Pity The Election Year Democrats, For They Know Not What They Do
Of the 10½ Democrats who voted in favor of giving President Bush the powers of a despot, 5½ are running for reelection. Since these men are all in heated election battles, I think it’s only fair that we get to know them and maybe get a better idea of why they stabbed their party and their country in the back.
Graduating from the ranks of “Who’s the hell is that guy?” is Thomas Carper of Delaware, who’s in a tough reelection battle against Republican Jan Ting. How tough? Well, with little more than a month before election day, he’s only got a 40-point lead over his challenger. That must explain why he was so quick to jump on the anti-habeas corpus bandwagon. Those wedge issues can be a bitch.
New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez has an even tougher challenge ahead of him. Not only does he have to struggle through life with an oddly-shaped head, but he’s only up by six in a state which hasn’t elected a Republican to the Senate in 34 years.
Then there’s the case of Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson. Yes, he looks like the dad from The Wonder Years, but I’m not going to mock the looks of two Senators in a row. Besides, he’s got other things to worry about, like being a Democratic politician in a blood-red state. After winning his first term by a narrow 51%-49% margin, you can bet that Sen. Nelson knows that he has to veer right to stay in office. If he didn’t support torture, his Republican challenger might start to catch up to Nelson’s 23-point lead.
At a glance, Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow’s surname kinda looks like “stab me now”. Kinda fitting for someone who’s giving the President the power to decide unilaterally what constitutes torture. The latest poll only has her up by 7 points, so you can see why she wants to give the President a blank check.
The other Senator Nelson also has a bad case of red state fever. Like most Democrats, Bill Nelson is a grand master in the “let’s wait and see what happens” school of political campaigning. Unfortunately for Bill, he’s up against Republican superstar Katherine Harris. Perhaps if Nelson caught a lucky break, then maybe Harris’s campaign would run into some troubles…things like having the National Republican Party oppose her candidacy or having her entire campaign staff quit or being tied to a bribery scandal or being accused of “increasingly erratic behavior” by a former campaign manager. Those things could sink a candidacy, but Harris only has to gain 28 points in the next 40 days. Just to be safe, Nelson should probably support the GOP’s efforts to shred the constitution.
This is Joe Lieberman. He only gets half a picture because he’s only half a Democrat. The other half is douchebag. Of course he voted alongside the Republicans. They’re the ones paying his bills these days.
So as you can see, these six Senators had to vote along with the Republicans. If they didn’t, the might risk the Democrat’s chances of retaking the Senate (which, including the 11 Democratic torture-supporters , will be a mixed blessing at best). Screw values. As long as we win the election, everything will take care of itself! They’re just pretending to be immoral assholes with no regard for the constitution, right? CLAP LOUDER!
Uggghh…wake me up in 2008.
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How about Lousenberg ~ son of a bitch isn’t even up for re-election. Fuck them for fucking us.
Comment by POPIN-IN — September 29, 2006 @ 7:23 am
Pardon my Kazakh, but holy shit fuck god damn.
People derided the Lamont primary challenge as being democrats turning on their own, and that we should save our ammunition for the Repugs, but this is a clear illustration of why jerks like this need to be pressed hard in the primaries. It’s too late now that primaries are over, so voters in those states will have to again hold their noses and pull the D-Lever in November, just so we have a chance to get congress back.
Seriously, hold the nose and vote people.
Comment by John I — September 29, 2006 @ 7:28 am
Nice breakdown, Greg. I didn’t realize that most of the chumps were nursing comfortable leads.
I’ve about fucking had it with Stabenow. Just last week I opined how hard it would be for me to vote for her (primarily for her support f the Bankruptcy Bill), and then there’s this. She better have a good lead, because she lost my vote.
No fucking way I pull that lever. If I try to hold my nose, I’ll suffocate before I ever get in the booth.
Comment by Mr Furious — September 29, 2006 @ 7:54 am
Minor criticism: “these men”? You got a woman in there too.
Less minor criticism: I’m a little confused about what you are aiming at. Is a true Democrat better than a traitor Democrat? Yes. But I don’t know if I’m over-crediting the implications of “control of congress” but it seems to me that having a majority who at least claim to be Dems is better than not.
The notion that perhaps what you would like is for these Dems to become stronger Dems confuses me. The impression i get is that they are currently simply changing their views in order to get elected and are unlikely to remain as faithful to the Dem party if they win. Seems like these are a bunch of lost causes. Perhaps worth tracking if they win, but why the focus on them now?
Doesn’t it make more sense to take a look at Dems we like who are in close races? Or Dems in general who are in close races?
Now, maybe you aren’t going in that direction because the major media or other blogs are saturating that take on things. I don’t know, I don’t read domestic news much.
But even if that is the case, I’d love to see your take on it. :)
Comment by Liz Schwartz — September 29, 2006 @ 8:01 am
Throw the bums out. All of them. I’m with you that a clean slate is better than just smearing the shit in a different direction.
It’s times like this I kind of wish we hadn’t all flushed the idea of a third party. Maybe it could be Democrats, Republicans and the Not-Totally-Evil party.
Comment by Dr. Pants — September 29, 2006 @ 8:16 am
Add Rep Brown (D-Ohio) to the list as a senatorwannbe. I am outraged that this guy is afraid to take the moral high ground against DeWine. I would have voted against the bill and then IMMEDIATELY filmed a campaign spot explaining why torture and illegal detention are not my family values. What’s it matter that we have a Dem Congress if these freaks continually punk out and support President Insane.
Comment by Bob Burgett — September 29, 2006 @ 10:55 am
Add Rep Brown (D-Ohio) to the list as a senatorwannbe. I am outraged that this guy is afraid to take the moral high ground against DeWine. I would have voted against the bill and then IMMEDIATELY filmed a campaign spot explaining why torture and illegal detention are not my family values. What’s it matter that we have a Dem Congress if these freaks continually punk out and support President Insane?
Comment by Bob Burgett — September 29, 2006 @ 10:56 am
Heh. You caught me. I finished this post late last night and immediately realized that I forgot Stabenow. So I quickly added her and changed the numbers at the top, but forgot to scan for gender-specific language. My bad.
Comment by greg — September 29, 2006 @ 11:49 am
Menendez, according to the scroll at the bottom of The Matt Lauer Show (or whatever it’s called) is in a dead heat, according to the most recent poll. (Though that may be Quinnipac, which keeps predicting “dead heat among likely voters” followed the next day by 16-point wins for the Dem.)
This may be because several of us, now, given the choice between voting on the first Tuesday-after-a-Monday in November, may now have been things to do with our time than vote for a man whose whole f*ck*ng campaign recently has been about how his opponent is in tight with W.
Comment by Ken Houghton — September 29, 2006 @ 1:14 pm
Fuck yeah! Great post Greg.
Comment by Joe — October 1, 2006 @ 6:58 pm