What not to do

If you want an excellent example of what is wrong with the Democratic party and the pathetic state they're in, you need look no further than watching Nancy Pelosi, the potential House Speaker should the Dems win the majority there, talking about what she won't do if the Democrats win the House [thanks to Kel for tipping me off to this].



Can you ever imagine a Republican engaging an interviewer's pointed question with words about what they won't do? I know I can't. Pelosi appears to be completely untrained in the art of the political interview.

After years of violations of international law, an illegal invasion, secret prisons, a regime of torture and indefinite detention, illegal NSA wiretapping programs and other surveillance, lying to Congress, stolen elections and who knows what else, Nancy Pelosi thinks that consolation is the way to go; that turning Bush and Cheney into "lame ducks" is all that is necessary to end their reign of terror. Frankly, considering this statement and the past performance of these feckless wonders, I doubt that the Democrats will do even that. Bush and Cheney will run roughshod over the Democrats, just as they have done since day one.

Pelosi should have simply refused to say anything about impeachment if she is too weak and spineless to say that impeachment, by any legal standard, is exactly what should happen. But as far as political campaigning goes, her statement is a gutless response to the ready-made claims by the GOP that all the Democrats will do is impeach Bush and she fails to understand the simplist of campaign narratives: stop talking about what you won't do and talk about what you will do. Investigation and oversight is all that needed to be said by her, but once again the Democrats display one of the reasons why they have no message. They don't. Going on national television and telling people what you won't do is not what should have ever come out of her insipid yap. After this performace, I have to agree with Gingrich. I don't want to see a simp like Pelosi as Speaker of the House either.

The astounding lack of logic contained within Pelosi's contemptible performance here is breathtaking. What is the criminal justice system if not a post hoc system designed to punish wrongdoing? Listening to Pelosi, one gets the impression that criminal behaviour ought not be punished, what with it having happened in that past. Maybe the United States should just abandon the criminal justice system completely and release all prisoners. After all, they're all locked up because of something they did in the past. Can't we all just move along and look to the future?

Kevin Tillman, Pat Tillman's brother, has a message for us all on the near-eve of Pat's birthday. In it he indicates that we are now a country that "somehow" tolerates a lot of wrongs, many of them entirely illegal.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

Nancy Pelosi and a pantywaist Democratic party is one of the reasons all of that is tolerated.

So I ask, just what will the Democrats do if elected? We have no idea. But we now know what they won't do. I guess this is the Democrats' idea of staying "on message."