Iraq and the Lawyers

It's amazing the lengths our "free press" will go to avoid talking about Iraq.

Anna Nicole did it for a while for the entertainment news TV set, but that's fading away as the cause of her death is revealed (overdose) and the court cases wind down.  Chipmunk-on-speed "singer" Britney MusicVideoBunny ("I'm really a good Christian girl - now watch me bump and grind") melting down was fun for a while, but she's now out of rehab and wig shopping.

What's a corporate media to do?

LAWYERS! THAT'S THE TICKET!!

The most partisan administration in memory (if not history) decides that some of it's Republican US Attorneys just aren't Republican enough and it's 24/7 on the newschannels.  What did they do to get fired?  They did their jobs and went after corruption, even if it meant going after more GOPers than D's.

Fire Attorney General Gonzalez! goes the cry as the Repugs try their damndest to do PR without a happily compliant Congress to watch their backs.  "Clinton did it too!!" has been about the best comeback from the Bushbots on TV, radio and the blogs and that isn't working for them. 

Let's get serious here for a sec - is it really such a shock and scandal that the Bushies would try and make the US Attorneys' offices into RNC HQs?  Outside of a "gotcha" benefit, calling for AG Gonzalez's head over shuffling one set of Bushbots for some even-more-loyal Bushbots is like the Academy Awards' habit of giving consolation Oscars the next year after they pass over a gangbuster performance or movie the year before.  This Texas Toady should never have been confirmed in the first place, and the bastard should have been flying out the door when he said it was OK for the chickenhawks to make us an international Torture Police State.

Back to the corporate media: if you depend on television exclusively for news (which places you as a part of the around-80% of Americans who do), you'd think the Democrats are buying into this too.  A tour around the newschannels and the evening news would have you believe that the lawyer flap is the only thing the Dem Congress is concerned with, which is only less than half true.

Which brings us back to Iraq.

After much prodding and spine-shoring-up, the Democrats are actually trying to do what most voters voted them in to do:  stop the Iraq war.  The House voted 218-212 to get our butts outta there.  Both houses of Congress are going to start putting people under oath and subpeona-ing them to get them to show up, and it's not all going to be about BushbotGate - the war and it's profiteers are about to get a good look-over too.

Try and find this on your TV though.  I'm sure the corporate CEOs of our main news sources are praying that Michael Jackson moves back to the USA before they have to start putting real news about the war and what most voters want to do about it on.

 

 

More encouraging signs from The Right

The Republicans are working overtime to help us out in '08.  I spent a bit of time looking at video and blogging from two recent "conservative" events today, the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in D.C. and the Oregon Republican get-together called the Dorchester Conference, and one thing struck me immediately.  Namely,

The cons have no idea why they really lost last year and are setting themselves up to do it again in 2008.

See what I mean - go watch the short but excellent video posted at http://www.thinkprogress.org from CPAC by The Nation's Max Blumenthal.  The wingnuttiness is breathtaking, but what stood out for me is watching the realization by a young college Republican that her party and comrades' stand on immigration shows that the con "movement" and the GOP are what they've always been:  The White Men's Party.  She doesn't look happy about it either.  Awww.  As the button I found online says, "Go home and obey your husband, you Republican bitch!"

The rest of the video pretty much speaks for itself, including the recent rantings of the Coultergeist - complete with chummy photo of the HateWitch with flip-flopping Repug presidential candidate Mitt Romney. 

The Oregon con con was more of the same (no video from that but some great blogging from it at http://loadedorygun.blogspot.com/ and http://blueoregon.com/).

The upshot of all of this?  The cons have convinced themselves that they didn't lose because the voters rejected the failure of conservatism and its programs - they lost because they weren't conservative enough! Bashing immigration cost the right votes?  Bash them harder!  The Iraq War is unpopular?  STAY THE COURSE!  And always, TAX CUTS, TAX CUTS, TAX CUTS!

It's not surprising that a "movement" based on self-delusion continues to delude itself, but you'd think there was a few cons who had a slight finger-grip on reality in there somewhere.  Oh well - we'll just have to settle for increasing our majorities in the House and the Senate next year.  And with the sitting-ducks the Republican presidential field is for '08, I'dsuggest everyone watch the 2008 Democratic National Convention very closely - you will be watching the nomination of our next President.

Thanks conservatives, we couldn't do it without you!

Post-election musings

Here we are - the Democrats control Congress and we're (we being liberals) still not happy.  Not that that's much of a surprise - too many people thought that winning would solve everything.  I guess they forgot who is still in the White House.

I have a few suggestions to relieve this:

First, remember that the Democrats have only been in control for under 3 months.  Give them some slack here - most of the members of the House and the Senate with a (D) behind their names are used to being a part of the minority party in Congress for as long as they've been in office. Then you have the newbies who've barely set up their staffs, let alone learned how to get around in their new positions.    Being the majority is new for them and us - let them settle in a bit.             

Second, keep in mind how our government is set up, and that is to slow things down.  As much as we'd like to breathe fire, expose all the misdeeds of the Bush administration and bring the neocon house down RIGHT NOW it simply isn't going to happen that fast.  It'll come, but again, give them some time to get it together and going.

Finally, Third, we're different than the Republicans.  The GOPers, once they got their real agenda of enriching the rich out of the way, spent most of their time trying to bust up the presidency of that guy named Bill who's main sin was not being one of them.  I'll happily admit that's part of the agenda now as well (and much more deserved now than it was back in the '90s), but we actually want to get things done.  Going after George is great, but there's people who need health insurance and the working poor who need a raise.  To do that, we can't go whole hog after Dubya - we will have to try and get some compromises going so he won't just veto everything the Democrats get passed.

I understand the frustration here, it's been a long slog for the 12 years we've been shut out and left to wander in the wilderness.  We want things going NOW. 

The best advice I can give is one word:  Patience.  Even with the missteps, the signs are good that the Democrats will get it together and do the things we elected them to do.

Now, if my nerves can just hold out until then, it'll be OK.