Letters to the Editor
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So much for your rationale, Dems
(in the booming tone common to late-night Ginsu ads):
Democrats, worried that taking a stand against the Torture Bill will hurt you in the upcoming elections?
Scared into voting for the bill that allows the government to hold people without due process so Republicans won't be able to slander you as "soft on terror"?
Don't worry, no matter what you do, they'll call you weak on national security anyway!
Even if you vote for the Americans Love Torture Bill while simultaneously taking down an Islamofascist in Reagan Airport as he's trying to mix shampoo and lipstick into a plastic explosive, they'll call you a "terrorist loving pussy."
But wait, there's more!
If the legislation passes, other countries will feel free to torture Americans overseas!
All kidding aside, the Republican smear and fear machine will always try to portray Democrats as clueless, soft and afraid on Iraq and terrorism, because it's the only card they have to play. So get over it, reach down and dust off your principles, straighten your spines, remember that you're in office to protect the American people, not your own sorry asses, and FILIBUSTER THE FUCKING THING.
The reason Rove and the GOP have been able to run roughshod over you in the last 5 years is not because they are so brilliant, but because you've LET THEM. When your choices and actions are driven by fear, the other guy wins. That's how bullies bully. When you act from courage and strength, you always make the other guy back down.
Get a goddamned clue, please.
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"Working Together"
The Bush refrain "working together" can mean so many things:
1. Bush and Republicans in Congress;
2. Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rove
3. Bush and those who agree with him
4. Bush and Fox News
5. Bush and Secretary of State Rice
6. Bush and the New York Post
7. Bush and the Washington Times
8. Bush and Laura
9. Bush and Joe Liberman
10. Bush and Tony Blair
It never includes anyone else. He refers to half of the political force in this country as "those Democrats", and people who don't agree with him have been called "unpatriotic" and "obstructionists", among other things (as if he thought he wasn't THEIR president, too).
History will be forced to define him as the most divisive president in history.
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I am embarrassed for Reid
Not only should he have seen this coming from a mile away, but he actually sat down with the Republicans and forged a compromise on the Torture Bill. A compromise that does little to correct the most egregious parts of the bill so provides Dems no pulpit to claim they've protected core American values. A compromise that allows Bush to score a major political victory weeks before the election. One so unpopular within Reid's own party that disunity is one again front and center -- no plan, no backbone -- just more fodder for weak-on-terror rants spewed from the frothing right.
There is Mr. Reid, sitting in the hot Vegas desert, alone with his shovel and pail, and a mouthful of sand.