AndI just don't quite know what to make of it. Consider this article...
Confident Democrats Lay Out Agenda
Democratic leaders, increasingly confident they will seize control of the House in November, are laying plans for a legislative blitz during their first week in power that would raise the minimum wage, roll back parts of the Republican prescription drug law, implement homeland security measures and reinstate lapsed budget deficit controls.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said in an interview last week that a Democratic House would launch a series of investigations of the Bush administration, beginning with the White House's first-term energy task force and probably including the use of intelligence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Pelosi denied Republican allegations that a Democratic House would move quickly to impeach President Bush. But, she said of the planned investigations, "You never know where it leads to."
In recent days, Democratic confidence has been buoyed by a series of polls indicating that not only is Bush growing increasingly unpopular, so are Republicans in Congress. An Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Friday found that 33 percent of the public approves of Bush's job performance, the lowest rating of his presidency. And only 25 percent approves of the job Congress is doing, a figure comparable to congressional approval ratings before the 1994 elections that swept Republicans to power.
The AP-Ipsos poll found that 51 percent of Americans say they want Democrats rather than Republicans to control Congress. Only 34 percent favor Republican control.
"We have to be ready to win," Pelosi said, "and we have to tell [voters] what we will do when we win."
And I've got to admit I'm kind of appalled at the immediate plans by the Democrats to launch investigations which supposedly aren't going to be used to impeach Bush - but 'you never know where they're going to lead.'.
Your mileage may vary on this - but I'm thinking their immediate, primary need is to discredit Bush as quickly as possible.
I've NEVER, in watching the political scene for the last 30 years, seen such a self-centered, self-obsessed pack of cretins as the current Democratic party... short of, perhaps, the Perotistas in '92 and '96. Their priorities aren't aimed at doing what's good for the country, or winning the WoT, or making sure our borders are secure, or handling the energy crisis - it's to gain power and wreak revenge on their personal and political enemies - and if it doesn't do anything good for the country that's just too damn bad.
I'd expect that sort of childish, revenge-seeking crap from grade schoolers, or maybe high-school cliques. But these are grownups, supposedly responsible enough to run the country. What they're putitng up as a 'plan' if they get into control would be amusing in a blackly comic way in a movie. But after two hours in a theater, you come out and get back to real life. And you can go "Damn, that was entertaining, but I'm glad real life isn't like that."
The Dems have fought Bush tooth and nail to avoid any energy reform. They've fought drilling in ANWR and anywhere else in the US territorial waters. They've fought him tooth and nail on homeland security, and the running of the WoT. Social Security's in trouble, and they've been VERY proud of their ability to keep ANY substantial reform from even being considered.
It wasn't too long ago they were floating the idea of registering illegal aliens to vote. Here in Georgia, they've been fighting hard the idea of requiring voter ID.
And I'm supposed to trust them? To believe they have a better idea? I've SEEN Democratic 'better ideas' - it's called promise everything you can to get elected, and then do jack shit about the stuff you promised. When the next elections come around, promise everything you can to get re-elected, and blame everything that DIDN'T happen after the previous election on either the other party or unforseen occurances in the economy, or unforseen complications on the national or world situation. And for Finagle's sake, NEVER let Republicans propose or implement anything, because someone might get the idea that Republicans aren't the bad guys.
What the hell. I lived through the sucky 70s. Maybe we need another Democratic President and a Democratic administration to remind us how they can almost completely FUBAR the economy. But I'm afraid that we cannot afford a President, House, and Senate that's not willing to respond with strength to an attack, which is what would come along with that. And we could well and truely screw up the Middle East if we were to go into isolationist mode and withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Let's not even discuss what would happen to gas prices if we did so.
Crap. I really wish the Democratic party would find some damn adults to put in charge instead of the overgrown teen-agers that seem to be at the helm. Maybe this isn't really the way the whole Democratic party is headed, maybe Pelosi is just tossing out trial balloons to see what floats. But overall? As far as I'm concerned this is a lead balloon, and if the Democratic party tries to float with it I'm not seeing they're going to get much traction aside from their committed base. Legislative foolishness is one thing - malignant stupidity is something else again.
Like the old saying goes - you should always vote. You might not have anyone or anything you want to vote FOR, but there's almost certainly going to be someone you'll want to vote AGAINST. And stuff like this makes it a LOT harder for me to consider voting for a Democrat. If they want me to believe they take the problems facing the country seriously - this isn't a way to gain my confidence on that matter. And if this is meant to inspire my trust in their ethical sensibilities and stability - they can pretty well kiss that trust goodbye.
J.