Friday night I watched, as usual when it is on, Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. United States Representative Rahm Emanuel was one of the guests. I expected to like him but didn't end up liking what I heard. When he was asked why Congress didn't simply cut off the funds needed to keep the Iraqi war going, he said we don't have the power-- yet. I felt the top if my head come off!
So, what that meant (to me) is they are waiting for 2008 when they have increased their margin and have secured the presidency. For now, they actually don't mind it as it is. Maher tried to get him to admit it is what he was saying, but of course, he did the usual politician's double talk to try and avoid the truth. To be only concerned with gaining Democratic power is no better than what we have seen with the Republicans these last years.
It apparently suits them to appear impotent in stopping Bush's war policies because of the personal 'greater good'-- getting more power for themselves. They won't blame themselves that in the next 15 months, more American soldiers will die, more Iraqi civilians. Do people lose their character, their hearts when they go into politics?
For the rest of us, outside of the government brain drain, my opinion is know what we personally believe and want done. Then start keeping track of how our Congressmen vote. Let them know how we feel. Be they Democrat or Republican, if they don't vote the way we believe is proper, vote them out in 2008. Keep voting them all out until they learn we mean what we say.
For me, this particularly applies if Representative Dennis Kucinich does offer a bill to impeach Bush and Cheney. If my congressman doesn't vote to impeach, I will mark in anybody else's name in November 2008-- no matter what their party. If we ignore what happens in the next 15 months, more people will die and the Bush cabal just might have actually succeeded in starting WWIII. We have to start applying pressure as we cannot expect Congress to get backbone unless we do first.
2 comments:
It has amazed me that the Democrats seem to be stalled in affecting any change. They were voted in to make a difference, and so far all they've done is condemn Moveon.org. I'm with you, if our representatives don't actually represent us, they can't rely on our votes.
Rahm Emmanuel is not typical of all Democrats, but he is typical of the centrist DLC. You are correct, they are more about gaining power than about doing the right thing. I haven't liked him since the 2006 elections, when he refused to back Dems who weren't centrist, and so the DLC didn't give them money. Many of them won anyway, because of being backed by Moveon.org and the net roots. And then Emmanuel jumped in and claimed credit for the seep of the Dems into office.
Kucinich has introduced a bill to impeach Cheney (a necessary first step if we don't want to replace Bush with Cheney) but I haven't heard lately how it is doing.
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