PELOSI, FEINSTEIN BETRAYING DEMS

[babylonsister]

http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/gallagher340.html

PELOSI, FEINSTEIN BETRAYING DEMS
By Bill Gallagher

DETROIT -- The "San Francisco Democrats" are the handmaidens for President George W. Bush: feckless, short-sighted and cynical. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., both wealthy San Franciscans, are leading voices in the congressional chorus that chooses convenience over principle and perceived political advantage over certain political truth.

Pelosi wants no talk of impeachment for Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other war criminals. She has done nothing to block funding for the war in Iraq, the only way to end the occupation, save Iraqi and American lives and let the Iraqi people determine their own destiny.

Feinstein made sure we now have as our nation's chief law enforcement officer a man who refuses to condemn drowning torture and believes the president has unlimited authority and need not respect the laws of the land.

The late Jeane Kirkpatrick -- once a faux Democrat and belligerent bully who went on to be Ronald Reagan's ambassador to the United Nations -- first coined the "San Francisco Democrat" appellation in 1984. That year the Democrats held their convention in San Francisco and nominated former vice president Walter Mondale for president. Kirkpatrick gave the keynote address at the GOP convention in Dallas. The scorching heat outside rivaled the oppressive rhetoric inside the Reunion Arena, a miserable event I had to endure.

That was the year the Republican Party re-coronated Ronald Reagan and plunged deeper into the abyss of intolerance. Rev. Jerry Falwell rode a bull at a barbecue as the party faithful bowed to him and Christian fundamentalism became the Republican state religion.

Young George W. Bush was there for his daddy's renomination for vice president, spending most of his time in Dallas bars sucking up Jack Daniels and acting like a first-class flippant jerk. Billy Graham and Jesus may have helped wean Dubya from the hooch, but otherwise little in him has changed.

snip//

In her last book -- "Making War to Keep Peace," published after her death -- Kirkpatrick recognized what was happening: "Unfortunately, what we face in Iraq today is a vacuum of power, a lack of stable institutions needed to govern and the problem that the promise of democracy for which our nation stands may be lost in the essential scramble for safety and stability in the streets."

Kirkpatrick slammed the Bush war-planners who "did not seem to have methodically completed the due diligence required for reasoned policy-making because they failed to address the aftermath of the invasion."

This new generation of San Francisco Democrats could learn from Kirkpatrick's crisp candor. Wake up, shrug off careful calculations and stand for something.

[Kolesar]

1. Gallagher is rather unfocused and his thesis wanders around like a spinning top

[blm]

2. They aren't doing it for Bush - they're doing it for powerful Democrats who have long supported Bush

because they pull the strings on most of congressional Dems.

Lieberman, Schumer, Reid, Pelosi and Feinstein have strings attached to them.

[babylonsister]

3. Yes! It seems we have our very own party puppets. They're

wasting so many opportunities, it hurts.

[SteveM]

5. These guys won't fight and have been scared of the far right for years.

[reprobate]

7. You don't bite the hand that feeds you. Same corporate hands feed both Democans and Republicrats

[Kolesar]

4. Ok. How about Biden's plan for Iraq? eom

[troubleinwinter]

6. Who took impeachment off the table?

Pelosi has $91m in assets.

Her ($35m) business lobbyist is Bush's brother-in-law.

She has $500,000 invested in AT&T, as well as other telcomms.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/congress/fin_dis/2006/p000197.pdf

[diane in sf]

8. Here's the address to ask for censure for DFi from Courage Campaign

Hi,

I just joined the Courage Campaign in calling for the California Democratic Party (CDP) to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein. They are working with Democratic Party activists to advance a censure resolution at the CDP's Executive Board meeting this weekend. Will you join us in building a wave of grassroots support? Click here to "Censure the Senator".

http://www.couragecampaign.org/censurethesenator

Senator Feinstein has a pattern and practice of supporting President Bush and not representing her constituents. As the censure resolution describes, that includes confirming the nominaton of Judge Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit just a few weeks ago. Feinstein again provided the critical Judiciary Committee vote for Bush, approving Southwick -- a man with a clear record of racism and gender discriminaton.

Senator Feinstein has repeatedly undermined core American values at historic moments, enabling President Bush and his radical right-wing agenda.

Join me in calling for the California Democratic Party to censure Senator Feinstein.

http://www.couragecampaign.org/censurethesenator

[ihavenobias]

9. Pathetic, Yes

Especially when you think of what the democrats could and *should* be doing compared to what they have been doing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t1sYdopQ6Q

[Morereason]

10. I hope Californians replace both of them.