Jane Hamsher writes at Firedoglake:
Russ Feingold proves he’s maybe the only one in the Senate who can read a fucking poll:
One question that I keep getting asked by reporters is why Democrats aren’t reaching out to moderate Republicans to come up with some sort of consensus legislation. I also see stories criticizing the Democratic leadership for failing to bring in Republican moderates to pass legislation. My response is simple — what good is getting 60 or 67 votes to pass a nonbinding Sense of the Senate resolution on Iraq that doesn’t bring the troops home? When I hold my town hall meetings in Wisconsin, nobody is asking me to push for an empty compromise. They ask me how we can finally end this war. This summer we heard a growing chorus of Republicans call for change in Iraq but their words have proven to be empty. If members are serious about changing course in Iraq, Feingold-Reid is the surest way to do it.
No, Actually, Let’s Talk About the War Now
There are a handful of Senators who understand this, it would seem. Most of us can name them: Kerry, Dodd, Kennedy, etc. I don't know what smelly orifice the remaining Democratic Senators have their heads inserted into, but they'd better pull them out and smell the coffee, or damn few people will be showing up next election day.
I've been saying since well before I had this blog that the only strategy that makes sense is for the Democrats to resist this war any way they can. Passing the sort of useless resolutions that "moderate" Republicans will agree to isn't resisting. They need to make the Republicans say no to ending the war, and they need to make Americans aware that they're doing it. The more they do that, the worse it will be for the Republicans. Eventually, even the Republicans will get the message. Unfortunately, right now most Democrats are as clueless as their colleagues across the aisle.
Russ Feingold gets the "Stand Your Ground" award today. There's no more monetary value to this award than there is to the Roll Over and Beg Award, but it's considerably more prestigious, and you don't have to figure out which dog biscuit you like best.
UPDATE: I neglected to mention that this is also the inaugural Stand Your Ground" award. Just goes to show we don't do a lot of navel-gazing around here. At least, we try not to do it in print.
The Feingold-Reid amendment was defeated today, 68 to 28 with 4, including Barack Obama, not voting. See Taylor's article for a list of the Democrats who voted for it. No Republicans voted for it, of course. Here are the 21 Democrats who voted against it:
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Levin (D-MI)
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Salazar (D-CO)
Tester (D-MT)
Webb (D-VA)
You'll note this list is very similar to this list. Pretty soon, those folks will have enough biscuits that they can open up a pet food store.
2 comments:
When 70% of the public hates the war and wants it over, the only sane thing to do is brand your side as the "We are adamantly opposed to the war and will do everything we can to stop it" party, and the other side as the "We love the war and will do everything we can to perpetuate it" party.
When Democrats blur the lines by perpetuating the war, or allowing Republicans to make meaningless antiwar gestures, they are diluting their natural advantage, and sabotaging their electoral prospects for next year.
Plus there's the fact that the war is a bloody disaster and ending it is simply the right thing to do. And the left thing to do too, come to think of it...
Yes, Eli, you'd think this would occur to people who managed to be elected to the Senate. Like I said, they're clueless.
Post a Comment