By Michael J. Smith on Saturday September 30, 2006 08:58 PM
A correspondent writes:
From http://counterpunch.org/nader09302006.html, which is an otherwise standard-issue jeremiad against the Administration's policies, something only an egomaniac and asshole would dare say.Your editor agrees, of course, with all these observations except two. I don't think the Democrats have any principles to betray, except the principle of staying employed, and I don't think they had anything in their heads when they voted on the Torture Enablement Act except staying employed.Ralph Nader:
Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser.Except, of course, when the target was...Ralph Nader. To this day the donks are still bitter about how Nader "stole" the election from them...as your fine blog pointed out a few months back, refer to http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org/2006/09/joe_lieberman_the_ralph_nader.htmlAnd of course, Ralph was always the heads-in-the cloud idealist...we're long past the period where Democrats had any principles left to betray.
The only light at the end of this Bush tunnel comes from many law professors and knowledgeable members of Congress, such as Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT), who believe that when this law reaches the Supreme Court, its offending and vague provisions will be declared unconstitutional."I figure that's what was going through the heads of all the donks that signed on to the Torture bill... just wait until 2008!
Comments (4)
Actually, here's the actual paragraph in context, containing the quote attributed to Nader, straight from the Nader Counterpunch column itself:
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The normally restrained New York Times in an editorial titled "Rushing off a Cliff" condemned Bush's "ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217 year-old nation of laws-while doing nothing to protect the nation from terrorists. Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser."
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Your correspondent's post makes it sound as if Nader himself had written this, instead of citing the NYT.
Posted by Mike Flugennock | October 1, 2006 9:10 AM
Posted on October 1, 2006 09:10
To borrow from an old commercial - "Democrats: Maintaining power within the party is Job #1."
Posted by AlanSmithee | October 1, 2006 10:00 AM
Posted on October 1, 2006 10:00
everyone wants to win
if their pay depends on it
the donk pols are
by vocation
professional competitors
so can we blame em
if more votes
trump higher principles ???
know your cuts of meat
----------------------
but on the left hand
need we vote for em ????
as our father might say
" its only the repub party
that can't live long
without em "
the donk's are
the scolding
50's wife
behind the man of affairs
our lessser evil
is
the necessary evil
for
the party of
the business class
Posted by js paine | October 1, 2006 11:51 AM
Posted on October 1, 2006 11:51
Mike,
You are correct, Nader was citing the NYT. Sorry for not making that more clear.
And of course with the Foley business, the donks have something 'safe' to attack, though it seems the Republicans are crowding them out in their condemnations, which are cleverly being spun to echo the spurious charge that homosexuality encourages deviant predatory behavior.
Anyway, this will all be forgotten shortly. Turns out in DC, Foley's contact with the pages, while inappropriate, is likely legal, since it appears (1) the IMs were consensual and (2) the age of consent in DC is 16 years old, which is the minimum age that pages are allowed to be.
More importantly, it served to divert everyone's attention to the ghastly MCA, which was supported by 12 Donk Senators (probably by many more than that, but why not hedge if it blows up in the Administration's faces?) and all but Lincoln Chafee on the Republican side.
I'm sure there's gotta be at least one other Repub senator that opposed it, but given there's a pro-war Donk ready to pick up their votes, and not wanting to alienate the Administration, no challenge was made.
Posted by lammah | October 7, 2006 11:32 AM
Posted on October 7, 2006 11:32