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NYTimes Disses Dems

And rightly so:

With Democrats Like These ...
Every now and then, we are tempted to double-check that the Democrats actually won control of Congress last year. It was particularly hard to tell this week. Democratic leaders were cowed, once again, by propaganda from the White House and failed, once again, to modernize the law on electronic spying in a way that permits robust intelligence gathering on terrorists without undermining the Constitution.

. . . There were bright spots in the week. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon managed to attach an amendment requiring a warrant to eavesdrop on American citizens abroad. That merely requires the government to show why it believes the American is in league with terrorists, but Mr. Bush threatened to veto the bill over that issue.

Senator Christopher Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat, said he would put a personal hold on the compromise cooked up by Senator Rockefeller and the White House.

Otherwise, it was a very frustrating week in Washington. It was bad enough having a one-party government when Republicans controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. But the Democrats took over, and still the one-party system continues.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Don't always agree with (none / 0) (#1)
    by clio on Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 01:15:05 AM EST
    The New York Times, but they nailed this one.
    The one thing they missed is the Dem leaders tumbling over each other to sell out one of their own, Pete Stark, for losing his temper on the House floor.

    I'm not sure which is worse:  the Dr. Strangelove fear mongering of the Republicans or the lawks-a-mussy hand wringing of the Dems.  Neither looks impressive.  

    Russia, China, Iran, and everyone else, know we are too bogged down in Iraq to do anything much to back up Bush's bellicose threats, and the Dems are so scared of offending any one that they look incapable of even making a bellicose threat, let alone backing it up.

    WSWS on Democrats, Mukasey and torture (none / 0) (#2)
    by Andreas on Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 02:39:07 AM EST
    The WSWS writes:

    This week's Senate hearings on the nomination of Michael Mukasey as US attorney general made clear that the Democratic leadership is preparing to install as the country's chief law enforcement official a right-wing former judge who backs the illegal methods of the Bush administration in its so-called war on terror, including torture and domestic spying.

    ...

    In moving toward Mukasey's confirmation, the Democratic leadership in the Senate is once again exposing its complicity in the wholesale assault on democratic rights unleashed by the Bush administration over the past six years. It sees in the ex-federal judge a more competent executor of this same basic policy.

    Senate hearings on Mukasey nomination
    Democrats prepares to install defender of torture, illegal spying as attorney general

    By Bill Van Auken, 20 October 2007

    how's the "trick Pelosi (none / 0) (#3)
    by Miss Devore on Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 03:45:41 PM EST
    into doing the right thing" campaign going?

    IMPEACHMENT (none / 0) (#4)
    by mmeo on Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 07:48:50 PM EST
    let us recall, is "off the table."  And why is impeachment of a war-criminal President off the table?  --because impeachment is "counterproductive."

    So once we have adopted the mindset that we don't care about upholding the Constitution, but are to focus like a laser beam on the political triage that will produce more votes, we move away from confrontation and toward avoidance of anything likely to produce criticism.

    The criticism that by so doing you are failing to do your duty to the Republic is not even heard.  It uses language that is incomprehensible to the leading Democratic Senators.

    "clean congress" (none / 0) (#5)
    by diogenes on Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 08:50:43 PM EST
    How about stopping those earmarks in Congressional bills? It looks like a continuation of the corrupt, money wasting congress whatever party is in power.