Memo to Senate Democrats: No One Believes BushPosted January 25, 2008 | 04:03 AM (EST)
Senate Democrats are now busy giving away the store to Bush -- again. For what appears to be the one billionth time in a row. They are set to give President Bush yet another victory on the latest FISA bill. They will allow telecommunication companies who broke the law to get away with their crimes (and that is literally what it is -- a crime).
Plus, the public will be denied the opportunity to hear how the Bush administration broke the law because the lawsuits against the telecom companies will not be allowed to go forward in open court.
As usual, there is the speculation on why the Democrats would want to help the Republicans so much. Republicans, for their part, were merciless when there was a Democratic president. So, why are the Democrats such sad, feckless incompetents when it is their turn?
There are two schools of thought on this. The first is that they make money from the same lobbyists, so they don't want to upset their paymasters. They don't want to rock the boat because they are collaborators in the same corrupt system. In other words, they are paid to be the Washington Generals to the Republican Globetrotters.
That is such a miserably sad scenario, that I will give them the benefit of the doubt, and say we should consider the second option instead. The second possibility is that they are the only people left in the country who still think that anyone gives a shit what George Bush has to say.
Bush says that national security will be endangered if we don't allow AT&T and Verizon to break the law. That is a ridiculous claim that no one outside of Washington takes seriously. First of all, the guy is lucky if he makes it in to the low 30s in approval ratings. Whatever he says, the country wants to do the opposite. Second of all, his claims on the FISA bills have been proven false over and over.
The intelligence community claims there is a loophole in the current FISA law that forbids foreign to foreign calls from being spied upon because they are routed through the US. Great, fix that provision and move on. No one objects to that. Gratuitously granting immunity for wanton law-breaking on anything else is insane. And to do it because Bush talked tough on national security is even more insane.
Note to Senate Democrats -- no one believes George Bush. I guess, except you. You're the only people left in the country who think Bush has any credibility left. How could you possibly believe Bush when he says you will look weak on national security? Don't you get it - you look weak only when you cave in to Bush, not when you oppose him.
If we are to be kind and assume that the Democratic leadership is not deceitful and complicit, then we are left with the unfortunate alternative that they are hopelessly dense. How low does Bush's approval rating have to be before you realize it is to your political advantage to oppose him rather than to bend to his will?
How blind do you have to be to not see that helping Bush makes you look pathetically weak? I don't feel good speaking to our elected leaders this way. I would like to have some respect for these positions. But they make it impossible to respect them.
What's really sad is that they have no idea how much people would love them if they just fought back a little bit. They're too busy trying to get the Republicans, Fox News Channel and the Washington elite to love them. Turn around, your electorate is dying to support you.
Give them a chance and they would back you a 100%. But you make that impossible when you keep supporting the one man everyone else realizes is the least trustworthy person in the country -- George W. Bush.
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