A PROMISE OF THINGS TO COME

We are all very pleased that the Democrats today displayed some courage by forcing a closed session of Congress to embarrass the Republicans for their shameful avoidance of any oversight or investigation of the lies that led us into war with Iraq. Seeing cons red-faced and blustering does my heart good.

But this move by Dems has an ulterior motive as well. At least one blog I regularly read thinks, and I agree, that this invocation of Senate rules is a way of showing Majority Leader Bill Frist and Senate Republicans that the Dems are ready and willing to use the rules of the Senate to block the nomination of Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court if need be. And with more and more Americans growing suspicious and distrustful of Republicans, the Dems are rightfully standing up as a genuine opposition party.

In the debate over the "nuclear option" a few months back, Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader, wrote to Frist and said that if Frist attempts to cheat in changing Senate rules to eliminate the judicial filibuster, Reid and the Dems would respond by removing their consent from all Senate activites, effectively shutting the Senate down. The last time the Reps tried to shut the government down, they paid a hefty price for it. This time, the Reps will also get hammered over this. The American people no longer trust congressional Reps, and will blame their dishonesty and machinations for this explosive fght. The Republican agenda has been disgusting, as they have used every opportunity to pass laws that enrich already wealthy people and corporations, while dumping shit on ordinary people.

The GOP is filled with idiotic theocrats, conniving corporate criminals, and heartless ideologues who damage our country every day they are in power. Now they fully support, with their silence, the treasonous outing of a CIA agent. It is about time the Dems stood up and showed some spine, and if the Reps think they are going to shove this wacky conservative fascist Alito onto the SCOTUS, the Dems have just given them a taste of what they will be choking on.

JC