Now what?
OK, you wanted it, you have it.
Having the House of Reps, and quite possibly the Senate, the Democrats are now in a put-up or shut-up position. It will be interesting to see how badly confused this will make them.
"We hate George Bush" is apparently a platform worthy of control of Congress. But is it a legislative agenda?
Having the House of Reps, and quite possibly the Senate, the Democrats are now in a put-up or shut-up position. It will be interesting to see how badly confused this will make them.
"We hate George Bush" is apparently a platform worthy of control of Congress. But is it a legislative agenda?
posted by Just A Decurion at 11/08/2006 06:39:00 PM
7 Comments:
The Democrats did not win on their platform; the Republicans lost on their record. I have no doubt that if the 110th Congress is as incompetent and self-serving as the 109th, they'll get their asses kicked to the curb in 2008. Which is to say, they'll get their asses kicked to the curb in 2008. What can I say? I'm a cynic. I am pro-competence, across all party lines, and as things stand everybody in office had better start proving their mettle.
Given the recent track record of USAmerican politicians to beat dead horses ("Clinton sucks"), I'm not holding my breath for any constructive initiative.
For now, I'd be quite happy with fewer destructive initiatives.
Here are my expectations for the next congress:
1. By the end of next year, expect to be paying more income tax on the same amount of income.
2. Expect to see more useless gun control by mid-2008 (gun control that only hurts those who obey the law). Instead of being couched in terms of "it's for the children," it will be in terms of "anti-terrorism" or "national security." This is despite the fact that some of the weapons targeted have never been used by terrorists and would never be used by terrorists because they have better/more effective options.
3. After the next budget is passed, expect to see re-enlistment rates drop due to soldiers seeing the writing on the wall. They will once again not have the money to repair the equipment they do have.
4. Don't expect our soldiers to leave Iraq. Instead, they will have their hands tied by congressional mandates and will end up taking more casualties.
Instead of being couched in terms of "it's for the children," it will be in terms of "anti-terrorism" or "national security."
We've been using it as justification for a lot of things over the past five years; why stop now?
To be much less glib, this is why I loathed the terror FUD over the past five years. I'm not talking about Iraq or the very real need to prevent assholes from slamming planes into buildings here, which we can all agree is bad. However, the Republican faithful seemed to have no conception that their complete governmental domination would ever cease and that terror FUD could be used to take their guns away. No shit, the same effective political tactics will be used against you when you aren't in power? The slippery legality used to justify positions that the leadership swore would only exist within self-imposed bounds wouldn't then be turned around and used without those self-imposed limits? What's that, the language is vague enough to justify damn near anything?
What mystifies me is that this is in any way a shock. Did you honestly never see this coming?
Tim: Instead, they will have their hands tied by congressional mandates and will end up taking more casualties.
Geez, dude! I hate it that you might be right.
I was thinking a precipitous pull out. Your scenario is far more scary. Every causality is a plus in the democratic play book.
When we get more Muslims in congress who knows.
I was really hoping the Dems would just get the House. We're in Iraq, that's a fact. We have to do the job right. With the Senate, I'm afraid the Dems will wind up in some sort of backlash reaction. That'd be bad. In 2008 I'm hoping for McCain. I think he can handle the situation well(guide us through these trying times ?)I'm pretty keen on getting a veteran into office right now, and it looks like Kerry has talked himself out of the running for '08. But if things go seriously bad, let it happen under a Republican president. I want the Republicans to clean house (I've deleted a crack about a "neocon cabal") so the two-party system can return to balance and our foreign affairs can get cleaned up, having to clean up a nasty crisis one of their own created would be a good start.
A return to the rule of law would be nice. Oh, and respecting the Constitution and international law are always good.
My take on the matter:
1) America will suffer another attack from the terrorists emboldened by last Tuesdays elections. At issue is when, not whether. Will it be next Summer when they enact plans currently in process, or later after Congress eviscerates our security services' capabilities to interdict them? But its not a question of "if" but "when" and "how".
2) Guantanamo will close after Congress defunds it. Bet your sweet bippy on it.
3) GWB will run out of ink vetoing money bills.
4) A serious attempt will be made to impeach GWB by Dems bitter over the WJC impeachment.
5) No progress will be made on border security. The 'Pubs were bad, the Dems will be far, far worse.
6) Iran will test their nukes...probably in New York, Tel Aviv, or Paris (we should be so lucky).
7) N. Korea will successfuly launch a nuclear missle with an atomic warhead. Congress will defund all defenses to it.
8) Osama will die of natural causes, b/c of congressional meddling in military and security affairs.
9) The US congress will attempt to amend the Iraqi constitution.
10) Afghanistan and Iraq will join NATO, despite the objections in Congress.
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