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  • MONDAY AUGUST 6 2007 9:00 AM

It’s Official: Democrats Do Not Have Spinal Columns



It is a sad truth. After years of scientific study, Democrats proved beyond reasonable doubt this weekend that they are invertebrates. The good news for Democrats is that they are not alone, because 97% of all animal species live without spines. The Democrats have now joined the likes of flatworms, sea cucumbers, jellyfish, snails, insects, leeches and squid. They achieved their new status by amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by a vote of 60 to 28 in the Senate, and by 227 to 183 in the House. They made the exact changes to FISA that Bush wanted, just like the Republican controlled Congress did for 6 years. Congrats, Dems!

Seems like it was just last November when I thought the Democrats taking over Congress would mean that Bush would not be allowed to trample on the Constitution whenever he said, “Terrorists.” I guess I was wrong. The Protect America Act makes President George W. Bush's illegal wiretapping order retroactively legal, gives enormous power to Alberto Gonzalez and allows warrant-less wiretapping on your phone if you are talking to a foreign fella.


“We are deeply disappointed that the president’s tactics of fear mongering have once again forced Congress into submission,” said Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU. “That a Democratically-controlled Senate would be strong-armed by the Bush administration is astonishing. This Congress may prove to be as spineless in standing up to the Bush Administration as the one that enacted the Patriot Act or the Military Commissions Act.”


Over and over, the Democrats make it clear that they have no idea what to do with a majority. They are fucking pathetic. I am not saying every single Democrat is pathetic, just enough to ruin the country. A few, like Russ Feingold, refused to cave in to the Republican scare tactics.


Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, angrily chastised his colleagues for bending to the administration's will.

"The day we start deferring to someone who's not a member of this body ... is a sad day for the U.S. Senate," Feingold said. "We make the policy -- not the executive branch."


Well said, Russ. It’s too bad that so many in your party are sans spines. What did the Democrats fear so much? Bush was demanding that the FISA bill be passed before Congress went on vacation, even at one point threatening to not allow Congress to take August off. (He can't actuallly do that, but he was just trying to show how little he understands the Constitution) Bush and his cronies hammered the point home: If Congress leaves without amending the FISA law and a terrorist attack occurs, it will be the Democrats fault.


"Al Qaeda is not going on vacation this month," said Sen. Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "And we can't either until we know we've done our duty to the American people."


No, al Qaeda is not going to take a vacation. And since al-Qaeda won’t be on vacation, we can all be thankful that we already have a FISA court that handles such situations and we don’t need to give enormous power to one branch of government. I mean, we would have been thankful, if the Democrats were not invertebrates.

These are the names of the Democratic cowards in the Senate who undermined the Constitution because they didn’t want to spend the month of August being called “weak on terrorism:”


Evan Bayh (Indiana); Tom Carper (Delaware); Bob Casey (Pennsylvania); Kent Conrad (North Dakota); Dianne Feinstein (California); Daniel Inouye (Hawaii); Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota); Mary Landrieu (Louisiana); Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas); Claire McCaskill (Missouri); Barbara Mikulski (Maryland); Bill Nelson (Florida); Ben Nelson (Nebraska); Mark Pryor (Arkansas); Ken Salazar (Colorado); Jim Webb (Virginia).


Forty Democratic members of the House voted with the Republicans. Those who did not, were very unhappy.



Because many Democrats went along with Bush’s desires, this is where we now stand: Alberto Gonzalez, the man Democrats believe has subverted the Constitution for Bush, lied to Congress, obstructed justice, and defended torture, has now been given the power to declare who is going to be a target of warrant-less surveillance. Fucking amazing. Democrats rail against the man, hold hearing after hearing, constantly call him unfit to be Attorney General and then give him enormous power. Wonderful consistency.

At what point do the Democrats stop caving in to the Republican threats to call them names and grow some balls? How many times will they roll over and basically shit on their base? The Democrats in Congress are still living in the year 2002 and a lot has happened since then. The main change being that Bush is wildly unpopular and Americans seem to want him to be stopped from doing ANYTHING. Yet, the Democrats roll over like he is a 900 lb. gorilla. Amazing.

Our Constitution was created to keep in check any tyrannical attempt to take over our government. The Founding Fathers foresaw exactly this sort of scenario and created a framework to stop it. It is inevitable that a president would attempt this kind of power grab. In 2006, the Democrats were handed Congress – just as the Founding Fathers envisioned would occur in such a circumstance. But what they did not envision was that the Democrats would be complete cowards and fail to defend the Constitution. I now believe Democrats are now a bigger problem than Bush.

There will always be criminals, police and the courts. Crimes will always be committed and we expect the law to do its part to keep us safe. If suddenly the police and courts stopped prosecuting criminals, who would you be most upset with? It is the job of law enforcement and the courts to stop crime, just as it is the job of Congress to keep the executive branch from breaking the law. Unfortunately, the Democratic Congress is now helping Bush to break the law.

The Democrats are saying it’s not that bad because the FISA law has a 180-day sunset provision, which means in six-months it has to be approved by Congress again to continue. Wow, that’s great. But who is going to be in control of Congress in six-months? Oh, the same chickenshits. Bush will use the same argument and they will cave all over again.

The Democrats have never given us a reason to believe anything different will occur. They only do one thing: They capitulate to the president in order avoid having a vote used against them and being called weak on terrorism. But they are called weak anyway, because they don’t vote as one unified block. Just a few cross over, enough to pass the bill, leaving behind many Democrats who are then called “weak on terrorism.” It is a fantastic lose-lose situation that has been going on since 9/11. Why change it?

I have no doubt that when the Democrats return to their constituents during this break, they will be shocked at the anger over their votes on the FISA law. Then they will start talking tough. “This is the last time,” they will say. How do I know this will happen? The same scenario happened just three months ago with the Iraq war. Democrats caved in to Bush, then were surprised at the anger when they returned home on their spring vacation. When they returned to Congress, they were all piss and vinegar and ready for a fight. It resulted in the Democrats forcing the Republicans to filibuster. Oh, you tough bastards! It was meaningless gesture because the Democrats know they can stop the war tomorrow, by simply telling Bush there will be no more funding for the war. The money runs out in March, end of story. Such an action requires no vote. Republicans would be helpless. The Democrats will not take this action, however, because they are pussies.

The argument is that if the Democrats stop funding the war, then they will lose the presidential election. So, how does that go? Majority of Americans want war stopped. Democrats use their power to stop war. Americans don’t vote for Democrats. Can’t beat that logic. By not stopping the war, Democrats are making one point very clear: Their hold on power is far more important than saving American lives in a futile war, just as their hold on power is more important than protecting the Constitution.

The Republicans have no problem standing up for what they believe in. Last month, the Republicans filibustered a Democratic vote on the Iraq war. That is exactly what the Democrats did not do to stop Samuel Alito from landing his ass on the Supreme Court when they were in the minority. Why did they not do it? Because they were afraid of being labeled obstructionists. If they had courage, they would have stood up and said, “Yes, we are being obstructionists because we are fighting for what we believe in. That is why we were elected.” But they don’t. And they won’t. Because the Democrats have no spinal columns, much like earthworms.

 

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Comments
scorp17yh

scorp17yh

Brookings, OR
November 2004

AUG 06, 2007 09:13 AM

My feeling is that Bush has never been anythng but a puppet for the real "man behind the curtain" Dick Cheney and that it is Cheney who is exacting his revenge for the fall-out of the Nixon/Watergate era.
As for the Deocrats well yeah they have proven to be cowards so many times over. puke

photoline

photoline

Edmonton, AB
January 2005

AUG 06, 2007 09:22 AM

Must be all those photos of Dems in compromising positions with hookers that the CIA got...

Money talks in America. Follow the money.

RileyStClair

RileyStClair

Los Angeles, CA
September 2006

AUG 06, 2007 09:45 AM

*sigh*

FearTheReaper

FearTheReaper

NEWSWIRE

I'm lost

AUG 06, 2007 09:53 AM

If you do not confront the beast, it only grows stronger.


The day after President George W. Bush marshaled political forces in Congress to grant him greater authority to engage in counterterrorism-related spying, the president stated that he would seek greater changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act when the legislative branch returns to work in September.

"While I appreciate the leadership it took to pass this bill, we must remember that our work is not done," the President said in his Sunday statement. "This bill is a temporary, narrowly focused statute to deal with the most immediate shortcomings in the law."

The President said next month he would focus on further immunizing private companies that cooperate with government wiretapping. However, he used complicated language to describe these activities.



What a surprise.

OpticNerve

OpticNerve

Arlington, MA
November 2003

AUG 06, 2007 09:53 AM

When the leading candidate of the alternative party is a woman of questionable ethics, it is no wonder that the Democrats are pathetically spineless.

johnnybourbon

johnnybourbon

USA
October 2004

AUG 06, 2007 10:25 AM

What surprises me is that it doesnt seem like people notice that maybe this is what a large percent of dems want. They are always blamed for not standing up for what they believe in when it is pretty obvious that they just dont have the beliefs you think they do. I am just wondering how many more times this article can be written before people finally start to see that the dems really have no plan to make big changes... but they sure will be glad to talk like they do if that means it'll get em the vote

erratic_prophet

erratic_prophet

San Diego, CA
December 2006

AUG 06, 2007 10:30 AM

Thanks FTR, now I'm really angry and don't know what to do.

formerviking

formerviking

Denver, PA
May 2006

AUG 06, 2007 10:40 AM

erratic_prophet said:
Thanks FTR, now I'm really angry and don't know what to do.



+ 1 million .

KGJohnson

KGJohnson

Las Vegas, NV
October 2005

AUG 06, 2007 11:25 AM

erratic_prophet said:
Thanks FTR, now I'm really angry and don't know what to do.



Fuckin-a. My thoughts exactly

MrStitches

MrStitches

Brooklyn, NY
November 2003

AUG 06, 2007 12:14 PM

So, I wanted to see how my Rep (Tim Bishop) voted (against) and found that the washington post allows you to view congressional votes by ASTROLOGICAL SIGN. W the Eff?

Gerry_D

Gerry_D

Los Angeles, CA
May 2003

AUG 06, 2007 12:22 PM

somebody here quoted it: "outrage fatigue"

Chainlink

Chainlink

Key West, FL
August 2005

AUG 06, 2007 12:31 PM

MrStitches said:
So, I wanted to see how my Rep (Tim Bishop) voted (against) and found that the washington post allows you to view congressional votes by ASTROLOGICAL SIGN. W the Eff?




Nancy Reagan made things happen in Washington.

Heigai

Heigai

Columbus, OH
May 2004

AUG 06, 2007 12:35 PM

I, for one, welcome our new jellyfish overlords.

scorp17yh

scorp17yh

Brookings, OR
November 2004

AUG 06, 2007 12:49 PM

But, but, but, FTR look they really do have spines. Or at least they want us to think so, this just in from:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20070806/pl_cq_politics/democratsintroducecensureresolutionsaimedatbushcheneyandgonzales
Perine, CQ Staff



Democrats have introduced resolutions in the House and Senate that would censure President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

Russ Feingold, D-Wis., introduced the censure resolutions in the Senate on Aug. 4; New York Democrat Maurice D. Hinchey introduced them in the House a day later.

One resolution (S Res 302, H Res. 625), would censure Bush and Cheney for "misleading the American people" about the need to invade and occupy Iraq, as well as for poor planning and conduct of the war.

The other measure (S Res 303, H Res. 626) would censure Bush and Gonzales for "undermining the rule of law and the separation of powers" by, among other things, authorizing the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless surveillance of American citizens and making "misleading" statements about the application of the a sweeping 2001 anti-terrorism law (PL 107-56).

"Congress cannot stay silent when the American people are demanding that this administration be held accountable for its blatant misconduct regarding Iraq and its attack on the rule of law," Feingold said.

Neither the House

MrCrisp

MrCrisp

I'm lost
August 2004

AUG 06, 2007 01:08 PM

MrStitches said:
So, I wanted to see how my Rep (Tim Bishop) voted (against) and found that the washington post allows you to view congressional votes by ASTROLOGICAL SIGN. W the Eff?



it makes keeping track of the upcoming apocalypse easier, i suppose.

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