Broken
Promises And Barefaced Lies- Democrats Strike Again
By Joshua Frank
28 March, 2007
Countercurrents.org
We
have observed the same song and dance so many times before it's hard
to believe more didn't see it coming. The Democrats once again let down
their constituents and all the other voters who ushered them in to power
last November -- believing, in utter stupidity, that they would somehow
halt the madness of the Iraq war by challenging the Bush administration
and their Republican allies in Congress.
By now we should all know
about the ugly stunt they pulled last week. The Democratic majority
in the House passed an appropriations bill that would give Bush more
money to continue his war. The legislation, which will likely be knocked
out by the White House, calls for the troops to come home later this
year. Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, believed this would somehow appease
their antiwar base. Regrettably their smarmy attempt has absolutely
no teeth whatsoever. Having been one of the unfortunate geeks who actually
read the bill, I can tell you only one thing -- it's a complete farce.
In order for troops to come
home the Bushies would have to confirm whether or not "progress"
had been made in Iraq, not Congress. So with more money in hand and
sole authority on deciding whether or not the war in going as planned,
the White House, even if Bush signed the bill, would never have to end
the thing. The proposal wasn't a compromise as many have claimed, but
a dagger in the heart of all those of us who want to bring this war
to a screeching halt.
Fortunately these are the
sorts of betrayals that fuel activists like Cindy Sheehan and CODEPINK
in to putting their energy in opposing the Democratic leadership. Nancy
Kricorian, who manages CODEPINK's ListenHillary.org, a site dedicated
to challenging Sen. Clinton's stance on the Iraq war, recently told
me why she believes it is imperative that we take on the Democratic
stalwarts like Hillary Clinton.
"Hillary is the current
Democratic frontrunner for the Presidential nomination and because she
is one of the most powerful people in the Party so we feel it is important
to hold her accountable for her voting record on and her public statements
about Iraq," Kricorian said. "We hope that by pressuring her
to change her stance ... we will have an impact on the [Democrats].
We are tired of convoluted rhetoric and empty words -- we want Hillary
and the Democrats to stop buying Bush's war."
Cindy Sheehan reiterated
a similar line when I recently spoke with her. "We need to take
Hillary and (Nancy) Pelosi on to reflect true progressive anti-war values,
not AIPAC or neocon values," she said. "It is important to
keep the pressure on her and the others, because number one, she needs
to be exposed, and two, she needs to know that we are not fooled by
her."
As Election Spectacle 2008
takes center stage over the next year, let's not buy the Democratic
bull that they are going to do anything substantial to end the war in
Iraq, even if Barack, Hillary, and rest of the gang promise as much.
We gave them an antiwar mandate and they still want to give Bush the
sole authority in deciding when the time is right to bring the troops
home and billions more to continue the war.
The Democrats aren't a party
of opposition, but a party of capitulation.
Joshua Frank is the author
of Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush and edits www.BrickBurner.org
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