Unintentional Parody

By which I mean the Republican party. The Republican party of Lincoln. I've given up on the Democrats. There is no Democratic party.

Governments like ours work when factions operate in their own self interest - when the self-checking branches of government provide oversight on each other, or when political tribes draw differences and push against each other.

It's only in pushing against each other that there is balance.

You can't blame the modern GOP for trying to control every branch of government and put as much power as possible into the hands of their political operation any more than you can blame Franklin Delano Roosevelt for going ballistic on the Supreme Court in 1937 threatening to appoint 6 young liberals in what was called the most grave Constitutional Crisis of the 20th Century in order to push through the parts of New Deal they deemed unconstitutional.

Democrats don't have a unified principle that they can push back from anymore. To be a Democrat is simple - it is simply in their political interest to avoid being called names by Rush Limbaugh. If they can achieve that, then their political concerns is secure.

There is no Democratic Party in Congress. There are a slim majority of Congressmen and Senators who have banded together in order to gather money. They're not even very much concerned with gathering power and influence.

But they are most certainly not using any of the resources that they are gathering to benefit the groups and causes who worked to put them in power in the first place.

Republicans know this, and they will use this knowledge to pass the bills that they feel the country needs. This is why 2007 was such a horrible legislative year for the progressive movement - and why 2008 will be no better for progressives.

Democrats don't push back. Democrats don't fight for their rights. As legislators they gave away their power of oversight. As Executives they gave away their right to set an agenda.

The progressive movement needs a party. A party that acts out of principle since this is how progressives operate.

Since, Democrats no longer operate anchored in a principle of any sort (Anything, fucking something, whatever - Civil Liberties... Rule of Law... whatever, it really doesn't fucking matter. Name a cause, guys - anything) they are not the party for progressives.

I would have an easier time convincing Republicans, who are comfortable with the idea of fighting on behalf of a core set of principles, that they need to change their principles than I would with Democrats, who are incapable of fighting on behalf of core principles anyway.

Now let's start caving!

How best to announce to America that the people's Congress is back in session and ready to do the business of fixing the nation? Talk baseball.

The theory goes that people care about sports and the media will cover opening sessions above the fold if the hearings are about sex or sports. Therefore, Henry Waxman asked the Justice Department of the United States of America to investigate shortstop Miguel Tejada.

Seriously.

And we wonder why Americans don't think Congress has done anything worthwhile. Maybe it's because when we're not bending over for a hated President and his loathed Republican lackeys we are dicking around with bullshit like the Baltimore Orioles.

I don't particularly care about baseball, so can we put this steroid thing aside and get back to what we normally do, wholesale and unnecessary capitulation?

Good.

File under "Yeah no shit."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., admitted Thursday that she had underestimated the willingness of Republicans to stand behind President Bush’s Iraq policy despite the drubbing the GOP took in the polls in 2006.

“The assumption I made was that the Republicans would soon see the light,” she said.

{My head explodes}

Instead, the minority stuck to the president’s war policy in the face of unrelenting pressure from congressional Democrats and powerful lobbying campaigns by anti-war groups.

I completely forgot that Nancy was brand-new to politics.

I have to wonder, did Nancy REALLY want Republicans to see the light?
Wasn't MoveOn.org pounding conservatives "with unrelenting pressure" for them to see the light?
Didn't Nancy allow a vote to condemn MoveOn.org? Yeah, I think she did.
Why would she undermine her ally?

Oh, that's right, she's totally brand new to politics.

"The assumption I made was that the Republicans would soon see the light," she said. "I felt that the voices of the American people were so strong..."

Gee, Nancy, who would have thought that Republicans would fight for their worldview? Who would have guessed that Republicans would rubberstamp any policy or plan that protects their President? Answer: ANYONE with HALF A BRAIN!

Nancy is doing what all powerful Democrats are always doing--trying to avoid mysterious uninvestigable small-plane crashes and trying to impress Joe Klein by catering to voters who would just as soon kill them than vote for them. Ever.

New House Leader Needed, apply within.

I'm aware that the rough and tumble of campaigns can make the varying candidates hostile towards one another, that they occasionally must go negative, in order to help themselves and hurt others. It's a cut throat business. I ain't gonna judge a campaign for going on the attack. That being said, it seems Hillary's team has plagiarized a story from the Onion for their latest attack.

Twice in One Day: Senator Obama Tries Rewriting History, Again Claims He Hasn't Been Planning White House Run

At an event in Boston this evening, Senator Obama claimed for the second time today that he is "not running to fulfill some long held plans" to be elected President, contradicting statements his friends, family, staff and teachers have all made about him.

"Senator Obama's relatives and friends say he has been talking about running for President for at least the last fifteen years. So who's not telling the truth, them or him?" Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said.

In Boston this evening, Senator Obama said: "I'm not running to fulfill some long held plans or because I think it's open to me." In Iowa earlier today, he said: Senator Obama said: "I have not been planning to run for President for however number of years some of the other candidates have been planning for."

But that's not what Senator Obama's teachers, family, classmates or staff say:...

...In third grade, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want To Be a President.' His third grade teacher: Fermina Katarina Sinaga "asked her class to write an essay titled 'My dream: What I want to be in the future.' Senator Obama wrote 'I want to be a President,' she said." [The Los Angeles Times, 3/15/07]

In kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want to Become President.' "Iis Darmawan, 63, Senator Obama's kindergarten teacher, remembers him as an exceptionally tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local language and had sharp math skills. He wrote an essay titled, 'I Want To Become President,' the teacher said." [AP, 1/25/07 ]

Someone has lost their mind at the Hilary campaign. This is just straight up crazy. Please, just stop, before you really hurt yourself.

UPDATE: It was all a joke! Mark Penn said, "At the end of a long thing as a joke, the campaign put out that he always wanted to run from Kindergarten. It was a joke!...at the end of a very serious and long release." Right, except right before the end of a long and serious release, you also call him out for wanting to be president in Third Grade. I left out the two other attacks in it, but 50% of this long and serious release is apparently a "joke." Stay out of comedy buddy, it ain't your strong suit.