There used to be a major American political party known at the Democratic Party. Today, it is being renamed the “Don’t Call Me Soft on Terrorism and Keep that Telecom Money Coming Party”. The founder of the party comes from a familiar American family: the Rockefellers. The Rockefellers are best known as the most famous of the Robber Barons. It must truly be the dawn of a new Progressive Era.
As Greenwald has noted, Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia is now openly playing for the wrong team.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) is predicting the Senate will grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies as Congress takes up reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). . .
“I think we will prevail,” Rockefeller said on Wednesday, adding that he hoped the Senate will finish the bill by next week. The FISA legislation expires in February, and both President Bush and GOP congressional leaders have demanded new legislation be in place by that time.
“It’s a pretty bad idea to appear cocky,” Rockefeller noted. “I am not pessimistic.”
Has a Rockefeller ever been pessimistic in the entire history of the family? Maybe about the weather.
What we are witnessing is an obstruction of justice under the cover of law. There is no reason to immunize the telecom corporations because they are already immunized if they had a good faith reason to believe they were following the law. The only reason to immunize them is to prevent the truth about the extent of the lawbreaking from coming to light. Watch how many Democratic senators vote for cloture of Dodd’s filibuster. It will not be a small number, and may even be the majority of the caucus.
There will be other votes today, and I’ll try to get up to speed on the procedure and pending amendments. In the meantime, if you’re a Democrat, you no longer have a party. They will officially cease to exist today. Yes, the party will still be called the same thing. But it won’t be the same. It will be complicit in the worst domestic crime of the last thirty years.
Damn.
…both President Bush and GOP congressional leaders have demanded new legislation be in place by that time.
I wish someone would tell the Democratic Party that with a majority in both houses, they can tell the President and the opposition to go get fucked. They may not be able to pass anything, but they can absolutely stop the passage of anything and everything.
Who do these shitheads represent? You cannot tell me that there is a huge groundswell of public sympathy for phone companies.
Having another one of those days where you could easily jump out of your skin? Me too.
I am just as disgusted as you and I really think it’s time to for a new “Labor Party” in this country because the Democrats really don’t represent the regular people anymore. It’s all about selling out to contributors. And who knows how many briefcases full of cash get passed around at the same time?
I hear ya, Boo. Might I suggest you send John Cole an email – Blogger to blogger. I read that bit about Rockefeller this morning and I was totally disgusted. But Rockefeller is one of John Cole’s Senators. I’d like to see him get a movement going against Rockefeller, as a constituent.
Meanwhile, I’m calling Harry Reid’s offices since I am a constituent. He needs to either drop out as Senate Majority Leader and/or change parties right away.
I called Reid’s office AGAIN yesterday to remind him we’re watching.
They couldn’t care less.
Everything else I could say seems trite. It’s a sad day.
Tim over at OpenLeft has a piece on Reid you might want to look at
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3400
Amen.
It was a nice fantasy thinking that we would get a Dem Pres & Congress not because of default against a corrupt Rep party leadership but because the Dem leadership actually demonstrated integrity.
Oh yeah, looks like AT&T is reporting a damn fine profit for the quarter. Funny how that works.
I’ll say goodbye with a song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toHlMD50eYY
…and you shake your head, and said it’s a shame…
Are you suggesting sitting out the vote in 2008?
Cus if the party’s meaningless, what’s the point?
There is no point. In 2008 we get to vote for a Republican or a Republican in sheep’s clothing.
We really need to secede from the union.
Everybody-
If you are near a TV and have cable or satellite service, keep it tuned to C-Span2 today. This seems to be the topic of the day in the Senate.
Notice how few are even there. All those empty desks. Continuous speakers, but empty desks.
And for anyone needing a primer on what’s going on here, I think Jesus’ General summed it up best (sarcastically) and BooMan even gets a mention in his post. Go check it out.
So I guess he checks must have cleared.
So I guess THE checks must have cleared. (sigh)
The older I get, the more depressing our political institutions become.
I could point out that the same oligarchy, the Rockefellers et al, were doing similar things back into the 19th Century. That with every advance for the working class, either in politics or in the marketplace, the heavy hand of the wealthy has come down hard on its lessers.
So in some ways this is no different. Except that the oligarchy needs greater tools to control the masses. And this is going to be a ghastly world. We don’t know how bad it already is except for the occasional case that pops up.
The War on Terror will merge with the War on Drugs and the War on Pornography and the War on Impure Thinking. And the Rockefellers will never be affected unless one becomes a class traitor.
Beware what you dream.
I increasingly move toward thinking France got it right with the Reign of Terror.
Yup.
I wrote as much to Booman. Bring on the guillotine.
America has become a system of government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.
I’m with Lucy Parsons.
read the rest.
They sure bring out the Madame Defarge in me.
Agreed. The party is dead. I left the party last year because of the Democrats’ failure to do anything about Bush’s lawless spying, the rescission of habeas corpus, the failure to stop Bush’s torture policies, and the Democrats failure to stop Bush’s wars.
I am not unreasonable. I do not demand that the party be as liberal as me–but I have lines I simply will not cross as a conscientious citizen. I will not take part in a party that allows torture, war crimes, and illegal spying on its citizens. Period. The Democrats unambiguously support these things. Granted, they claim they are against them but have to vote for them because to really stop the abuses they have to appear strong and defeat themselves in the short term so that in the long term they can vote the way they really believe–or something. Give me a Republican robot that salutes Bush’s torture over these weasels that call themselves Democrats. At least we know the GOPBot has the courage of his convictions.
Apart from the Democrats crossing the moral line in the sand . . . they also no longer represent traditional liberal values of fighting for the middle class, working families. They have thoroughly sold out to their corporate masters. Even if the Democrats would not have crossed my moral line of torture and illegal spying I would seriously be considering leaving them because they no longer represent my beliefs. I’m not opposed to compromise–but the Democrats no longer have the core beliefs they once did.
Apart from the issues–the Democrats have conclusively demonstrated that they are political retards. The idea that they should run away from their beliefs to get votes is asinine. They would rather stab us liberals in the eye (e.g. censure Move On, hang Dodd out to dry, etc.) than take on Dick Cheney (impeachment off the table, no censure vote for him, and no investigation of Bush’s warrantless spying). Democrats don’t even have the ability, ne, courage, to fight for their beliefs anymore.
The Democratic party is indeed dead. It served a useful and just purpose at one point in time.
We better start thinking about the future and how liberals should organize politcally. A good first step is accepting the fact that the Democratic party only stands in the way and does not help–In other words is dead. I’m glad to see we’re starting that necessary process.
Just came across him. Lot’s of information in wiki on him, does not seem like a nut, and he was dying, so what was his motive not to tell the truth?
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2007/290107rockefellergoal.htm
I can now see why everyone wants to ban talk of 9/11 theories.
More:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3254488777215293198
and:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Russo
Father’s advise:
If you’re a rich man, you vote for the Republican.
If you’re a poor man, you vote for the Democrat.
Simple, isn’t it? But Edwards is losing. Reaganism is alive and well. “Me” remains the pronoun of the day. The Republicans, out of style or not, are still winning. And Democrats are now helping them retain control.
The United States has descended into old-style Latin American democratic politics, where two cliques — one reactionary, the other merely conservative — struggled with each other for power, and the poor be damned.
It’s a rich man’s country. Get used to it.