GOP senators scramble for life boats

[dubyaD40web]

Source: Politico

Republican Senate leaders — terrified by the prospect of losing five or more seats in November — have freed their members to vote however they need to vote to get reelected, even if that means bucking the president or the party’s leadership.

On at least four votes over the past month — Medicare, housing, the GI Bill and the Farm Bill — Republican leaders haven’t even bothered whipping members to toe the party line or back President Bush’s veto threats. Instead, a GOP leadership aide says leaders have told vulnerable senators that it’s all right to “get well” with voters by siding with Democrats on anything but energy and national security.

It’s unusual for rank-and-file members to get a green light to blow off their party leaders. But these are unusual times for Republicans. They are genuinely worried they could get their clocks cleaned in November. The prevailing attitude: It is better to lose some big votes now than big races in November.

This helps explain why so many Senate Republicans are taking flight from President Bush and their own leaders — and doing it loudly and proudly.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11923.html

[tanyev]

1. Norah Jones has a song just for them.

We're an oyster cracker on the stew,
And the honey in the tea,
We're the sugar cubes, one lump or two,
In the black coffee,
The golden crust on an apple pie,
That shines in the sun at noon,
We're a wheel of cheese high in the sky,
But we're gonna be sinkin' soon.

In a boat that's built of sticks and hay,
We drifted from the shore,
With a captain who's too proud to say,
That he dropped the oar,
Now a tiny hole has sprung a leak,
In this cheap pontoon,
Now the hull has started growing weak,
And we're gonna be sinkin' soon.

We're gonna be
Sinkin' soon,
We're gonna be
Sinkin' soon,
Everybody hold your breath 'cause,
We're gonna be sinkin' soon

[LeftishBrit]

5. Very suitable!

The folk song 'The Ebenezer' might also be suitable:

We shipped on board of th' Ebenezer,
All day long it was "Scrub and grease 'er."
Send us aloft to scrape 'er down,
And if we growl they'd blow us down.


cho: Oh, git along boys, git along, do,
Handy, me boys, so handy.
Git along boys, git along do,
Handy, me boys, so handy.


The Ebenezer was so old, sir,
Knew Columbus as a boy, sir.
It was pump her bullies twice a day
To help her get to Liverpool Bay.


Chorus


The captain was a drunken geezer
Couldn't sail the Ebenezer.
Learned his trade in a Chinese junk,
Spent most of his time lying in his bunk.


Chorus


Our first mates name was Dickie Green, sir,
Ugliest bugger you've ever seen, sir!
Walking the deck with a bucko roll
May the sharks have his body and the devil have his soul.


Chorus

A Boston buck was our Second Greaser.
He used to sail in lime-juice ships sir.
The Limey packets got too hot,
So he jumped ship and he cursed the lot.

Chorus

Our bosun hailed from Tennessee, sir,
Always wore his blackball cheezer.
Had him a wife in every port--
At least that's what his missus thought.


Chorus


Wet hash it was our only grub, sir
For breakfast, dinner and for supper.
Our bread was hard as any brass
And our meat was as salt as Lot's wife's ass.


Chorus


We sailed away before a breeze, sir
Bound away for Valap-i-reaser
Round the Horn we lost our sticks
The mollyhawks picked up the bits.


Chorus

(Well, the Republican party's captain *is* an at least formerly drunken geezer who can't do his job; and his 'first mate' *is* someone called Dickie whose soul belongs to the devil; and they've certainly had a lot of grease from Tony Blair, who jumped the 'lime-juice' (English) ship when it got too hot for him. And McCain probably knew Columbus as a boy.)

[momster]

25. Thanks!

Great song and so right on!

[roguevalley]

28. on everything but energy and war. like it will help them now. amazing

how stupid they are.

[bdamomma]

2. any repig up for re election throw the bums out.

[SpiralHawk]

3. Repent. America needs to be purged of republicon homelanderism.

Repent, and become again Americans.

Best way to absolve yourselves of your Mortal Sins before Judgement Day: Impeach the Republicon Homelander Chickenhawks at the top of your corrupt shitheap.

[Phred42]

4. Translation: Lie to the peons

that always works.

[gratuitous]

6. Gordon Smith's way out front on this

He's been running as a Democrat in Oregon for weeks now, boasting of his "bipartisanship" and how Barak Obama likes him and everything. This "moderate" schtick worked six years ago, but there are signs that it's not going to work this time. Even the state's leading newspaper, The Oregonian, has been printing letters mildly critical of St. Gordon the Pondkiller.

Your mission, fellow DUers, should you decide to accept it, is to call out these newly-minted "bipartisan" Republicans. Make sure your immediate family and good friends (at the very least) know that your Sen. Snakeoil is having an election year conversion experience. If voters want to change things up and put a Democrat into the Senate, then don't vote for the Republican!

[GreenTea]

7. Oregonians should attack & expose Gordon Smith ruthlessly as the republican pig that Smith is

[MrBlueSky]

12. Whoa now...

To your list, we must also add Senate Democrats (among those 12 up for re-election) who cave to and cower from Bu$h Co and cannot find their spines to save Americans.

They deserve to be busted in their primaries... or lose to 3rd Party candidates.

[gratuitous]

14. Except . . .

Most of the Democratic nominees have already been chosen, most states having conducted their primaries already. And while I have little patience for spineless Democrats, I'm willing to build the majority first.

[GreenTea]

20. What difference does it make if they have a "D" by their name if they vote republican?

And if they are republican shills....that label themselves as a "conservative democrat" or a "moderate democrat" what the fuck is that....they are republicans pretending to be democrats either to get elected and/or spy and disrupt as fucking Joe Lieberman did for so many years...The best way to beat your opponent is through information which infiltration can get you, the republicans wrote the book on it.

[GreenTea]

17. Absolutely, including the asshole piece of republican shit, Sen. Feinstein who calls herself

a democrat...much the way Joe Liberman used to!!

Not just men can be an "asshole piece of shit"....In my non-sexist book!

[onenote]

26. if you want to advocate the defeat of Democratic candidates, we have a nice tombstone for you

Push for change through the primaries to your heart's content.
Advocate for 3rd party candidates to defeat the Democratic nominee -- any Democratic nominee -- and it'll be see ya later.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. WooHoo--now if the'd do that in the House, the skids would be greased

for impeachment AND conviction.

[LeftinOH]

9. "We're goin' down, grab something!! Gay marriage! Illegal immigrants! abortion!..Anything!!!"

[pattmarty]

10. They have "grabbed". What about the drill, drill, drill BS.........

....we've all been hearing for the past 8 months?

[mwb970]

11. The fewer Republicans, the better.

They are appalling.

[TNOE]

13. Justice.

Its a beautiful thing.

[samsingh]

15. repugs flip flopping more rapidly than ever

what a disgusting pile of shit these people are. willing to do anything to be elected regardless of who gets hurt.

they are beneath contempt.

[wordpix]

29. no one more so than John McBush

[happygoluckytoyou]

16. ahhhh.....TRICKLE DOWN POLITICS..... the GOP is getting trickled on...LOL

[Froward69]

18. At least here Retardlicans,

aren't admitting their party affiliation in their adds. I find it striking as to how republicanism is so damaged they are not proud of their party anymore.

on edit= even McSame doesn't admit it in his adds.

[Lorien]

19. "On anything but energy and national secruity"

Because BushCo needs those PROFITS and the ability to spy on Democrats, y'know.

[MannyGoldstein]

21. Hopefully They'll Push For Impeachment

The only thing that can possibly save the the Rethugs.

The Congressional "Democrats" will hate it, but they can't very well fight it in public if the Rethugs push for it.

[Tempest]

22. It might work in one or two races

But the Repugs are going to be embarrassed in November, just like in 2006 and in the special elections in 2007 and 2008.

[barbtries]

23. and they are all such accomplished

hypocrites, they have no problem acting as if they actually are voting for the sake of representing their constituency, or voting their conscience (which they have none), and all us little suckers just want to believe in that so hard.

and notice how they are still expected to toe the party line at energy (read: corporate profits) and "national security" (read: corporate profits). gawd forbid they should abandon their "base" and govern in a manner fitting for a government designed to be "of, for, and by the people."

they make me sick.

[MadrasT]

24. One word.

"IMPEACH"

[Dover]

27. Chin up GOP senators...haven't you heard? Polls tell us McCain and Obama are neck and neck.

:sarcasm:

Surely you believe your own propaganda.

:sarcasm:

[jazzjunkysue]

30. Gramps is already there: "What Barack said!." Suddenly, everyone's a democrat.

Gotta admit, I didn't think the learning curve would be this fast, but, better late than never.

It's looking more and more unfeasible for them to rig the election, when even the GOP doesn't want to be the GOP.