Democrats Cower on Hill

The scurrying squeaks coming out of D.C. are the terrified hiccups of the Democratic party running for the mouse hole of safe political decisions.

The (ha-ha) leadership on the Hill is leading from behind what they think is a safe haven of "don't look at us"... it's not our war, our stripping of civil rights, our torture, our spending, our immigration, our Iran saber-rattling policies.

Oh.... but they are. The very timidity of the Democratic party is allowing The Decider to continue his power-grabbing, ideological rampage, making them complicit by their cowardly inaction, or worse, their enabling support however loudly justified.

The Democratic party seems to forget that those things you aren't against, you are for. Those things you don't stop, you support. They seem to forget why they were handed the reins in January.

The latest abdication of the Democratic leadership's moral bearings and our civil rights is over the concessions they appear ready to make on the Bush administration's broadened eavesdropping powers.... "Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers" New York Times.

The Democrats are described as "nervous" that they will be called soft on terrorism if they insist on stricter curbs on gathering intelligence. They are also nervous about not giving immunity retroactively to telecommunication utilities who illegally caved to the Bush administration's warrantless demands for private records. The issue isn't settled, but the muted squeaking bodes well for giving the snooping administration and their corporate enablers a pass.

Their case of the nerves will cost the Democratic party dearly at the polls next November. By their very Minnie Mouse approach to curbing the excesses of this administration, they have become what they are most trying to avoid appearing to be..... soft.

By trying to do nothing to lose their majority status in Congress and not standing on principle, the Democratic leadership is leaving the mouse hole wide open for a Reagan-like GOP presidential candidate to pounce on the office with full veto powers.

Gonzo's Caught Out

So, who to believe?

Notes taken at the time of the incident by the then Director of the FBI Mueller.

Or, the word of Gonzo, the Bush administration's political bag man now masquerading as Attorney General.

In "FBI Director's Notes Contradict Gonzales's Version of Ashcroft Visit," the clash of stories unfolds. Gonzo told the Senate Judiciary Committee about his nighttime visit to the sickroom of Attorney General Ashcroft, that Ashcroft was "lucid" and "did most of the talking."

However, the notes of Mueller.... who was called by an upset Deputy Attorney General Comey to come to Ashcroft's hospital room and observe for himself that Ashcroft wasn't up to the kind of pressure being applied by the White House over the wiretapping program.... tell a far different story.

To quote from Mueller's notes: "Wednesday 3/10/04 @2010: Saw AG. Janet Ashcroft in the room. AG in chair; is feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed."

These words were written just minutes after Gonzo and White House Chief of Staff Card had visited Ashcroft to try to get him to sign a certification that would overturn the Justice Department's decision not to approve the continuation of the wiretapping program in its present form.

While this despicable behavior is bad enough, it's this sentence in WaPo's story that really sums up this arrogant administration.... "After the meeting concluded without success, the Bush administration decided to proceed with the program anyway."

If it hadn't been for the fact that Comey, Mueller and half a dozen other Justice Department officials threatened to resign if changes weren't made that.... "President Bush agreed to make the changes, Mueller and others have testified, but the changes have never been described."

As always with this deceitfully willful White House, the ends justify the means. And the ends are whatever The Decider says they are.

That is why the self-serving utterances issuing from the lackeys in this administration are to be rejected.... and the lying Gonzo should follow Bush's "Turd Blossom" Rove out the door.