As Congress Closes Shop

12/19/2005

Paul Munnis

The last few days of this Congressional session has been a flurry of activities all designed to anger Democrats while at the same time, Mr. Bush is bailing the boat and trying to perform political life saving work for his Administration and his Party. What we are seeing in Washington is not pretty as the GOP attempts to convince the American people that black is white and that the GOP failure in governance is acceptable behavior.

The top issues of the moment are as follows:

The Military Appropriations Bill: Like Pontius Pilate, the House rushed to pass a neo-con dominated bit of legislation and they slipped in ANWR, something that the people of America do not want, and then they threw the result over the transom for the Senate to cope with as they washed their hands of the matter and left town for Christmas recess.

We need to remember that Democrats do not control the government, the GOP does and that they have majority control in both the House and Senate. Democrats will do their best, playing by the rules, but the GOP is in a position to change the rules if it isn’t going their way. That is what they are doing with ANWR. In the end, the people of America will get what they voted for, a GOP solution. We may want change of that in the future but right now we are stuck with it. Our opinion is that the Senate would be wise to table this Bill until the ANWR matter can be resolved in conference. However, Democrats have little leverage to make that happen.

We can be glad that the language for torture and abuse is in this Bill and we give credit to John McCain for this work and in opposing the President to assure moral behavior by our government.

The Patriot Act: That bit of legislation is now in limbo, someplace between renewal and defeat. The rush to throw it over the transom to the Senate has backfired on the House and the Senate rebelled and it is now scheduled to expire on Dec. 31st and there is no time left to do much about it. So, it will languish without going back for a vote. It didn’t have to, Democrats offered to vote for a three month extension while a debate takes place about renewal but the GOP has turned down the offer. We suspect they will try to jam it through today and we need to again remember that Democrats do not control our Senate. We hope they will make a political election issue of it for they will lose on that score.

NSA and Spying On The Public: Many people of both Parties charge that Bush broke the law and so does much of Congress claim the same thing, but Alberto Gonzales says that: “No, the Congress gave Bush full authority in post-9/11 votes when they gave him authority to use any military means necessary to defeat the terrorists.” Gonzales claims that authority includes the right to spy on the U.S. citizens because NSA is a military run office. This could end up with NSA being moved to a civilian agency for intelligence control since the military reports only to the President. That is part of the agenda now for 2006.

IRAQ and the War: Here is an area of Washington babble that is so full of nonsense that its getting hard to witness it anymore.

First, we must congratulate Rep. John Murtha for getting the train back on the track. The GOP was losing the war in Iraq, the whole thing was stagnant and smelling to high heaven, and when he told the world that this War was a stalled freight train then he galvanized the GOP back into action. Suddenly they became defensive, they created a poor semblance of an Exit strategy, they admitted their long standing mistakes in managing the war effort, and as Bush realized that the public wanted him fired for incompetence then they have done nothing but fight back and to try to recover their credibility. They have actually moved back into campaign mode as they try to get re-elected from the vote of “no confidence,” that they are experiencing withthe public.

We thank Rep. John Murtha for his efforts in this area. He truly has moved the stalled freight train od State that is the Iraq War, back into gear. As for Bush, his PR activities are understandable. It sounds like he is running for office again and he is. He squandered his position and spent his political capital with arrogance and even as he tries to recover from disaster he is giving a news conference today that is not a stellar performance.

Today’s candor is tomorrows admitted blame game however and people need to recognize the price that Bush will pay for admitting his errors - mistakes that cost lives and limbs. It could cost Mr. Bush a trial in the international court over human rights abuses and illegal aggression.

We take exception to many Republicans whom we hear accusing Democrats of “cutting and running,” in Iraq. That is not true as Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and Senators Biden, and Kennedy, among others, all have made clear. They support staying in Iraq and they believe it would be bad if we left prematurely.

About the Anti-War Movement: There is an anti-war contingent that is rapidly growing within the Democratic Party who believe that Mr. Bush has had enough time to manage this war and that he has blown it and that he should lose his license to continue to run a war that is producing mainly high body counts, huge expenditures of debt, and low levels of political progress. They would end the war pronto.

Bush is trying hard to spin the Iraqi election as being “progress,” but it is results that really matter and unless Bush can get assurance of minority rights for Sunni’s and for sharing of oil revenues with the Iraqi States, then all that will happen is that this will be a way-station en-route to an Iraq Civil War. Democrats are putting pressure on Bush to get the Iraqi COnstitution fixed.

If the Iraqi Constitution is not fixed then our troops will be coming home and the anti-war movement will move into high gear to make sure that the troops do come home. Our nation is not going to allow American blood to be spilled supporting Islamic religious factions in Iraq.

The fact that Democrats are not all of one mind about this is something that the GOP should fall down onto their knees and give thanks to God for each and every day. If Democrats ever go totally anti-war as a Party, then one will only need to look back to the seventies and the end of the Vietnam War to see how it will all play out. It will not be good for the GOP at all.

End of Year Conclusion: As we bring the year 2005 to a close in Washington we find that the State of our Union is in poor and shabby shape. It has become worse each year as the GOP tries to govern a positive upbeat nation of people who want to accomplish great things in our world, in a negative, destructive, and poorly managed manner. This is inconsistent with our American character.

We look forward to the 2006 elections to see if the people of America are satisfied with the conduct of our national affairs and with this standard of governance. We think that the GOP party is being shown for the shallow party of ideas and ideals that it really is. The moral behavior of the GOP is something that the religious right should be condemning.

I have asked myself if I am satisfied with the performance of the Democratic Party during 2005 as we end this Congressional session and I think that they have done pretty well playing a very bad hand that they were dealt by voters. Democrats have behaved as the loyal opposition and I am satisfied with the representation that I have been given by my Party of choice. I will support them in the coming election and the efforts to overthrow the GOP.