on Bush's torture bill: "This bill does violence to the Constitution." Does that sound like Nancy Pelosi is helping "to legalize torture," as you put it?
As to following those party leaders, no one, including me, has ever said or suggested that we should "follow along meekly and obediently." That's a nice slight of hand which, actually, the Republicans use quite successfully. Trying to falsely attribute things to your critics, Glenn, is a fairly gutless tactic. Just watch the Republicans attack Murtha as someone who wants to cut and run from Iraq. Murtha never said anything of the sort, but hey, why not tar him anyway? Kinda like you try and tar your critics, huh?
Furthermore, all I have to do is look back at the headline of one of your pieces from September 22 to confirm what I'm talking about. Here's the headline: "BATTLING DEMOCRATS' INDIFFERENCE."
Did that headline say Battling Democratic Party Leaders' Indifference? No, it simply attacked the entire Democratic Party as a whole. And why was that? Please explain, I'd love to hear.
And really, if anyone is inciting to people to emulate "the behavior of Bush voters," as you put it, Glenn, it's you. Your broad based attacks on Democrats only serve to amplify the warped arguments that I read in so many of the letters submitted here and elsewhere. How many pathetic submissions do I have to read where writers savagely attack Democrats as a whole. Where is the critical thinking? Where is the nuance? Well, it's not there. And why is that? Perhaps it has something to do with some of your totally unbalanced submissions to the War Room. You want us to believe (by using atrocious headlines such as the one above) that all Democrats are indifferent to the problems of this country. And yet, as I've pointed out, we know that's far from true.
Your broad criticisms have about as much nuance as a bunker buster. And that's truly sad because you know and I know that there are many Democrats battling Bush on numerous, complex issues. And that they don't win all the time is all too often a product of basic math, not lack of spine. They don't control Congress, Glenn. And that people don't hear about many of these battles is often due to lack of both a bully pulpit and reading some of the misleading pieces here. Really, perusing some of this material, no one would ever get the idea that there are good people like Jerry Nadler and Sherrod Brown and Lynn Woolsey and Raul Grijalva and a host of others who fight damn hard against Bush and get almost zero recognition from people like you.
The truth is, unflinching Democrats like these have been very successful in blocking some of the more egregious Bush initiatives. That's a basic fact. And tearing these Dems apart with a guilt by association approach only makes the good work they perform that much harder.
In the end, no one is looking to give away free passes; many of us are simply looking for some much needed balance. Perhaps, Glenn, if you'd start writing with some more fervor about Democratic initiatives and Democratic members of Congress who continually battle Bush, as opposed to continually highlighting the negative, maybe you'd see people start to think critically about issues and politics. Until then, you're only playing into the hands of the people you detest the most. And those are the many Republicans who have put us in the deadly mess we're in today.