"We do not have it within our power to make the will of America the law of the land"

a quote that will live in infamy...

a cursory glance at today's home pages of the washington post and the new york times show sparse coverage of the intense feelings of anger and disappointment burning through the liberal/progressive grassroots and blogosphere about the dismal performance of what we thought was "our" democratic congressional leadership, the people we elected to the majority in large part to halt the illegal war in iraq...

After Victory on Hill, President Shifts Tone on Iraq

House, Senate Pass Iraq War Funding Measure

Congress Passes War Funds Bill, Ending Impasse

instead, most of the stories seem to take this tack...

[P]arty leaders vowed it was only a temporary setback in their efforts to bring home American troops.

[...]

[B]ackers said the bill's provisions -- including benchmarks for progress that the Iraqi government must meet to continue receiving reconstruction aid -- represented an assertion of congressional authority over the war that was unthinkable a few months ago.

how many times is it possible to hear statements like that before they cease to have any meaning whatsoever...? before, during and after the 2006 elections, the democratic leaders have consistently failed to demonstrate their understanding that the bush presidency is destroying our country, and it's not just about iraq... the actions taken by bush and his criminal colleagues in the past 6 1/2 years call for responses that reflect the utmost urgency but that is never what we hear... instead, we get this...

"We do not have it within our power to make the will of America the law of the land," [Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.)] said.

and there ya have it... the country we've been assured all of our lives was governed "by the people, for the people, and of the people", is nothing of the kind...

and, oh, yeah, opposition did get a few mentions...

• Antiwar groups demanded that Democrats continue pressing for withdrawal dates and bombarded congressional offices with angry phone calls and e-mails in the hours before yesterday's votes.

• Antiwar groups warned lawmakers who supported the spending bill that they could become election targets.

• "We are moving backward," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), a war opponent.

isn't it interesting how "antiwar" can be made to sound like a disparaging epithet rather than something noble...?

and then the unkindest cut of all...

The votes yesterday marked a rare moment of bipartisanship in an otherwise contentious and emotional debate.

i've grown to truly detest that word... it's become synonomous with "complicit..."

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The Iraq bill passes both houses - a pox on both of them

a twin disgrace of epic proportions...

first in the house...

In a 280-142 vote, the House passed a $120-billion Iraq war funding bill that contains no timeline to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

then in the senate...

[T]he Senate has passed the $100 billion Iraq war spending bill 80-14.

commenter...

HUGE miscalculation on these military complex enabling Dems. They grieviously misunderstood they are complicit in the crime of our generation and no amount of drivel and rationalization can erase that cold hard fact.

not that i didn't expect it, but i'm ill nonetheless...

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What's the only REAL difference between the Dems and the R's?

with the dems, there's no sand in the vaseline...

i expect to hear a lot more of this bullshit... but, you know what...? i don't give a crap... i've had it with sausage-making and political strategy... we're way past that...

The real issue is does the anti-war progressive base know what it is doing? Is it focused on making sure that Democrats win the White House in '08 and keep control of both houses of Congress? Or is it focused on a genuinely radical anti-corporate, anti-imperial, anti-globalization long term agenda for which the fate of Democrats in '08 is just an incidental tactical issue?

[...]

What House Democrats are trying to guarantee is this: the Iraq war belongs to Bush and the Republican Party now -- and so it must when the election of 2008 rolls around. That's what they want to guarantee above all else.

sorry... i don't care... sweeping the dems into office in '08 isn't going to accomplish a goddam thing... i've harbored my suspicions that the only difference between the dems and the r's was the amount of money paid for golf club memberships... now, i'm not so sure there's even THAT much difference...

and, no, the war does NOT belong to the r's now... the dems just bought a controlling share... we are in the middle of the worst constitutional crisis in the nation's history, trapped in an illegal war by an administration who's destroying the foundations of the republic in its headlong pursuit of power and money, and the democrats are throwing up their hands and saying, "gosh, what's a body to do...?" i can tell 'em what they can do, but it isn't fit to put in print...

oh, btw, did i mention that i'm INCREDIBLY PISSED...?

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On the dropping of the Iraq timelines

ooooooo... there are some REALLY, REALLY pissed off people out there, and who can blame them...?

from the nyt via think progress...

Congressional Democrats relented today on their insistence that a war spending measure sought by President Bush also set a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq. The decision to back down, described by senior lawmakers and aides, was a wrenching reversal for some Democrats, who saw their election triumph as a call to force an end to the war. A Democratic effort to include timelines prompted Mr. Bush’s veto of the original bill last month, producing a political impasse.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada talked to reporters today about the Iraq spending bill.

“We don’t have a veto-proof Congress,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader.

Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the House Democratic majority leader, said the new bill was still being assembled, but he acknowledged the political reality facing Democrats. “The president has made it very clear that he is not going to sign timelines,” said Mr. Hoyer. “We can’t pass timelines over his veto.”

a sampling of some of the first comments to the think progress post...

• Pathetic. It’s time for IMPEACHMENT.
• I agree, it’s pathetic that Bush won’t accept the will of the people! ITMFA!
• To the leadership of the Democratic Party. “No Balls” You should’ve kept fighting. The people demanded it. You’re nothing but appeasers at this point.
• Ugh. All the MSM will talk about is this. Wonder if they’ll even mention THIS: Bomb Plot Thwarted at Falwell’s Funeral Aimed Towards Protesters.
• The city of Detroit voted over the last week to tell Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. So, too, did the Massachusetts Democratic Party and the Vermont Progressive Party. Here in Wisconsin, the Walworth County Democratic Party did the same, reminding us that even in the more conservative parts of this state, there are still believers in the rule of law.
• very very depressing…. But, this may cause the most anti war candidates to go to the top of the line.
• I feel Betrayed. I believe time has come for a Three Party political system in this country.
• That just SUCKS. What a f*cking waste–don’t they understand why they were elected in November? They might as well just shove their collective heads up Bush’s ass and have done with.
• God forbid the Dem leadership stand up to a politically weak and overwhelmingly unpopular President.
• That the Dem leadership pitched the libs over the side in order to suck up to the GOP leadership is vile beyond words. The Dem leadership is far too interested in the likes of what Joe Lieberman thinks about this war, as opposed to what their voters think of this occupation. At this point, anyone who still votes to give W whatever he wants is just as complicit in the needless deaths and maimings of US troops and Iraqi civilians, as surely as if they would have pulled the trigger or set off the IED’s themselves.
• “We don’t have a veto-proof Congress,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader…” So, you answer is to give up and send him exactly what he wants! LAME DEMOCRATS!! So what if you don’t have a veto-proof Congress. Keep sending him bills that ask for what you want. ONE AFTER THE OTHER. Let him keep vetoing them. Don’t give in so easily. This government is a total joke!
• The Democrats have betrayed the American people. Time to start getting serious or wer’e going to lose this country. I’m had it. No one is showing any b-lls. F–k the Demcrats and Harry Reid. It’s time for the people to step in and impeach the bastards. Obviously, it’s our only recourse. This is crushing. I am so angry.

yep... that about sums it up...

i'm watching grassroots/netroots confidence in the democrats wash away like a sand castle at high tide... they've got some very serious damage control to do over this and it can't come fast enough... the pot is starting to boil and, when it does, look out...

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