They Doth Protest Too Little By Chris Colin
As President Bush gave the second inaugural address of his career, you could see something besides mourning in the eyes of Democrats everywhere. Confusion is what it looked like, and rightly so. The question echoes from blue coast to bluer coast: What has reduced post-election Democrats to such ineffectual pussyfooters?
True, there have been muffled objections -- to the certification of Bush's reelection, and to the impending confirmations of cabinet hopefuls Alberto Gonzales and Condoleeza Rice. Sen. Barbara Boxer, along with a few Congressional Democrats, challenged the Ohio election results earlier this month. And during Gonzales' hearings, Sen. Patrick Leahy described administration policies as "tantamount to torture." Later, Sen. John Kerry and Boxer both voted against Rice's confirmation, while Sen. Joe Biden gave her an impressive dressing down.
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Senate Democrats have indicated recently that they will delay their final votes on the Gonzales and Rice confirmations. Have they been moved by the widespread talk of cowardice? Maybe. In Rice's case, the gesture appears symbolic; Democrats want a broader debate on the administration's foreign policy, but have assured Rice she'll be approved soon. Concern about Gonzales, however, might actually jeopardize his appointment. "He still has not provided serious, consistent, and responsive answers to this committee's questions," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who led the effort to delay the would-be attorney general's confirmation.
Republicans, no doubt, stand ready with accusations of partisanship and obstructionism. But as a growing number of Democrats around the country have begun to observe, the accusations are likely to come no matter how hard Democrats choose to fight. And what's more, those accusations reveal a hint of weakness now and then.
House Republican leader Tom DeLay, responding to Boxer's certification protest, called it a "failed strategy of spite, obstruction and conspiracy theorists" dominated by the "X- Files wing of the party." Perhaps distracted by his own scandal, DeLay forgot the main point of "The X-Files": The conspiracy theorists were almost always right.http://retrovsmetro.org/election/