Patience Bleeding

It's extremely sad but all too true that human beings react emotionally and choose leaders like we choose our lovers; based on emotions rather than reason. George Bush was elected because he made folks feel better than the stiff and intellectual Al Gore (well, a little judicial cook-bookery certainly had a part to play.) Americans supported the illegal (according to our binding commitments to the United Nations) invasion of Iraq thanks to the lies of the Bush administration which effectively used Saddam's cruelties and dictatorial murderousness to equate his secular insanity with bin Laden's religious insanity in their fearful and ignorant minds.

With this week's seeming Congressional capitulation on War Funding without pull-out deadlines, those of us who support Peaceful conflict resolution, even between extremely violent parties, feel like we've been punched in the solar plexus by the Democrats whom we elected with the simple mandate to End The War.

E. J. Dionne, amongst others certainly, has managed to retain reason - as a Good Reporter must - in describing why this horrifying situation, one which will necessarily result in at least dozens if not hundreds of more dead American service personnel, is really the best solution to be achieved on the road to Peace.

America still has much to do to assure ourselves of freedom from the religiously and politically motivated terrorists throughout the world. We must take a more rational and less fearful look at the effects - both benefits and deficiencies - of our culture's Wealth and Power in this ever evolving world.

For now though.. well. Here's a snippet from Dionne's very well-reasoned WaPo story.
See You in September
Friday, May 25, 2007; Page A19

*****
(Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.)) notes that the agreement to go forward with the funding bill passed yesterday (a majority of House Democrats, Pelosi among them, opposed it) included a promise to take up his withdrawal amendment this fall. This gives teeth to Pelosi's pledge -- "we'll see you in September" -- to continue to battle Bush on the war.

As a tactical matter, it could have been useful for the Democrats to move another bill containing timelines to Bush's desk for a second veto, simply to underscore the president's unwillingness to seek bipartisan accord on a change in policy. But these are the brute facts: Democrats narrowly control the House but don't have an effective majority in the Senate since Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) votes with the Republicans on the war and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) is still too ill to vote.

Democrats, in short, have enough power to complicate the president's life, but not enough to impose their will. Moreover, there is genuine disagreement even among Bush's Democratic critics over what the pace of withdrawal should be and how to minimize the damage of this war to the country's long-term interests. That is neither shocking nor appalling, but, yes, it complicates things. So does the fact that the minority wields enormous power in the Senate.

What was true in January thus remains true today: The president will be forced to change his policy only when enough Republicans tell him he has to. Facing this is no fun; it's just necessary.

[Patience doesn't have to bleed us all to death . . .]

Comments

  1. God, I hate reality! It is true, we had a tremendous win last election, but not enough to kick Bush's butt - just give him a rash.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think you are right.
    Unfortunately, I think the masses who voted for him is because they identified with the idiot-acting unpolished brute. And to vote against him would be a vote against themselves.
    You get what you pay for.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the WaPo link, MB. Did you read Tom Watson's post about this? He's p*****, for sure. And so is The Skimmer.

    Hopefully, the Democrats aren't giving up, or see something in all this mess that they can benefit from, and still see a way to end this mess somehow. Don't know how, don't know who in the world would know how to do it, but I still hope they're not giving up.

    Don't you hate the thought of Bush smirking over this "win"?

    Me too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I doubt the fool even notices the rash, PCM. Dude's got the best Health Insurance on the planet. What does he care for such minor annoyances as Posterity..?

    Alas, 'tis true, Ed. You get what you can afford to pay for even. {sigh}

    Thanks for the head's up on Watson, BG. I've read a couple other things but not his. I'll prolly check it in the morning.

    And you KNOW it I hate that smirkin' chimp's smirk. Dude has NO respect for anything but his own narrow-minded goals for Capital enrichment. He is truly archetypal reactionary aristocrat of the most base nature.

    BLECH!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The sad thing is that so many people who even bother to vote will vote for the one with the most charisma and "folksiness", or maybe the guy who bothered to speak in their town or comes from their state, or the one without the funny sounding name -- not perceived to be a bit of a "foreigner" -- or the one they think is better-looking. Shallow reasons to the max.

    Either that, or they go for the one who promises them a tax cut, even if the tax cuts will never happen to THEM, only the rich... people are such sheep.

    At least my Representative (Lloyd Doggett) didn't cave in on the last war-funding vote. Small consolation there.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm just waiting, waiting for the impeachment hearings to start. Who's working on that? I think they need a nudge. I appreciate Dennis the Menace going for Cheney first -- if we can get him out out of the way it means we won't have to deal with him as president once we Snub Shrub.

    As to the emo vs reason, I think that a "gut check" is still important. You have to feel something in the rational decisions you make.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My emotion told me from the beginning that Dub was a dumb as dirt jerk!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts