Friday, March 23, 2007

AMERICAN M-IDOL: The House Democrats' Time of the Month on Iraq...


Nancy, Steny and Jim : Staging Tryouts for a Clear Policy
YOU 'DA MAN, DOG !!!!!
In all of the anticlimactic drama of today's House vote on the Iraq funding bill, one must take a look not so much as the passage of the bill, but HOW they got that point, and how much the Democrats have lost their credibility for the foreseeable future. We all know the Senate will likely not be able to pass this mess, and if they somehow do, President Bush will kick it back with Gusto. The symptoms involved with how this bill got to the 218-212 vote leave me with one thought........... the Democrats are obviously having their period.
Let's look at the symptoms.....
Irritability:
There sure seems to be a lot of cranky Dems - aren't they usually the Shiny , Happy People? This bill left a ton of unhappy peaceniks grumpy afterwards.... I will give some props to the Dems who at least stood on principle, ignored their leadership's attempted bribery, and voted against this mess. It's not often I say, "Dennis Kucinich and Maxine Waters did the right thing", but heck, if I can agree with Cynthia McKinney once, I can do the same with them.
Weight Gain:
How did a $98 Million request turn into a $122 Bill? Simple.......PORK. Yes, fiscal responsibility is not just a problem for our budgetary-challenged Republicans (Michael, that is me criticizing the GOP). This bill was supposed to have been voted on about two weeks ago, when I wrote my "Clyburn's Big Test" post (which The State Hijacked), but when you don't have the votes, you call timeout, and you bribe your members with The Other White Meat until you can count to 217. Sorry, but peanut farmers and milk cows have nothing to do with the War on Terror.
Bloating:
Bloated Ego's, that is........ It's okay to be principled and lose everywhere in the world - with the exception of Washington DC, that is..... Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn took a bill that might have had allowed them to say, "We are Democrats, and here is where most of us stand." They would have lost, and they might have some definition. Instead , they proved them to be politicians and nothing else. They bribed Blue Dogs, and armtwisted the left kook fringe into talking other Dems into voting on a bill they don't believe in. Nice job, gang!
Blood:
Gross, I know, but we're talking about reality here, correct? Pelosi has her "Big Win", but at what cost? Her caucus is a bloody mess, broken into three factions. All that unity last year seems to have been an illusion, as the three groups have a big power grab. Kucinich was on Fox last night, and he was not a happy camper, but at least he still has his beliefs. Where the GOP leadership got tagged as a rubber stamp for President Bush, at least they have been consistent whether the majority or minority. The Dems are a soulless, heartless hodgepodge of powerhungry narcissists that care less about useful legislation, and more about winning.......... except in Iraq, of course. Damn, that was pretty good!
Blood will apply on a palpable level too. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said that April 15th is the cutoff date for Congress to get its act together, and pass the funding. That is 3 weeks away. In that time, the Senate has to pass it's own bill, then the House and Senate have to reconcile the two bills, then send it to President Bush - where it will be vetoed with impugnity. Then it starts all over again. But like Gary McLeod says, I don't know crap about how DC works. Come April 15th, supplies will be shortchanged, troops will be less than fully equipped, and some of them will die. And you can blame Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn for wasting precious weeks passing a bill doomed for a veto. But hey, they got their 'Big Win'. That and a dollar will get you a Biggie Fries at Wendy's.
I imagine Paula, Randy and Simon giving this trio some pretty bad reviews - well maybe not Paula, she likes everybody. My advice is to break out the Tylenol, Motrin, Pamprin, or my favorite - American M-idol. That reminds me.... I'm feeling a bit crampy today..... Shut up!! .....I'm sorry, I love you.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike, you mean that despite all the ill spoken of him, Gary gets it right! Just damn!

Thoroughbred 401k said...

Maybe he's right. Hard as I try to know better, I still hope that our Congressmen and Senators are there to do a job - in OUR interests.

Gary did say that I was the most unqualified candidate to ever run against him!

Anonymous said...

If Gary had his way we would not have a Senate. We would be on the Gold Standard. The list goes on.