It’s the accountability, stupid

February 18, 2006

A few of the Republican senators who’ve caved to an “all-out White House lobbying campaign” and reversed course on Bush’s warrantless-search program have made some revealing comments the past few days. It points to their fundamental misunderstanding of the role of accountability in the political process.

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), for example, was one of a handful of Republican senators who said Bush’s legally-dubious surveillance should be scrutinized by a Senate investigation. This week, he backed away from his earlier commitment. His explanation:

“If some kind of inquiry would be beneficial to getting a resolution to this issue, then sure, we should look at it. But if the inquiry is just some kind of a punitive inquiry that really is not focused on finding a way out of this, then I’m not so sure that I would support that.”

Similarly, Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) said on Fox News last night:

“You know, there’s been some controversy about whether or not this program is legal or is not legal. I think we need to get beyond that. And the vast majority of American people believe these calls need to be listened to. But we don’t want to have any kind of debate about whether it’s constitutional or not constitutional. So I think we need to put that beyond us.”

Both Hagel and DeWine are looking for a resolution that ends this controversy without asking uncomfortable questions and without a “punitive inquiry.” The goal, as they characterize it, is to put the matter behind as quickly as possible.

The principal problem with this approach is that it effectively tells the president, “Do whatever you want. If you get caught exceeding your authority, we’ll change your authority — and there will be no negative consequences.”

For Hagel and DeWine, there’s no need for any accountability at all. And these are two of the less sycophantic GOP senators.

No need to worry about constitutionality? What slimebags the GOP are turning into (many have always been). What next … habeus corpus? trial by jury? freedom of the press? Oh, I forgot myself: those are already only winked at by the GOP .. for ‘them’. Wait until ‘they’ become ‘you’. It’s only a matter of time.

All this is made possible because it’s allowed by the DEMOCRATIC pigs sucking at the federal tit who don’t want to think of themselves as an OPPOSITION party. I’m sorry to keep beating this apparently dead horse, but I’ve got to. It’s what an OPPOSITION party does (as opposed to either side in a college debate or seminar, which the Democrats seem to think this is).

While I’m at it: How many leading Democrats (other than Howard Dean) will allow themselves to be interviewed on the few “liberal” talk radio shows we have? (There are no “liberal” TV shows.) The Republicans appear over and over again on unabashedly right-wing hate radio and TV. Again, the Democrats don’t want to be labeled “lefties” or “obstructionists”, so they eschew (a word which suits their delicacy and timidness) repeated appearances on the limited media available to them. Another instance of there being NO OPPOSITION party in this once-great country.

We shouldn’t have to look to Republicans like Hagel and DeWine to provide the opposition to BushCo. But we do.

  • The Roman Emperor (can’t remember his name this morning – the one who followed Caesar Augustus) received word upon his accession from the Roman Senate that they would give him whatever he asked for. He sent it back saying this was not the role of the Senate. They sent it back unchanged, to which he replied that the Senators wanted to abandon their great role and become slaves.

    And history reveals that’s exactly what happened.

    If we don’t start winning things back this fall, and if we don’t win the White House in 2008, this is exactly what’s going to happen here.

    Hagel has totally and completely lost any respect I ever had for him. It’s not like he doesn’t know what his job’s supposed to be – he did it for two tours in Vietnam! A Platoon Sergeant watches out for his guys, and if necessary he challenges any order from some wet-behind-the-ears Second Lieutenant who doesn’t know what’s what – to protect his men. This is the same job he’s supposed to be doing in the Senate.

  • Speaking of accountants, I am one and I don’t think accountants should run car companies. My understanding is that Roger Smith, an accountant, made all of the Cadillacs like box Chevies to cut costs and that’s one of the reasons why GM had financial problems in the ’80s.

    When I was vice president and treasurer of a manufacturing company in 1991, the bosses rewarded me with a company car which I got to pick out. My limit was in the high end American car range. I read up on my options and chose a 1990 two-door black Coupe de Ville. LOL- me and Maybelline.

    Anyway, I kept the car but not the job. In fact, I kept the car for 14 years. I got a $100 trade-in for it on a five-year old silver Grand Marquis which I bought in 2004. My Coupe had a ton of dents and the interior was falling apart but, boy, that V-8 engine still ran like a top. I always had fun stepping on it when I drove down that short stretch of highway known as 231 (aka Deer Park Ave) on my way home to Babylon Village.

    The 1990 Coupe was the first Cadillac in a decade to have a really big engine, a fact which I knew when I picked it out at the Cadillac Dealer in Smithtown. I never had any major mechanical problems the entire time I owned the car and admit to not taking care of it as well as when my company was footing the service bill. LOL – my friend was really, really impressed when the Cadillac service manager, Peter, knew me by my name. The Cadillac customer service headquarters settled my one reported dispute with the body department promptly and efficiently.

    My major complaints were in the design category. The two-door de Ville was beautiful but the oldsters would never have bought it because the doors were too heavy. You had to lean in to open them. The seatbelt was awkwardly placed and chafed on a long ride. It only had one drinkholder and one air bag. But the climate control was divine!

    My point is that the GM accountants never knew why Cadillac customers bought Cadillacs. I was 38 years old in 1991 and Cadillac was my first choice. And everyone in my neck of the woods took a step back when I pulled up in my black, two-door Coupe de Ville!

    What do I know? I’m only a left wing pink commie socialist if you listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

    .

  • “whether or not this program is legal or is not legal. I think we need to get beyond that”

    Might as well just get beyond the formalities of having a constitution, elected representatives, and a judicial system.
    Democracy is on the march, but it’s goosestepping .

  • Below is the fruit produced by the current administration over the last 5 years:
    … A destroyed economy …spending out of control ($1.5 billion on propaganda)… soaring out of control federal debt …massive trade imbalance … federal debt mortgaged by Communist China … failed and costly energy policy ($7 billion in royalty concessions)…a shrinking middle class …distribution of wealth to the rich and leaves others starving, homeless, unemployed and sickly…tax cuts for the wealthy bankrupting America…. a failed education system … reading and math tests for15-year-olds in America ranked 24th out of 29 nations …racism and poverty on the rise with deeper racial and class divisions …37 million living under the poverty line … world’s costliest health care system …46 million people without health insurance… 43rd in the world infant mortality rankings among developed countries… highest infant mortality rates in the developed world …degraded Medicaid/Medicare system in disarray… a diseased environment …corporate scandal at the highest levels … a destroyed, understaffed military force …disgruntled young military officers …military atrocities … Afghanistan supplying 90 per cent of the world’s heroin … a $6 billion a month invasion of Iraq, poorly planned, clumsy strategy, unwinnable and unending failure… a degraded Bill of Rights … a degraded quality of life …personal savings missing for many …individual spending greater than individual savings … political impaired CIA … politicization of intelligence and extensive fabricated intelligence failures …corporatocracy …detaining citizens without due process … warrantless spying on Americans …very low presidential job approval rating 39% …fear and loathing …no imagination …failure of leadership …crippled and tone-deaf leaders … loss of respect from most foreign countries …perceived as a overindulging rogue nation …loss of manufacturing/industrial jobs to China …Wal-Mart largest employer, lowest wages …Increased corporate crime and backroom deals … corporate executives jailed for cooking the books and looting billions …no sense of fair play…loss of moral and political authority …economic failure of small family-owned farms … Pederasty … an orgy of cronyism, corruption and incompetence…lack of effective responses to natural and man-made disasters …negligent government … open and frequent disclosure of classified information …open borders…corrupt and sleazy practices by congress and lobbyists … Abramoff influence-peddler and bagman for Republican causes … 60 congressmen and senators bribed …native American tribes robbed blind… young republican activist code named “Pac man” advances pro-apartheid government … incompetent officials perpetuating lies, fraud and deception …unlawful and dysfunctional cabal…officials guilty of high crimes and treason …widespread dishonesty, injustice, greed, graft and scandal … Attorney General sounded more like a mob mouthpiece …cynical hair-splitting, obfuscation, disinformation and stonewalling …uncontested stolen billions carved up in no-bid contracts awarded to politically-connected firms in sole source contracts …war profiteering …Deadeye Dick drunken shootout … meaningless ballots … the rape of our republic … huge risible and cynical propaganda ministry with “fake news” …faux media poodle,… death … torture… uncaring … incessant lying … demoralized and disconnected from reality…paralyzed with shame, embarrassment and fear… public doubt … unrestricted sociopath … tyranny … disregard for the Constitution … an outright assault on the Constitution …a complete disruption of the rule of law … lawlessness – no checks and balances … unilaterally discards treaties …… the list could go on and on as you know. Over the past five years, America’s sense of itself – its pride in its power and authority, its faith in its institutions and its belief in its leaders – has been profoundly damaged. 68% of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track, but can we do anything to change direction? Search your heart and help do something to change this condition! Our Liberties watch in disgust waiting for “We the People” to wake up.

  • Stop sugar coating it K-Man. Well put.
    The vocal crooks and vicious liars are counting on the sheep of the silent majority to look at their boots and keep their mouths shut, at the risk of facing the gulag. Throw the bums out and fire the pretend journalists. Especially the millionare talking heads who spew hate and division.

  • Especially the millionare talking heads who spew hate and division.

    Is being rich bad? Is being poor good? Democrats need to let go of policy decisions made 30 years ago. Labor has changed, voters have changed, the GOP has changed, and yet Democrats still hate money and guns and difficult-for-minors-to-get abortions five minutes before an otherwise live birth.

    Does anyone wonder why so many people don’t vote when Democrats are catering to fundamentalists? And I refuse to say “far left,” because left is liberal, and those policies are not liberal.

  • Being rich, that is, materially wealthy, is not necessarily bad. But all too frequently it involves a radical compromise of humane ethics, hardens the heart, kills the conscience, and destroys one’s chances to attain true riches — the richness and greatness of spirit — magnanimity.

    Citizens of all classifications, be they Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal — We the People, in other words — should stand together to uphold the principles set forth by our enlightened founding fathers – the Patria — and be patriotic to our country, rather than merely loyal to any leader who happens to hold power.

    One such principle is responsiblity — for ourselves, for our families, for our country. We should be accountable for our actions — and so should our leaders. And we should hold them accountable as part of that responsibility we all share.

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