The Democrats Betray Us

Capitulation.

Capitulation and betrayal, that is what the Democrats have given us, capitualion to the Bush administration and betrayal to the American people.

I really had hope for the first time in a long time when the Democrats won control of both houses of Congress in last year's elections.

Now that hope is gone:

U.S. Congress yields to Bush to pass spying bill

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic-led U.S. Congress yielded to President George W. Bush on Saturday and approved legislation to temporarily expand the government's power to conduct electronic surveillance without a court order in tracking foreign suspects.

Civil liberties groups charged the measure would create a broad net that would sweep up law-abiding U.S. citizens. But the House of Representatives gave its concurrence to the bill, 227-183, a day after it won Senate approval, 60-28.

What was all our work for? Why did we work so hard to elect Democrats into power? I worked to get friends and family members to vote for Democrats, to get them majority control of Congress, because I believed that surely the Democrats would fight to protect the Constitution and our civil rights.

I was wrong.

I feel so hurt and betrayed by this traitorous action. I don't know if I will get over it by the next election. The problem is: if neither Republicans nor Democrats will stand up for the Constitution and our civil rights, who will?

I thought that after the 2006 elections, that this long, national nightmare of rule under the Bush regime would soon be over. I thought that the Bush administration would have to pay for their crimes, and America would see a rebirth of the idea that no man, not even the president, is above the law.

Now, Congress has moved to legalize the crimes of the Bush administration. I have lost all hope. I have lost hope that I will see Bush and Cheney in prison. I have lost hope in my country. I have lost hope in the "Democratic-controlled" Congress. I have lost hope in humanity.

If we cannot even prevent the regression of American idealism, how can we possibly hope to be progressive? How can we possibly hope to stop global warming? How can we hope to gain universal healthcare? How can we hope to eradicate poverty? How can we hope to end pollution? How can we hope to bring peace to the Middle East? How can we hope to restore our good reputation in the world? How can we hope to end the causes of terrorism? How can we hope to restore the rule of law? How can we hope to restore the Constitution?

I'm so sick of this. I feel so sick. I am sick of myself that I dared to have any hope. I am sick that I put my trust in the Democrats to do the right thing and stand up to the evil Bush administration. Sick, sick, sick.

Republican Track Record

I usually write for my blog whenever something inspires me, but sometimes I get inspired to write yet find myself speechless. Fortunately, when that happens, I usually come across another writer's words that say exactly what I would write if I was not stumped.

This time Hunter on DailyKos beautifully articulates my feelings about Rudy Giuliani's recent suggestion that if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, then we will be more susceptible to more attacks like 9/11:

Not Breaking: Rudy Giuliani Is A Fearmongering Jackass

[...]Yes. If a Republican is elected, they can "anticipate" terrorist attacks. You know, perhaps because staff members with their "hair on fire" are warning them of the high risk of terrorist attacks. Perhaps because staff members are trying to educate them in vain about a recent ongoing history of terrorist attacks. Perhaps because somebody practically staples a memo to the Republican President's forehead dramatically entitled, in a large and bolded font, "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S." MAYBE SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

[...]I was pondering over this last night, as a matter of fact, so let's think about this for a minute. Under six years of President Bush, there have been major terrorist attacks on two American cities, public-safety-threatening electricity blackouts artificially created by major energy corporations in an effort to extort the recipients of that electricity, deficits that have reached crisis proportions, criminal indictments of Republican congressmen nationwide and even of Republican White House staffers, one of Americas "crown jewel" cities was in large part destroyed and its population turned into refugees battling a national government response that ranged from incompetent to absent, the defacto suspensions of habeas and other Constitutional rights, the international diplomatic isolation of America, and there have been two major wars, both ongoing.

I recommend reading the whole post.

I honestly do not understand how the numbers between potential presidential candidates in polls are even close between the opposing political parties. I look at everything... EVERYTHING that has happened during Bush's terms, and I cannot fathom how anyone could even consider voting for another four years of a Republican presidency. (Then again, I cannot fathom how anyone voted for Bush in 2004 after they had four years to experience his incompetence.)

Some moderates may claim, "Oh, all politicians are the same." They are wrong. That might have been true twenty or fifteen years ago, but it just is not true anymore.

I used to be a moderate and an independent before George W Bush became president. From the moment the Supreme Court installed him as president over the will of the majority of the American people, I knew his presidency would be terrible. Even before his inadequacies as a leader became so blatantly obvious, before he even took the oath of office (which he has broken countless times since), I never imagined he could ever be re-elected. Then he not only proved to be the very definition of incompetent but also proved to essentially be an evil dictator.

Because of Bush:

we were attacked on 9/11

we invaded Iraq because of lies.

we did not finish our job in Afghanistan.

we did not capture Osama bin Laden.

we are still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

we have not properly aided the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

we have record deficits and a record national debt.

we have a shrinking middle class.

we have prolonged the fight against global warming.

we have an increase in terrorism worldwide.

we are viewed negatively by the rest of the world.

we are responsible for Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and other examples of torture and abuses of human rights.

we have the Jack Abramoff scandal.

we the fired US Attorneys scandal.

we have the Valerie Plame scandal.

we had the Enron scandal.

we have evil men like Cheney and Rove in positions of power.

we have incompetent men like Gonzales in power.

we have corporation advocates overseeing their own industries.

we have had corporations writing the laws that affect them.

we have our troops held hostage by a President who ignores the public which he is supposed to work for.

we have an White House that ignores reality and the rule of law.

we have seen an increase in poverty.

we have seen an increase in job-killing Free Trade Agreements.

we have seen an increase in CEO pay benefits and an decrease in pay and benefits for everyone else.

we have an extreme right-wing Supreme Court.

we have a Supreme Court who has begun to dismantle Roe v. Wade at the expense of women's health.

we have had illegal wiretapping of Americans.

we have had illegal searches of our phone records.

we have had the Geneva Conventions violated by the White House.

we have had our Constitution violated by the White House.

we have had the right to habeas corpus violated by the White House.

we have had the breakdown of our system of checks and balances.

we have the most criminal and unethical White House in our nation's history.

The list just goes on and on, and after all that has happened in the last several years, how anyone could even think of voting for another Republican president is beyond insanity.

Giuliani and the other Republican presidential candidates cannot offer any positive change or reform because they agree with almost everything the Bush administration has done.

I cannot take another Republican presidency after Bush. Our country cannot take... cannot afford another Republican presidency after Bush.

We need to restore our country to what it once was, and no current Republican candidate is willing to do that.

All politicians are not the same, not anymore. Things are so unbalanced these days that I do not recognize my country anymore.

Could you imagine if a Republican was arguing against habeas corpus and for torture twenty years ago? They would not be in politics anymore if they did that twenty years ago, but today they can be Attorney General or Vice President.

Everything has been so unbalanced these last several years. I would expect the current political climate from an episode of the Twilight Zone or some Orwellian story, but not in reality in America in the 21st century.

I want my country back.

(I guess I was not so speechless afterall.)

Update: Olbermann did one of his impressive Special Comments on this topic and CrooksandLiars.com has the video. Watch it.

John McCain vs. John McCain

It was not too long ago that McCain seemed likely to be the next Republican presidential nominee. Now, it seems like he has lost his mind (from ThinkProgress.org):

Faced With Facts, McCain Denies His Own Straight Talk

Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told CNN that that President Bush’s escalation in Iraq is going so well, “General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee.” On Monday, he told radio host Bill Bennett that there “are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today.”

This morning, during an interview with McCain, CNN’s John Roberts rebutted McCain’s assertions, stating, “I checked with General Petraeus’s people overnight and they said he never goes out in anything less than an up-armored humvee.” He added that a new report by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey “said no Iraqi government official, coalition soldier, diplomat reporter could walk the streets of Baghdad without heavily armed protection.”

Faced with overwhelming evidence that he was wrong, McCain denied he’d ever said it: “Well, I’m not saying they could go without protection. The President goes around America with protection. So, certainly I didn’t say that.”

The MSM might criticize McCain by speculating that he might be too old to be president. However, I do not have a problem with his age. What I have a problem with is that McCain is (1) in denial about the reality in Iraq and (2) in denial about the reality of what he said ONE DAY EARLIER.

After Bush, the last thing this country needs is another reality-denying president. McCain is out of the race as far as I am concerned. I do not think that even Republicans will support another delusional (or deluding, depending on your outlook) candidate. I highly doubt that McCain will win the GOP's nomination.