Monday, January 30, 2006

We need new Democrats

It's done: the cloture vote succeeded, with the help of nineteen "Democratic" Senators. Is yours on the list? (Sorted by state)
Lincoln, Pryor, Ark.;
Salazar, Colo
Lieberman, Conn.;
Carper, Del.;
Nelson, Fla.;
Akaka, Inouye, Hawaii;
Landrieu, La.;
Baucus, Mont.;
Nelson, Neb.;
Bingaman, N.M.;
Conrad, Dorgan, N.D.;
Johnson, S.D.;
Cantwell, Wash.;
Byrd, Rockefeller, W.Va.;
Kohl, Wis.
No Republicans crossed the line on this vote, of course. There's a few names on this list that are not at all surprising (Byrd, Lieberman, Salazar, Dorgan) but I'm terribly dissapointed with the lot of them (Daily Kos notes that the entire Democratic Wing of the "Gang of Fourteen" -- Senators more concerned with being "nice" than being a viable legislative body -- is represented here, and some of these people are planning to vote against Alito now that it doesn't matter).

I will not give any money to the Democratic Party as a group, nor will I give money or votes to any candidate on this list, for reelection or for any other office. Yeah, it's gonna hurt. But if they don't represent me, why vote for them?

Well, I guess it's time to take the Alito Digest off the sidebar and focus on making progress towards impeachment.

And, for what it's worth, let's be entirely clear about this: Republicans in Congress are now, as they have been for the last five years, a rubber-stamp for an irresponsible and dangerous pseudo-imperial lawbreaker. I'm dissappointed at the Democrats. I'm really, really angry at the Republican Party. That's not going to change anytime soon.

4 comments:

LuisaStormchaser said...

I couldn't agree with you more. We need to find representatives who while being practical can also stick to their principles--assuming they had any to begin with. Luisa

Pooh said...

I disagree, only in that I am not surprised by the Republicans, and deeply, deeply angered by the Democrats, from Biden's inane preening to the inability to get someone who knows about, you know, the law in on the hearings to Kerry trying to score cheap points by discovering blogs and literally phoning in a filibuster from a ski slope.

Ahistoricality said...

I'm not surprised by the Republicans, but the fact that they've been consistent [bleep]s doesn't change the fact that they're [bleep]s.

It's a bit of a zero-sum game, arguing about whether their spineless toads are worse than our spineless toads. I will say though, that the Kerry thing was a cheap shot by CNN, etc.: he was not off on a ski trip, but at the World Economic Forum in Davos, consorting, if you will, with lots of really smart, (rich,) important people who might have helped give him a bit of a clue. At least he was someplace that discussions were happening, instead of ensconced in a presidential bubble....

There's gonna be a lot of "discovering blogs" on the part of politicos in the next few years; get used to it.

LuisaStormchaser said...

I can't claim democrats as mine any longer.They are as committed to corporate america running the country as are the republicans.

We live in an era where media does not work as it should because it's become part of america's entertainment factory. Kerry was sidewhacked but no one stepped up with a counter attack.