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Friday, November 02, 2007

So how do we get these fuckers out of office?
Posted by Jill | 7:38 PM
And I'm not talking about Republicans, either. I'm talking about Democratic sellouts like Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein, who today all but ensured that George W. Bush, a president that three-quarters of the country despises, will get his torture-endorsing Attorney General pick.

I just have one question:

Why?

Why on earth is ANYONE, particularly those supposedly on our side, willing to tolerate the besmirching of this country's reputation on a so-called "interrogation" method that dates back to the Inquisition? What the hell is it about George W. Bush that has them in thrall? Does he have pictures of them in a compromising position with a mule? Does he have evidence of financial scandal? Is this about blackmail? Or is it something else?

Dam Froomkin (h/t: Joe Sudbay) thinks he knows what Bush's winning formula is:

But it's not Bush's style to back down, especially when a key element of his radical and unprecedented expansion of executive power is at stake.

Instead, Bush has learned that the higher he ratchets up the rhetoric, especially if he can accuse his critics of being weak on terror, the more likely Congressional Democrats are to fold. He's simply counting on that happening again.


And like little sheep, traitors -- yes, traitors -- like Schumer and Feinstein go along with the transformation of this country from a beacon of hope and freedom for people all over the world, into a giant, ruthless, vicious predatory animal. That, my friends is treason. And with their votes today, Schumer and Feinstein put themselves in the same league with the madness of King George and his puppetmaster. And if there is ever any justice in this world, those two turncoats will answer for war crimes right alongside Bush and Cheney.

I'm not sure what we can do about hacks like these two. The obvious answer is to mount primary challenges and hope that Schumer and Feinstein don't follow in Joe Lieberman's path and create the "New York for Schumer" party and the "California for Feinstein" party. The problem with primary challenges is how difficult it is to unseat an entrenched incumbent. Even assuming that the challenger manages to amass enough money and/or foot soldiers to mount a credible challengers, voters tend to vote for the knave they know rather than the fool they don't. And in states like New Jersey, where an entire ballot is displayed, the party line is king. Run off the line and you're not even perceived as a Democrat. Unseating these fools requires a population that's more engaged and more knowledgeable than the one we have; a population that can believe its vote matters.

Last November, Americans went to the polls and elected Democrats to end this war and to put some brakes on an insane president hell-bent on bringing about the End of Days because he thinks he is God's Anointed Architect of Armageddon. And because of the weakness of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the cravenness of Senators like Hillary Clinton, the cowardice of Senators like Barack Obama, and the God-only-knows-what of cronyist hacks like Schumer and Feinstein, nothing has been accomplished on either front. We don't have children's health insurance. We don't have an end in sight for this war. The Senate has given tacit approval for an inevitable and ill-advised attack on Iran.

We knew the Republicans were crooked and evil. But now we know that the Democrats in Congress are just plain useless.

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