Bizzaro World

Sigh...I don my fedora with my purely symbolic Press pass stuck in the brim wearily. As you may have noticed I haven't posted in about a month, not because there hasn't been news, but because I am extremely burdened down with work, GREs, marriage, yadda, yadda, yadda; and, frankly, I wasn't planning another post until the new year. But yesterday something so insane happened that I thought I was in bizzaro world. I had to log in again.

What you probably don't know: Dennis Kucinich, Congressman from Ohio and long shot presidential candidate, had submitted a resolution calling for the impeachment of VP Dick Cheney in April, and yesterday it came to the house floor. What happened next, was mind boggling:

"House Republicans on Tuesday prevented Democratic leaders from blocking a resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. [Yeah, you read that right]

"The vote to table the privileged resolution, offered by Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinch, began as a largely party-line vote to kill the measure, but Republicans developed a strategy to force Democrats to debate the resolution by supporting Kucinich. GOP leaders felt as though it was in their interest to debate the measure because it would make Democrats look bad.
After more than an hour of waiting for the vote to close, the motion to table the resolution failed by a vote of 162-251 after Democratic leaders failed to convince a group of liberal caucus members to side with them."

So are you following this? Kucinich's bill, thought to be an easy kill, was then supported by the GOP and nearly killed by Democrats, who were then forced to push the resolution into the Democratic controlled Judicary Committee, where it will be used by Nancy Pelosi as scratch paper for her to doodle new ways to fold to the Bush administration.

Oh but wait, it gets worse.

I wake up today figuring that they'll be some coverage on it either in the M$M or the indie left blogs. I mean the impeachment of a Vice-President, just that alone sounds like news, not counting the Machiavellian maneuvers that kept it alive. You'd figure they're be something right?

Wrong.

Instead there was nada. Nothing. Squat-diddly. I've heard feathers land on pillows that make more noise. The only substantial response I received to this monumental news was from Sully, who, sadly, sums up my feelings perfectly:

"A great idea. [Impeachment] The man is a war criminal, and has done more to undermine our Constitutional balance than any man since Richard Nixon. Secretive, incompetent, belligerent, contemptuous of the rule of law, there is barely a bad decision this president has made that doesn't have Cheney's fingerprints on it. Of course, the Democrats are scared of taking on this man. But they are, by and large, a bunch of empty suits (and one botoxed empty pant-suit). I'm delighted the Congress is finally tackling the issue of the vice-president's attack on the constitution. If done right, it could help air the fundamental indecency that Cheney represents. But, of course, it won't be done right. Which is why I remain someone who, abandoned by the current Republicans, still can't even think of identifying as a Democrat."

But I might even go farther--fear can no longer be an issue for Democrats, because fear implies that there is a substantial chance for reprisal. On all the issues that the Democrats claim they stand for: ending the war, ending torture, curtailing the patriot act, and restoring habeus corpus, the public supports them. Furthermore, there are significant cries for impeaching both Bush and Cheney. If anything, a public debate and investigation into these men will hem up the widening gaps in our Constitution and prevent politicians from taking advantage of the public again. So why wouldn't the Democrats want to have this discussion? I fear a much sinister purpose, that I'm hesitant to put forth; so, rather, I'll state it in more philosophical terms. When the opposition party no longer opposes, it becomes time for those who support them to look to other leaders. Now I'm not saying I'm abandoning the Democrats, because with Giuilani in the race the devil I know is definitely worse than the devil I don't know, and I'm still tempted by the candidacy of Obama. But yesterday was a low point, for not just the Democrats, but really for the entire left wing, who, through their silence, were just as acquiescent about their representatives' wrongs as conservatives, like Sully, who were silent when Bush began to trample on the Constitution. Frustration and anger will breed strange bedfellows.

PS: Yeah, yeah, I know Me + Sully = "strange bedfellows", purely metaphoric. Or is it... :)