Just One Of Those Throw In The Towel Days

Days like these kind of make me wish I hadn't written those 7,000 or so posts for the last four years. I mean, I had fun, but it amounted to an authoritarian takeover of government and nothing resembling hope on the horizon. We have a breakdown of the democratic system of government when a political party - the one in the majority - can be bullied into leaving the Constitution in a heap and giving up responsibility to stop the outrages of the Bush years, even when given a mandate to do so. In not wanting the trouble, they are setting a dangerous precedent - that an action is legal as long as the President SAYS it's legal.

And now the standard-bearer of the party, the man many hope will lead the nation and the world in the next eight years, fails to heed the call to reject this capitulation. It could be that he wants the power as President; most Presidents don't want Congress or the courts meddling into their business. It could be he just wants to get elected and doesn't want the trouble that us dirty hippies, who think the Fourth Amendment means as it reads, will provide. Obama is tightening up his access, anyway, at the same time as he calls for bottom-up movements for change, so walling himself off from liberals would fit. I like Obama on some levels and understand perfectly that the only candidate whose views align perfectly with mine is me. But this is a damn stupid move.

More than anything, this betrayal from a rotten-to-the-core Washington establishment just brings things into focus. Republicans as a name brand are screwed for a long time. The House Democratic leadership stinks on ice. But as Howie Klein notes, the leadership beneath them - the second tier - supported the Constitution today.

The movement that was formed in response to this betrayal, the coalition calling itself "Strange Bedfellows," has raised nearly $300,000, and is running full-page ads in the Washington Post calling out Steny Hoyer. You can give here.



There are Bush Dogs on everyone's list and that number will grow in 2008, and more in 2010. We all now know where we stand. There are about 120 Democrats in the House, and maybe 30 in the Senate. It is unacceptable and frankly obnoxious to think that some other Bush Dog like a Mark Udall, who voted for the FISA bill today, being added to the Senate would make any difference. I for one am devoting my energies solely to those who spoke out and who will not betray this movement and their causes. There are two reactions to this: disengagement or refocusing. I can only do the latter.