DragonFlight

It’s quite bad enough (I really wanted to say horrible) that we have an Administrative branch that feels they are above the law and the Constitution, but that Congress would enable this delusion, and these delusional souls, is reprehensible. Of course the waters are a bit muddied by the fact that we have a Vice President who apparently may belong to a different branch of government on any given day, depending on which keeps him safer from scrutiny.

And now, when you hope the worst is behind us, the Senate concerns itself with what private newspaper ads might or might not be appropriate. They can’t seem to pass a bill that may give our fighting troops a decent, fair and humane rotation cycle during a time of war, or that might even end that war which is mired in a quagmire, but they do have time to censure the first amendment rights of an organization that represents the views of a large group of Americans. (I thought the wording of the MoveOn ad was a bit over the top, but still don’t see how it was any of the Senate’s business to comment on it, especially when they failed to be equally critical of the “swift boat” ads and the attacks on Max Clellan. It’s obvious the Republicans are just more organized when it comes to playing political hardball.)

Of course, when one digs a bit further, it becomes apparent this is all a ploy to distract the American public from the real issue. A fellow blogger, Trish Purcell said it better than I could:

“Once again the “conservative” media machine swings into action in collaboration with the administration and like-minded legislators. Can’t you just picture their glee when the Move-On.org ad handed them a two-pronged weapon: a two by four with which to hit Democratic Senators over the head; an issue that could be sensationalized and distract people from the real issue – the failure of the surge.
Correct me if I am wrong but I think when you set a goal for a mission and you do not achieve that goal, the mission has failed. President Bush said the surge was to buy time for the Iraq government to achieve reconciliation. The Iraq government has not achieved anything like reconciliation. Therefore the surge failed.
Are we talking about or hearing about the success or failure of the surge? Are we discussing what we should do now? Are we working on a new plan for Iraq? None of the above. Instead we are arguing about whether or not Move-On.org should or should not have run their ad.”
And so here we are again, allowing the conservative media machine to dictate what we talk about and distract us from the important issue that we should be talking about. And our paid representatives in the Senate are wasting their time on a meaningless resolution about an ad instead of taking care of the real business of government. Enough already!”

The fact is, we have a Congress that goes well beyond the definition of mediocre, and perhaps comes closer to negligent and incompetent. First, it is dysfunctionally divided by partisan politics at a time when both our government at home and our involvements abroad are a bit chaotic. Personally, I see the Republicans as most complicit in this entirely despicable partisanship at present. Not only do they all, with few exceptions if any, automatically agree with most anything the Administrative branch dictates as far as the Iraq war goes, they justify this, at least to themselves and the more gullible voters, as necessary because the Democrats are incapable of defending the nation. That’s rather amusing in light of the fact that 9/11 occurred during this Republican administration, the debacle in Iraq was led and mismanaged by that same administration, and the nation is not safer because of either. Even General Petraeus would not say we were any safer, and more than one government report has said we were indeed “less” safe. And just how does Petraeus' report add up with his own accomplishments in Iraq? Petraeus' own standards

Here’s a copy of a letter I sent to one of my senators, Diane Feinstein, who startlingly (to me anyway) voted to support the Senate repudiation of MoveOn and their ad:

“I’m extremely disappointed that you voted yes today to repudiate the MoveOn Petraeus/Betrayus ad, and I’m not sure when it became the Senate’s business to criticize newspaper ads. I believe MoveOn has the right to voice their opinion as granted by the First Amendment, especially when Petraeus’ sugar coating of the situation in Iraq is quite suspicious. I knew the present Administration and most Republicans in Congress appear to believe free speech only applies when it mirrors their own views, but I hadn’t believed that true of you.

I’ve always voted for you, as well as several other Democrats, but I’m in the process of rethinking how I vote. I won’t vote Republican, as I feel they have, en masse, sold out our nation, and enabled a President who doesn’t believe in the oversight role of Congress as a separate branch of our government. It would appear that many in Congress as well, are unaware of that responsibility.

I know the Democrat majority in Congress is not large enough to pass certain legislation, or override presidential vetoes, but that doesn’t mean the Democrats should stop fighting for the wishes of their electorate. I don’t care how many times the President vetoes a bill; it doesn’t mean the Democrats should not persist. If you have enough time on your hands to censure political ads by private organizations, you have the time to keep passing bills that you, and more importantly, the people who put you in office, want passed.”

I’d suggest that everyone start responding to their own Congressional representatives when they do something they like, or don’t like. I don’t see any better way to try to change things other than to let those in power know where we, the electorate, stand on how they vote. They only seem to focus in on what we want when election time approaches. Perhaps knowing we are not happy with their performance and are considering how we might want to vote next time around will get through to them on a basic survival level. It sure seemed to work in the 2006 mid-term elections.

Here’s a simple URL that takes you right to a site which will give you quick access to communicating with them Contact Congress .

I should add here a quote from a comment on my “The Petraeus Report, And Other Consequences blog” by Renee:

“The whole idea that the Senate took time to denounce the MoveOn.org ad is utterly ludicrous. What a monumental waste of time and what a moronic thing to do. I have had it with Congress in general, I think the Republican leadership is a pack of rabid wolves, and the Democrat leadership needs to get their heads out of their asses. That's what I think.”

Amen to that! Where is the Congress I ordered?