Sirotablog
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
-
May 25, 2007 7:02 AM
The Final Insult: Dems Brag to Press About Deceiving the Public on Iraq
In case you believe the malarkey being spewed by the House Rules Committee about the rule vote yesterday not really being the vote to give President Bush a blank check, take a look at the Washington Post and the Associated Press today. I reported this at the beginning of the day yesterday and was then criticized by House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY). Now, though, it seems at least some major news organizations have caught on that I was exactly right. In the process, they are reporting what will be recorded in history as the final insult of it all: Democrats running to reporters bragging about their own brilliance in deceiving the public.
Here's the Associated Press:
“In a highly unusual maneuver, House Democratic leaders crafted a procedure that allowed their rank and file to oppose money for the war, then step aside so Republicans could advance it.”
Here's the Washington Post:
"Yesterday's vote to fund the war through September was a historical rarity: the passage of a bill opposed by the speaker of the House and a majority of the speaker's party. Two years ago to the day, then-Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) violated the "Hastert rule" -- that only bills supported by a majority of the majority can come up -- by bringing up legislation to allow federal funding for stem cell research. The majority of the Republican majority opposed the law. He voted against it, but he knew it would never become law over President Bush's signature...The North American Free Trade Agreement passed in 1993, over the objections of most Democrats, who were then in the majority. But NAFTA did have the support of then-Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.), as well as the Democratic president, Bill Clinton. In contrast, the Iraq funding bill was not only opposed by the majority of House Democrats, it was also ardently opposed by the speaker and even the lawmaker who drafted it, Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.). And it is destined to become law. 'To have the chairman and the speaker vote against a bill like this, I've never heard of it,' Hastert said."
And here's the worst part of it all - Democrats are now bragging about it. Not only have they sent out a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraising email attempting to confuse voters by claiming with a straight face that they really stood up to President Bush. But most insulting of all, they are actually running to reporters to pat themselves on the back for engineering a procedural pirouette designed to confuse the public. Here's the Post again:
"But while protesters outside the Capitol condemned what they saw as a capitulation, Democrats inside were remarkably understanding of their speaker's contortions. Party leaders jury-rigged the votes yesterday to give all Democrats something to brag about...Democrats saw brilliance in the legerdemain. And with such contortions came more appreciation for the efforts Pelosi was making to fund the war in a fashion most palatable to angry Democrats. 'It was the responsible thing to do, and she's a responsible speaker,' said Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.)."
This is what we're dealing with folks. A party that runs to the press to brag about the brilliance of using their majority not to end the war, but to create a situation that makes it seem as if they oppose the war, while actually helping Republicans continue it.
-
TAKE ACTION
-
About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
-
Recent Sirotablog entries
- "Center-Right Nation" Meme On Tape
- "Center-Right Nation" - Election Day Watch
- Promoting the Guy Whose Lies Boosted Ratings & Killed Thousands
- "Center-Right Nation" Watch - Mark Penn Edition
- Mandate Watch - Bellwether Races/Initiatives To Watch Below the Presidential Contest
- "Center-Right Nation" Watch - Doug Schoen Edition
- "Center-Right Nation" Watch
- Writing Lessons
- Court Says Colorado's Katherine Harris Is Violating Federal Law With Voter Purges
- NEWSFLASH: America Doesn't Like Its Jobs Shipped Overseas
-
More David Sirota
-
This Modern World
-
October 27, 2008 -
October 20, 2008 -
October 15, 2008 -
October 13, 2008 -
October 2, 2008
-
-
Donations Recipients
-
RSS feeds
Discussion
The good news is that the American people are not fooled. Sure, the ostrich-elephant hybrids are being prepped to vote for Hillary Clinton with hyped up bipartisan, anti-terror legislation like this circus act.
But, as Marc Buchanan attempted to spell out yesterday, http://morningsideways.blogspot.com/2007/05/can-you-spell-m-o-n-e-y.html the Legislature/Electorate Disconnect (LED) in America is widening every day, like the Mississippi River outside of New Orleans during hurricane season.
My guess is, the Beltway Bubble, just like the NOLA levvies, is going to go, "boom."
The Supplemental wasn't the only amazing sleight of hand going on in the three ring circus under the big dome yesterday. There was also a "lobbying" bill and an "immigration" bill.
The public hasn't really been fooled in any case, except for those who are especially vulnerable and are being targeted to be "softened up" for the '08 election.
But you can't fool all the people all the time.
PEACE NOW. GENERAL STRIKE. STOP FASCISM.
Brilliance my ass!!
Sell-outs and betrayals with a layer of spin do not constitute brilliance but merely putting lipstick on a pig.
And this gussied up pig fools no one, particularly those who supported the Democrats in '06. We wanted change and real reform, not a smelly pig in a dress.
You folks in D.C. need to go.
David,
What's it going to take for you and the vast majority of progressives still wedded to the idea that the Democratic party is "their" party to get a clue? The triangulations of the Clintonistas and the DLC were enough for me more than a decade ago. Why is "the left" still satisfied to wring its hands and gnash its collective teeth over the predictable actions of these contemptible cowards? Continuing to provide these people your votes is like a beaten dog going back to lick the hand of its master. If you want a progressive party that actually responds to your concerns, you and the rest of what purports to be the left in this country are going to have to find the will and the sense to vote for one. At the moment, that means voting Green. I've heard all the "wasting your vote" nonsense. After giving the Dems control of Congress and seeing what happened yesterday, how does that look today?
The Democrats' capitulation on the Iraq occupation will make a perfect chapter in "Profiles in Cowardice."
There was a bewildering flurry of congressional maneuvers over the last several days, but they cannot hide the fact that the Bush administration has been enabled by leading Democrats to prolong an utterly unjust, unjustifiable, and endless war.
(And it was particularly disheartening to see Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama wait to cast their "no" votes until the issue was already settled.)
The vast majority of Americans--some 60%--understand that the best way to "support the troops"--is to end the US occupation. A 2006 poll by James Zogby showed that 72% of US troops in Iraq wanted to leave by the end of last year.
As long as President Bush is so fixated on "democracy promotion," perhaps the views of the Iraqi people should also be considered. Let us consider the view of the Iraqis themselves: various polls have shown that 80% to 90% want the US to leave and view the occupation as the primary cause of violence.
But rather than simply doing the right thing for the people of Iraq and American soldiers, the needless blood-letting will continue so that, leading Democrats imagine, their chances in the 2008 election will be enhanced. However, I think many Americans who voted Democratic in the hope of ending the Iraq quagmire will not be eager to replace the calculating and intransigent Bush team with calculating and vacillating Democrats.
Moreover, besides the blank check cravenly handed to Bush, the leading Democrats have largely failed to address several key elements of the war:
1) END THE OCCUPATION: The need to repudiate any ongoing US occupation of Iraq by the US, including the Vatican City-sized US Embassy and 14 permanent bases.
2) HANDS OFF IRAQI OIL The US can dampen the flames of the insurgency by declaring that it has no intention of staying in Iraq beyond the entrance of an international peace-keeping force, and stating that it will exert no pressure regarding the future of Iraqi oil. US "proconsul" Paul Bremer early on imposed a free-market fundamentalist economic regime on Iraq that pursued the policies favored by US oil companies, as exposed by Naomi Klein in her superb "Year Zero" article in Harper's and Greg Palast in his book "Armed Madhouse."
2)STOP THE TORTURE It is essential that the US reclaim its soiled flag from the bloody hands of tortures. Along with honoring international standards on humane treatment of prisoners, this means the immediate closure of torture centers such as Guantanamo Bay, numerous locations in Iraq, and "black sites" in repressive nations seeking to ingratiate themselves with the Bush regime. The US most also thoroughly investigate Iraq's Interior Department, a major center for torture and killings, and look at evidence that US forces have engaged in helping Iraqi troops to form El Salvadoran-style "death squads."
3)HANDS OFF IRAQ In 1953, the US and British intelligence overthrew Iran's democratically-elected government of Mohammed Mossadegh, who was moving to recover his nation's oil from foreign ownership. The coup installed the Shah and his brutal torture-based regime, began a 50-year break from democratic rule, and fueled both burning resentment against US policies favoring compliant dictators and a fanatical brand of Islam.
The US is still reaping the consequences of the 1953 coup, which even the usually thoughtful Jimmy Carter once dismissed as "ancient history." Yet the Bush administration, while claiming to be pursuing diplomatic routes to resolve problems over Iraq's legal but ill-considered atomic-power program, is once again menacing Iran with warships and an escalation of threats ("No option is off the table," a US spokeswoman declared this week.)
Iran's potential threat as a nuclear power is years away, and US moves to intimidate the nation only reinforce the most hard-line elements and isolate democratic forces.
4) HOW MANY DIED DUE TO UNJUSTIFIED WAR AND OCCUPATION? The US is morally obligated to seek a full accounting of the number of Iraqi civilians killed by the war, now credibly estimated at an astonishing 650,000.
5)REPARATIONS DUE Equally, once the US has withdrawn its forces and a measure of stability has been achieved, the US has a profound moral responsibility to provide reparations to the Iraqi people for the massive death and destruction unjustly rained down upon the Iraqi people and their society. From the massive scale of deaths (caused both by US bombings and sectarian violence uncorked by the invasion) to the US-permitted looting of precious antiquities to the acute suffering caused by lack of clean water and air conditioning in 120-degree heat, America carries a major debt to Iraqi society.
6) A NEW MIDEAST POLICY A clear-cut, full-scale break with the policies of the repressive regimes of the region (notably Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Dubai)and an even-handed approach to the Israelis-Palestinian conflict will begin to defuse the rift between the Arab world and the US.
Up until now, US policy has been guided by a desire to maintain control over oil (and thus exert leverage over Europe and China), an uncritical alliance with the greed-driven House of Saud, and the use of Israel as America's pit bull in the region (eg., dropping thousands of cluster bombs just before the truce with Lebanon went into effect).
US policy in the future must be rooted in the universal application of a single standard for democracy and human rights, and strong safeguards for the security of Israel and other nations.
Roger Bybee, Milwaukee
To David Sirota:
Thanks for this info. Could you give us info or a link so we can find out how our reps & senators voted on the Iraq supplemental?
Sirota, do us and yourself a favor. Remember when Lou Dobbs asked that you switch to Independent back on one of the recent episodes of Lou Dobbs tonight? For us and yourself, DUMP the Democratic Party and go INDEPENDENT.
And by the way, the Democrats already handed Bush plenty of blank checks with the most glaring ones in 2002 for the Iraq war itself and again in 2005 by allowing Bush to override FL state in the tragic Terri Schiavo case.
Just ask Bernard Sanders though I'm disappointed that he didn't even raise a filibuster.
Thanks for your post, Roger B. I found it thoughtful and useful.
I am particularly resonant with
"US policy in the future must be rooted in the universal application of a single standard for democracy and human rights,"
although, what you say right after that seems to contradict it.
I just unsubscribed from the DCCC & DSCC email lists. These(dis)organizations have reduced their credibility with me to zero.
From here on out I get my political news exclusively from independent news sites and blogs, and will donate to campaigns through the same venues.
Thanks for all your tireless and probing work David.
Truth is not subjective. Fact should be self-evident.
The Dems can play all the games they want, but the American people know they were betrayed.
The Democratic enablers of the worst administration in history are now the proud owners of the illegal war and occupation.
Just wait until they have their primaries next year. We can and will vote many of them out of office!
Well having sold cars for many years I know this..
First you Tell the lie, then you Sell the lie..!
Pelosi and Emanuel, Hoyer the rest now have to sell their lie..!
They have to live their lie, eat it over and over regurgitate it over and over, like cows chewing their cud..
This lie will eventually consume them from the inside and ooze out their ears and eyes and nostrils and poison their livers and discolor them and cause great gastro-internal cataclysm as the bodies they have sacrificed and thrown upon the altar of their deceit and duplicity mount up..
The fist telling of the lie is the easy part but it's like the first shot of heroin the only good one the you have to keep living this lie and being identified by this lie..
The fact that these ghouls connected the long over due Minimum Wage increase to this Blood Money only adds to the obscenity of their lie and their pernicious cowardice and pusillanimous characters..
I hope to see Pelosi and Emanuel and Hoyer and Reid wading and swimming and sinking in the cesspool of their betrayal and lie like something from Fellini or Wertmuller or Speilberg..
Let it flow out of their nostrils and may they have to taste and be consumed by it with every lying breath they take for all those who will suffer due to their pernicious pusillanimous cowardice and repugnant duplicity..Amen..!
http://www.CafePress.com/stars4peace
For we the people my designs I make nothing for this..TJ
Happy Memorial Day..!
Here's how the Democrats really committed political suicide:
1) They support a corporate written secret trade agreement.
2) They support a corporate written immigration bill.
Both are at their core are aimed at gutting the working and middle-class and folks know this.
These two bills along with the Iraq war sell-out is driving away all of the independents and disgruntled GOPers who supported the Democrats in '06. And without their support the Democrats will implode at the polls.
There is simply not enough voting Democrats to keep them in their majorities come '08 without the independents. Hence they are finished as a party.
The best thing rank and file Democrats could do is move to build another party. Because the current one is fucking rotten to the core and controlled by Clintonistas and K streeters. If the Democrats don't they deserve to be continually raped and kicked in the nuts by the crooks they elect.
After receiving that intelligence-insulting e-mail from the DCCC yesterday, I also immediately unsubscribed from their list. I imagine a great number of people did. I hope the message gets through.
"1) They support a corporate written secret trade agreement.
2) They support a corporate written immigration bill.
Both are at their core are aimed at gutting the working and middle-class and folks know this."
Waltc,
I think you nailed it. Along with the Iraq cave-in, this pretty well sums up the sell-out of the Democratic base.
What would be different now if Republicans had won the election in November 2006? We'd still be in Iraq, the Senate would still being trying to push the Comprehensive Amnesty Bill, and we'd still be getting sold down the river on Corporate-written "free" trade policies. What good did it do to vote for Democrats? They've sold out the American worker on trade and immigration, and they've sold out the military and the American people on their pro-war position of funding the Iraq war with no restrictions. Democrats have become just as worthless and Corporate-controlled as the Republicans. The worst part of it is, we voted for them. But not again.
I'm voting 3rd party from now on.
Economic Populist Forum
A new party sounds good to me. As a matter of fact I think it should be called The New Party. Out with the old in with new. As Pelosi, Obey, Stoyer, Biden, Clinton and Obama play their games with peoples lives, shifting and manuevering to fool peoples perception of them. We should clearly let them know that we are rejecting them by starting a new party.
Their biggest miscalculation is that the people who see what they have wrought the clearest are the same people who got the vote out for them. We are the activists , we are the ones who write, and shape people perception of them. They have made the biggest blunder of their political careers and the life of their party. I say to them, you reap what you sow.
ex-Democrat
I will climb onto my soapbox once again. Please bear with me. Don't mean to sound like a stuck record...
To change our current situation we must change the way elections and campaigning are held in this country. We have to get away from "30 second sound-bite" campaigns. And that means public funding of elections. The public airwaves should be used for the benefit of the electorate -- not the shareholders of Disney or General Electric. It shouldn't cost close to a billion dollars to get a job that pays four hundred thousand.
And until we reverse one of the greatest blunders ever by the Supreme Court of the USA -- Santa Clara vs. Southern Pacific -- which granted the status of "personhood" to corporations, any third party will eventually be co-opted by the corporatists too. And the decision by the SCOTUS to declare "money=free speech" is just about equally corrosive, and must be overturned.
And finally,these so-called "free trade agreements" and their "Star Chamber" WTO set the corporations over and above any duly elected government. And this is intolerable! To actually return some power to the government we need to get back to the bilateral trade agreements that served our middle class so well from WWII to the rise of the reich-wing.
Until we make some -- or most of these changes -- expect what has happened with the war funding bill to be the status quo. It's the system, not the Democrats, that is the problem here. Now, I am not excusing the behavior of the Dems, I just understand how it might have happened.
You are missing part of the puzzle.
The American people want the war to end and they want the troops out of Iraq.
The American people do NOT want the troops (and funding) tied up in a political battle between Dems and President Bush.
Bush is commander in chief. Troops can only be safely removed from Iraq on Bush's command (barring impeachment).
The 2008 budget is the best opportunity to force a withdrawal of US troops. The budget will be structured to put pressure on Bush.
For the Dems, it doesn't hurt to ramp up the pressure and criticism of them. The Republicans in Congress should not get a free pass for their votes either. The public wave is not yet big enough to reach the Republican politicians. We need to build the wave higher so that Republicans will have to change their positions or be swept away.
"PREMEDITATION - With planning or deliberation. The amount of time needed for premeditation regarding an act depends on the person and the circumstances. It must be long enough, after forming the intent to act, for the person to have been fully conscious of the intent and to have considered the act."
"A design formed to commit a crime or to do some other thing before it is done."
"Premeditation differs essentially from will, which constitutes the crime, because it supposes besides an actual will, a deliberation and a continued persistence which indicate more perversity. The preparation of arms or other instruments required for the execution of the crime, are indications of a premeditation, but are not absolute proof of it, as these preparations may have been intended for other purposes, and then suddenly changed to the performance of the criminal act. Murder by poisoning must of necessity be done with premeditation." - Lectric Law Library
"MURDER - The unlawful killing of another human being without justification or excuse."
"Murder is perhaps the single most serious criminal offense. Depending on the circumstances surrounding the killing, a person convicted of murder may be sentenced to many years in prison, a prison sentence with no possibility of parole, or death."
"The precise definition of murder varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Under the common law, or law made by courts, murder was the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. The term malice aforethought did not necessarily mean that the killer planned or premeditated on the killing, or that the killer felt malice toward the victim. Generally, malice aforethought referred to a level of intent or recklessness that separated murder from other killings and warranted stiffer punishment."
"The definition of murder has evolved over several centuries. Under most modern statutes in the United States, murder comes in four varieties: (1) intentional murder, (2) a killing that resulted from the intent to do serious bodily injury, (3) a killing that resulted from a depraved heart or extreme recklessness, and (4) murder committed by an accomplice during the commission of, attempt of, or flight from certain felonies." - The Law Library
While many here are criticizing the Democratic Party because they wanted it to fight a losing battle, they should also remember that the reason it was a losing battle was because of the game the republicans played to keep American soldiers fighting and dying in Iraq to save the right wing's (yes, there are democrats who are right wing,) murderous face.
If this war was anything more than murder for money that would be one thing, but the fact is most of our representatives would rather their constituent's children die, and continue killing Iraqis than allow for the fact that they made a tragic and criminal mistake. The only people these killers are conning are some of the American people, the rest of the world knows who the guilty are.
Join the Discussion