We should have known it was coming. Even though the Democratic Party rode the antiwar wave in to Congress last November, they've done little since to end the bloody war in Iraq. Just last week House Democrats met to discuss how best to halt Bush's request to send more troops into the region, but they couldn't come to an agreement on whether or not to put any restrictions on the administration's plea for an additional $93 billion to continue the occupation. The only way to stop the war, as Sen. Russ Feingold understands well, is to cease all funding for the ongoing tragedy. But the majority of Democrats, already preparing for the next round of elections, aren't about to step up and represent their constituents.
Hate to say we told you so, but we predicted this outcome long ago here at Antiwar.com. While some, including John Nichols at The Nation, claimed Washington was being taken over by progressive Democrats, we knew the numbers proved otherwise. Progressive Democrats did gain strength; however, conservative, pro-war Blue Dog and DLC patrons gained the most seats in the last election cycle. Virtually all ran on pro-war platforms – guaranteeing that they would continue to support Bush's efforts to eradicate terrorism by terrorizing Iraqis and Afghanis instead.
"The Blue Dogs are pretty unified in not wanting to micromanage how the Pentagon conducts the war," said Blue Dog Rep. John Salazar of Colorado. "None of us will support withholding funds from troops in the field."
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also refused to block Bush's call for additional funds by claiming it would be "immoral" for the Democratic Party to do so. Sen. Hillary Clinton won't apologize for giving Bush the authority to invade Iraq, nor will Sen. Dianne Feinstein acknowledge that her support for past reconstruction funds has fattened the pockets of her husband, who has large stakes in several companies currently profiting from the war.
We may as well call all of this what it is: a willful abandonment of ideals and purpose, which never really existed to begin with. The Democratic Party exerts the same hawkish fervor as the Republican Party. Indeed, they have proven that despite the overwhelming opposition to the war nationwide, they will not do a damn thing to end it.
U.S. foreign policy has not and will not change direction as long as the Democratic Party continues to be dominated by corporate interests and tacit compliance to the neoconservative agenda. The antiwar movement needs to understand this reality or it is doomed to collapse like it did under the pressure of the 2004 elections.
The time is now for us to come together under a unified antiwar banner despite our political leanings. Liberal, radical, conservative, libertarian, it doesn't matter. Ending the war and our government's imperialist polices is just that important. We may be a minority, but we can be a successful one. If we unite, we could have a profound effect on our political discourse and the upcoming elections. Let's not wait around for either party to come to their senses.
LOL That is a perfect example of doublethink. Orwell would have chuckled.
How does one "unite" when you demonize anyone who disagrees with you? Take down one poster, hang up another. Excessive Love and Excessive Hate are the two faces of the same coin.
This is a perfect example of how the blind lead the blind. Even though your intention may be good (peace in Iraq) your strategy reveals a lack of understanding of what war "is." Every war is a civil war. The desire to "dump" people is what leads to war, political or violent.
Peace, in contrast, is about uniting people who are opposed to one another. To be a peacemaker one does not "dump" anyone, but rather reduces the level of fear and paranoia each group has for the other.
The mirror is a treacherous place. What you see is what you project. What you want to "dump" is your own political bias.
If you can't make peace with the Democrats, then how will you ever "unite" and make peace with the Islamists?
peace,
steve
www.behappyandfree.com
by
Steve Consilvio (13 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 111 comments)
on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 8:09:03 AM
Incredibly shallow analysis. Let's see how it holds up in
a few other relevant cases.
You write, "If you can't make peace with the Democrats, then how will you ever "unite" and make peace with the Islamists?" Where does the assumption come from that making peace with Democrats is necessary?
Is it necessary, in your "analysis," to make peace with every single nameable group, before making peace with another group? For instance, "If you can't make peace with the Republicans (or Mafia, or Nazis), then how will you ever "unite" and make peace with the Islamists?"
The second absurdity in your post is the idea that "making peace with Islamists" is even an issue. There is no problem with "Islamists." Do you mean Al-Qaeda? That's not the same thing. The only problem with "Islamists" is that the US is attacking Muslim countries, in the attempt to seize control of their oil. This is a policy of the US govt, led by Republicans, & supported in slightly less blatant ways by Democrats.
There is no "need" whatever to make peace with Democrats. The need is to oppose US militarism & imperialism, which means opposing both US parties, which are both instruments of big business. There is not the slightest contradiction between working to undermine the Democratic Party, and opposition to militarism & imperialism. In fact, they are just 2 aspects of the same struggle.
by
Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1232 comments)
on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 2:51:25 PM
Make it clear to all Democrats[?] in Congress that they won't get your vote in 2008 if they don't end the war now.
The questionable Democrats[?] are the Blue[yellow]Dogs and,in my mind, the members of the DLC who are even more destructive of our Party's core values. LET THEM KNOW NOW THAT THEY WON'T GET YOUR VOTE IN 2008 UNLESS THEY VOTE TO END THE WAR NOW!
by
Kenneth Briggs (135 articles, 88 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 113 comments)
on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 9:07:31 AM
Dump the Dems and end the War ? NO ! Dump the 'blue Dogs'
As long as I can breathe I will continue voting for the Best Candidate (Regardless of their party affiliation. ) But, keep in mind that many a wolf slips into the hen-house under guise of sheeps' clothing ! This is what has occured here. N. Pelosi and H. Reid were not the Culprits responsible for the Stagnation occuring here. The 'blue-dog bunch who disguised as Democrats ( in order to be elected or to keep their seats ) are, and are now back at Working the Republican side of the fence for all they are worth. Which was Their hidden Agenda all along. So, H.S. Pelosi, it is your duty to Find an avenue to work the Democratic Agenda...Just as you Promised The People who elected you...You Would do. The Impeachment Must be put Back on the table. ( That Should be Your First order of the Day.) If not, then your only Possibility to End this ''Travesty of war' bush instigated our country into....must be your Motion TO cut off all funding for this war...Unless Specifically Ear-marked for Two purposes..( To Bring our Troops Home..And to help The Iraqi People to rebuild what we have destroyed ..their country.) This was your promise to the American people that would be done..if the Democrats were voted in as the Majority ! And guess what ? It happened. In Both the House and the Senate..The control . Stop this war before it becomes 'The Democrats' War.' So far, it isn't. VGF
by
VGF (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 39 comments)
on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 3:55:53 PM
It was my understanding that the majority of victorious democratic candidates were those who supported ending the war in Iraq and opposed Bush the loudest. I believe that those dems who went down in defeat were not only few but conservative. I will, time permitting attempt to use my dogpiles and vivisimos and teomas to affirm this conjecture...unless Mr. Frank has the links at hand and takes pity on me........post it Josh, post it.
Since the election it has been pretty plain that initial democratic efforts have been feeble and easily scuttled by the minority party, sadly. I am strongly in favor of supporting the growth of third party candidates and have made no bones about it, yet I do see a growing effort by democrats to get us out of the war somehow, someway, sometime......
Now if only these investigations we hear about result in disclosures too outrageous to ignore..........
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 5:06:27 PM
Dump the Democrats and Dump Progessives for the next ....
I really wonder if they got any of your votes anyway. Get real. You have a one vote majority in the Senate and the majority in the House has many Democrats from a very conservative West and South. A Democrat in Georgia or Virginia is very different than a Democrat from Maryland.
I think many things are coming along pretty nicely. Libby was convicted last week which gives the Democrats a chance to follow up with hearings and the chance to draw Cheney into the scandal if not Bush himself. In fact, isn't Ms Plame or is it Mrs. Wilson going to testify before a Congressional Committee this next week? Would not have happened before November's election.
With all the hearings beginning to take their toll on Republicans who are now beginning to have what some have called a circular firing squad only among themselves; with the religious right divided on whom to support for President in the '08 election, I would say the prospects for a Democrat majority in all three branches is likely. None of us would have dreamed of such a change in less than two short years ago.If the next President is elected for two terms which will be unlikely, but might happen, there most likely will be three more SCOTUS members elected.
Now, let us look at a third party to see what it would do to the political landscape. A strong third party of Progressives may pull as many as one third of the progressives out of the Democrat Party, mighty few independents who tend to be more conservative than the liberal Democrat Party, and none of the Republicans. This would mean in the last two Presidential elections where the Republicans received fifty percent and the Democrats received fifty percent; whereas in the 2008 elections the Republicans would receive their fifty percent, the Democrats would receive about thirty-four percent and the new Progressive Party would receive about sixteen percent. This would mean that the Republican candidate could receive as little as forty percent and still win with the extra ten percent evenly divided among the Democrat Party and the new Progressive Party. I cannot think of a better strategy to keep the nation under the religious right wing's control because they still control the Republican Party. They are a very strong fifty percent of the Republican Party and twenty-five percent of the whole voting public. They vote. Progressive gripe and stay home.
We have been a two party system for the last two hundred years. It is not going to change. It is one of the reasons for our political stability. The key is to control the Democrat Party on the grass roots level. It is exactly what the religious right planned to do in 1978 with the Repulican Party, and they did. Big Time. I know I was there hollering and screaming about them breaking down the wall of separating religion and state. My denomination has forty million members with only ten to fifteen percent voting Democrat. Can progressives be as united as the religious right? No they cannot because everyone on the left refuses to compromise on the least little of anything. We fight and we bicker with each other while they walk away with the political prize time after time. If you do not believe me just listen to all the squawking going on against Hillary Clinton despite her Senate voting record; and by the way, she has said time and again she would not vote to give Bush the authority again if she knew what he was going to do with that authority. So quit lying about that fact. She is not going to lie down and crawl for any of you Clinton haters. Her husband would not do it during his impeachment and she has more backbone than he ever thought about having.
So far I am supporting Edwards, but please quit the crap about her. It is verbal rape at its worst. She is a liberal Democrat who is smart enough to know when to compromise and when to go for the throat. We are not going to get out of Iraq in less than a year and anyone who thinks we are does not understand the voting public on this issue. People are not upset with Bush just about Iraq. They are upset about Katrina, Afghanistan, the high cost of fuel on top of the scurrilous profits by the oil industries, fifty million Americans with no health insurance, and the cost of living rising with each penny of the rising cost of fuel. They are scared about jobs, the economy, the loss of Social Security and Medicare. They are even scared about the rising crime rate. Iraq is just one issue, maybe the most important issued, but just one issue among many.
by
pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 969 comments)
on Friday, March 9, 2007 at 12:52:29 AM
and it is up to each of us to sift through the opinions and decide which have merit. For example, your opinion or excuse that democrats have a slim majority and thus cannot be blamed for inaction. The GOP has a minority yet seems damn effective in disrupting progress....hmmm. When in the minority democrats wailed that they couldnt have an effect, now they are in the majority and moan that it isnt a large enough, sorry no.
I have called for perspective on this issue, noting the drawing up of subpoenas signalling the opening of investigations but I, unlike you, understand and support the anger and antipathy towards your party for its silences and complicities these last six plus years.
Your dismissing of the third party movement hangs upon the votes it will take from the democrats yet fails to understand that progressives and leftists, and more and more moderates are coming to the understanding that neither major party represents them any more. The third party would seem the only way to keep a progressive agenda on the table.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Friday, March 9, 2007 at 7:32:37 PM
You need to take a basic American government course. Any bill passed by a majority still must get past a Presidential veto.
It takes sixty votes to override a Presidential veto. Until the Democrats have a safe sixty votes in the Senate or a Democrat President, you can forget the malarkey. The Republicans have had a majority in the House and Senate except for one two period since 1994, and a Republican President since 2000 thanks to the Green Party not giving their time, money and votes to Albert Gore.
It is just your way of promoting the Green Party while attacking the Democrat Party.
Come, Ardee, come clean. Ardee, helps to be honest. I am told confession is good for the soul. I am not Roman Catholic, but I will take your confession since you do not have a priest. I can put on my white shirt backwards, get my wife's necklace and we can get it done.
by
pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 969 comments)
on Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 2:12:56 PM
To make the pResident veto a bill you first gotta vote to pass the bill, hows that for civics 101?
The Democrats are a party of excuses, nothing more and nothing better. They whined and moaned while in the minority, now , in the majority at last they whine and moan. The GOP , agendised, anti American greedy bastards that they are, can at least get something accomplished, mostly making democrats look like rudderless idiots.
The stupidity of thinking anyone robbed Al Gore BUT AL Gore is beneath any intellectual response. Neither you, my agendised fundamentalist friend, nor your incompetent and complicit party owns my vote. Got that Prat, noone owns my vote. I cast it for that candidate who best expresses my own political opinions and wishes for the direction my nation takes.
The Green Party, in my opinion, is the last best hope for the progressive agenda in this nation. That they refuse any and all corporate donations makes them free from the taint of control by these corporations, oyu know Prat, those funds the DLC has sold the soul of your party to gain.........
One last thing silly little man. My criticism come from my heart and in no way are devious or agendised, or designed to build the Green Party at the expense of the Democratic Party. I generally do not even mention the Greens in my posts, you in fact refer to them far more frequently than I...do you also look for them under your bed each night?
Oh and by the way, I am not even a registered Green, just an independent with more and clearer vision than you have, apparently. Here I thought your stupidities about all moslems are evil was just a personality defect, I guess it was really symptomatic of an overwhelming problem you have with reality.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 5:27:05 PM
Sadly, I think all too many of us can say that we saw this coming long ago...
Every day we stay in Iraq makes it worse and harder to leave (which IS the neocon plan), enabled by cowering Democrats.
Forget the faux-patriotic rhetoric! It is time to stop funding this Mideast debacle. No good can come from the United States remaining in Iraq. Anyone who thinks this administration cares about the health, welfare and voting practices of the Iraqis any more than it did about residents of the Ninth Ward in New Orleans is mistaken.
The Bush administration wants to use military bases throughout the world to guarantee control and flow of energy resources. Bravado aside, this administration understands virtually nothing about the security of this nation. No one was even fired after the worst security breach in our history. It believes that superior firepower is all that is needed. Might makes right.
The administration shreds international treaties and laws with the ease that it shreds our Constitution. Since we aren’t in Iraq to help the Iraqi people, or even U.S. security, but rather for oil companies, every day that we stay is one day worse for Iraqis and for our security here at home.
The Dem leadership knows all this but won’t say it.
Would you like to see a big change in attitude in Congress? Do you want a clear call to end this illegal, immoral war of choice? Put their feet to the fire and their backs to the wall: Make the SWITCH to the GREEN PARTY!
A massive (100-200,000) move to the Green Party tomorrow would likely result in a vote to stop war spending within 10 days. Suddenly, Impeachment for those crimes we all know about would be back on the table.
There is a better chance to get Congress to act by pressure from the OUTside of the Dems than from the INside. Let's be smart and use whatever political leverage we can.
We must strengthen and prepare ALL forces that are willing to take on the fight to save our nation and heritage-and the time is now.
Only by mass movement to another party (and the Greens, with these positions, are the best bet to set a progressive, sane agenda) will there be a true shake-up and building a progressive political movement with direction and vision in this nation.
The Green Party has most if not all of the platform positions nostalgic Dems say they believe in -- and THEN some. Greens say out loud, together as a party (unlike Democrats): Stop the "Bush Doctrine" of pre-emptive/preventive war, and let's impeach those who shred our Constitution.
In their Platform and their "10 Key Values", Greens stand for universal health care, woman's rights, the right to organize (end the Taft-Hartley Act), an end to corporate welfare, protection of civil liberties, and true electoral reform so that the vote has meaning and that people actually participate in their own governance. Greens call for respect for international law, sustainable development, real well-rounded citizen education, a living wage, a safe food supply, and Fair Trade. The Green platform says to reform the Media, not to further concentrate it (as Clinton did)!
Those are all stated Green Party goals. Aren't many of them ours, too?
Let's wake up. It is TIME to stop WASTING time. It is time to BUILD -- from a VISION. It's time for a rebirth of democracy.
How long after abandoning Labor, Women' Rights, and Healthcare-for-all will progressive-minded activists and voters still insist that something remains to support there. The Democratic Party has become an able enabler of the Right wing takeover of the US, isn't it clear by now?
In spite of the perrenial fight of some progressives to "change" the Democratic Party, to "pull it back to it's roots", there has been no visible progress in decades -- and much to the contrary.
Sometimes I think that the giant "sucking sound" that Perot once talked about, is really tht of the time, energy and efforts of good people to "reform" the Party and to help elect Democrats who for the most part didn't meet a corporation they couldn't take funds from.
Even though many in the Democratic Party chastise the DLC for "not getting it" as they insist on their right to control the party, I'd say that the so-called progressive wing, too, has not been "getting it" for years -- nay, decades -- that their own efforts have been truly for naught. The best they have ever accomplished was to "slow down" the slide to the Right.
How long must we hear "first we get into office and then we change things"? Oh, yeah?? Eight years of DLC Clinton got us...closer to the IV Reich.
Are you and, say, a hundred friends up to it? Make the switch! I've done it. How many 4-year cycles have to be lost before we break the cycle and build something new? Something that looks like what we want.
Our kids' future depends on YOU and I now becoming the "Greatest Generation" -- those willing, against any and all odds, to stand up, organize, fight, as Ike said, the formidable military-industrial complex, and defend democracy on our own soil.
######
An afterthought: Were it not done on purpose, it would be ironic -- but, BushCo's insane rhetoric aside, it is actually THIS Administration, along with its cronies and enablers, who are the ones bringing the fight for democracy HERE to our shores. That business of "Fightin' them over there, so we don't have to fight 'em here..."? It's pure BS.
by
alan k (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 34 comments)
on Sunday, March 18, 2007 at 3:28:55 AM
Don't let anyone fool you -- just because you register Green to show your values, build the progressive movement, and to put the pressure on Congress, you can vote for whomever you want in 2008 or any election.
The REGISTRATION and support of Greens count as much or sometimes MORE than your regular vote.
Don't let your behavior during those 15 minutes in November every 4 years make you waste all the rest of those other intervening minutes by supporting a Democratic party that abandons us at every turn instead of working actively to grow the progressive forces in the US!
by
alan k (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 34 comments)
on Sunday, March 18, 2007 at 3:48:12 AM
Dump You Neo-Cons And Stop The Republi con War Hoax
I gotta say - for the first time in the last few years I am proud to be an American. Some of us aren't suckers for you "carpetbagging" liars. I can pick out the Republicans by that lying sound. That "smarts" helped me protect myself from "used car" and "suede shoe" salesmen over the years. Now I have a new prejudice - no lower scum than you pukes throughout our country. You must think we Dems are really dumb.
My DNA shows I am trustable liberal proud Democrat,
Don Borbe,
Portland, Oregon
by
Clarkent39 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Friday, March 30, 2007 at 5:23:10 AM
Ken, I truly see your point and have suggested it myself, stand firm and make Dems come to there senses. My days of being pissed off at Bush has tough me one thing, keep fighting his nonsense by ever means available. A true win will only come when we beat both the Dems. and repukes at there own game. This can only be achieved by holding them accountable for there actions like taking impeachment off the table for instance. Let us send a strong message back to Pelosi and Reed that they've lost are support until they get it straight. We voted them in and we sure the hell can vote them back out. Even if there to arrogant to fall in line the Dem. party will not like there actions that will make there party lose power in the house and senate.
by
Fred F (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 361 comments)
on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 7:40:08 PM
14 comments
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