Brother Smith has got me reading Daily Kos now. Thanks a lot, pal.
Every so often there's a gem, though. Here, for example, a list of
reasons why we should hope for a Democratic congress in '06.
It's a sad thing -- not only does it fail to galvanize the poll-going
muscles, it tends to the soporific. But see for yourself. I have
added some commentary (with a small 'c').
1. One party rule hasn't been good for the country
Indeed not; but a Democratic victory would hardly be a departure from
one-party rule.
As my pop used to say,
"style points
count in figure skating, not hockey."
Politics is hockey, or ought to be.
2. A Democratic congress would have acted as a check on President Bush
Nonsense. The bridge votes are always there
to carry the big ones through. Check out what Reagan got past ole Tip's house in the early 80's.
3. Checks and balances are the oil that keep our Constitutional machine running
smoothly
For sheer pathos, this is hard to beat. Our Constitutional machine? "Keep
the machine running smoothly" -- there's a war cry for you.
4. Equal representation for the other 50 percent.
Republicans in the majority
say "we have the votes; we don't need you"
to the Democrats in the minority.
Poor babies. I'm losing a lot of sleep thinking about how
dissed the Congressional Dems are by those big bad Republican
bullies. And how lean and pinched Democratic cheeks are becoming,
with such restricted access to the hog-trough of K street -- which is the
only thing that would change with a Democratic majority, as long as Rahm
and Steny are pacing the quarterdeck.
5. It's time to end Republican-only rule,
where all dissenting opinions are shut out
What dissenting opinions?
6. No more holding votes open for hours
while they bribe congressmen
to get the necessary votes,
or
running conference committees without Democrats
Well now we've really got a hot button issue here, haven't we?
Reminds me of Robert Frost's definition of a real liberal --
"he won't even take his own side in an argument."
Time was, the donkey's
balls were brassier --
consider the
loci classici (all purest Dixie)
Sam Rayburn,
Dick Russell,
Wilbur Mills.
7. An end to the politics of polarization in lawmaking.
Replace Republican majority shenanigans
with a bipartisan process.
Now there's a recipe for wall street
mud pies if I ever saw one. What do these fools think the
public has to expect from "bipartisanship," except
getting raped through two orifices simultaneously?
8. Judicial and other appointments
must be safeguarded against extremism
This is unspeakably comic. Quite apart from the
spinsterish deployment of the term "extremism" -- as if
any red-blooded American were frightened of that --
nothing could be less real
than the notion
that a Demo-controlled Senate
will serve as Solomonic filtration system
for appointed office holders.
Check out
the hanging judges on the supreme bench
and axe-swinging cabinetmen of the tarnation right
that have made it thru the Demo gauntlet
since, say, Nixon.
Oh yeah, sometimes they stop one -- only to let the
next one through. Always, always, always,
something diamond hard
right handed and nasty
manages to finally slide onto the bench.
And oh, yeah, they fuss and squawk about
it, but then at the end of the day they're back in the coop,
heads tucked under their wings, waiting for tonmorrow's raid
on their eggs and the neck-wringing of a nestmate.
.
9. Restore the power to initiate investigations,
and bipartisan congressional oversight
By all means, let's have more inquiries into Oval Office blowjobs
and the lingerie of White House interns. That was unquestionably
the high point of the Clinton administration.
10. Stop invading countries under false information
But of course if your information is accurate, invade away? There's
the peace wing of the Democratic Party for you.
Even if you accept these revolting terms of reference, though, the
argument is transparently bogus. Review who voted us into the Iraq show.
I count many fair large ears among 'em --
including a Senate controlled, at the time, by the Other War Party.
11. Stop the explosion of deficit spending
Whose issue is this? Who cares about deficit spending, other than Wall Street
and its fair-haired boy, Bobby Rubin?
12. End the massive redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the
very rich. We need budget and tax priorities
that ensure fairness to the lower and middle classes, not windfalls and corporate giveaways to the wealthy
Fairness? How 'bout a real working man's tax cut, guys? Funny, they
can't even say "working class", can they? It would wring their
mouths like a half-ripe persimmon. In the Kos world, there's the "rich", the
"middle class", and -- little maidenly moue of distaste here -- the "lower class."
And here again, even if we leave aside the pathetic intellectual poverty of the Kos
conceptual world -- the facts cut the ground right out from under whatever
lame claim they're trying to make.
Clinton gave the "very rich" one of
the biggest valentines of all time
back in '97,
with his infamous donor thank-you,
re-election,
profits-only tax cut.
13. We need a House that will enact real health care reform.
Make plans for universal Health Care
What? Universal, thats a smudge word.
Single payer only. Period. Full stop. And oh by the way, what name
will be forever connected with the health-care Economy of Plunder
that Americans now enjoy? I'll give you a hint: it starts with an H
and ends with a Y and it's Hillary, HILLARY, damnable, lying, warmaking
Hillary.
14. We would have a meaningful jobs program.
A Democratic Congress will pursue policies that create jobs.
Reward companies who keep jobs in the United States. Meaningful
assistance
to the unemployed and underemployed.
I cannot imagine a more open-hole corporate boondoggle.
Talk about corporate welfare and giveaways to the "very rich".
Oh, and the tender concern for the "unemployed" -- which amounts to an
admission that the job-creation program won't work.
Delightful.
It reminds me of