Virtually Every Bush Scandal Bears Mark-Not Merely Of Dem Capitulation BUT Dem Participation

[kpete]

"Examine virtually every Bush scandal and it increasingly bears the mark not merely of Democratic capitulation, but Democratic participation."

glenn greenwald...

It is staggering, and truly disgusting, that even in August, 2007 -- almost six years removed from the 9/11 attacks and with the Bush presidency cemented as one of the weakest and most despised in American history -- that George W. Bush can "demand" that the Congress jump and re-write legislation at his will, vesting in him still greater surveillance power, by warning them, based solely on his say-so, that if they fail to comply with his demands, the next Terrorist attack will be their fault.

<...>

Examine virtually every Bush scandal and it increasingly bears the mark not merely of Democratic capitulation, but Democratic participation. In August of 2006, the Supreme Court finally asserted the first real limit on Bush's radical executive power theories in Hamdan, only for Congress, months later, to completely eviscerate those minimal limits -- and then go far beyond -- by enacting the grotesque Military Commissions Act with the support of substantial numbers of Democrats. What began as a covert and illegal Bush interrogation and detention program became the officially sanctioned, bipartisan policy of the United States.

<...>

The common, defining political principle here -- what resonates far more powerfully than any other idea -- is a fervent and passionate belief in our country's constitutional framework, the core liberties it secures, and the checks and balances it offers as a safeguard against tyrannical power. Those who fail to defend that framework, or worse, those who are passively or actively complicit in its further erosion, are all equally culpable. With each day that passes, the radicalism and extremism originally spawned in secret by the Bush presidency becomes less and less his fault and more and more the fault of those who -- having discovered what they have been doing and having been given the power to stop it -- instead acquiesce to it and, worse, enable and endorse it.

more at:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/08/04/democrats/index.html
via:http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/

[msongs]

1. well the republicans call dems "surrender monkeys" don't they? nt

[cgrindley]

2. I support the Dems because they're NOT as evil as the Republicans

I'm not under any false impression that the Democrats are in any way good. They're just not as fucked up as the Republicans.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. The lesser of two evils strategy is not looking too good to me anymore

[cgrindley]

6. All political parties suck, some just suck less than others

there's no ideal party, but the Dems are the best of the electable bunch. They have my support.

[Individualist]

3. Here's more...

http://counterpunch.com/lindorf08042007.html

Spy Power: Bush Demands, Congress Delivers -- Again and Again and Again

By DAVE LINDORFF

What was Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) thinking when he told Senate colleagues it was a "sad day" when that body started taking its marching orders from an outsider (the president and the director of national security), in passing a new version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that gives the president a free hand to spy on communications of Americans without a judicial review?

Is he implying that this is the first time the Senate has done this?

Isn't that exactly what the Senate (and the House) did when they passed the so-called USA PATRIOT Act in October 2001? Isn't that what they did in overturning the Posse Comitatus Act and in altering the Insurrection Act last fall? Isn't it what they did in approving the Military Commissions Act last year, which retroactively okayed the use of torture on captives?

The truth is that the Senate and House have both become little more than rubber stamps for Administration power grabs ever since 9-11. Indeed, since that date, the members of Congress have been willing sell-outs of their own institution, which today bears no resemblance to what the Founders described in Article I of the Constitution--a document which the members have effectively destroyed.

For the past six-and-a-half years we have watched as a group of political midgets have destroyed what hundreds of thousands of our ancestors put their lives on the line to create and defend--a government system that was founded on the concept of individual rights and liberties, and that was structured to limit the power of the executive.

[Breeze54]

5. "...those who are passively or actively complicit in its further erosion, are all equally culpable."

YES!!!!!

:kick: & Recommended!!

[Bonobo]

7. Offended-Sounding and Long-Titled Post Discussing Ralph Nader's Ego! N/T

[dkofos]

8. Apparently they forgot who their boss is. IT IS WE THE PEOPLE

[Bonobo]

9. .

[farmboxer]

10. Repubs know that they can tell Dems what to do

now I think I will go an puke!

I rarely ever post anymore, however, I still support DU, have been here since the coup.

[HardRocker05]

11. yep, it's undeniable. they are complicit. nt

[dbt]

12. Recommended!