No More Excuses

Same as it ever was -- the Republicans never fail to disappoint with ever newer and more innovative ways to pollute the "debate" with their clownish bullying and strutting, and the Democrats never fail to drop to their knees and suppress their gag reflexes. The latest case in point is inbred mouth-breather Joe Wilson, who has heroically decided not to give in to Democratic demands to apologize to President Hopenchange again. And really, that is the most sensible response Wilson could have.

Consider: the Democratic Party has a sizable majority in both houses of Congress, they have the White House, they won less than a year ago with a significant mandate. Hopenchange gets heckled at what both sides pretend was an important policy speech on a contentious issue. A party with half a clue how to use the electoral majority possessed by the Democrats would have taken care of business with a shithead like Wilson -- wordlessly accepted Wilson's "apology", dropped the subject, and promptly found someone to run against him next year with triple whatever funds Wilson pulls together, and made goddamned sure that nothing this scumbag brings to committee in the meantime makes it out. Instead they set Wilson up for further grandstanding for his retard constituency by asking for another apology. Eight years of political wedgies and being forced to eat garbage by the Cheney crew taught these people nothing.

The most galling part of all this is that Wilson is correct, just not for the rabble-rousing reasons he asserted. But Obama is in fact a liar and a sellout; he campaigned on a platform of idealistic principles that were actually fairly pragmatic and viable in scope, and sold them out at the first opportunity. He promised to take on the vipers in the financial sector who heedlessly wrecked the economy, and first chance he got he gave them a fresh new stack of chips to play with. How's that recovery workin' for ya, folks? Executive bonuses for epic failure continue unabated, and even the pathetic regulatory oversight will remain unchanged. The casino managers have gone right back to doing what they were doing, and you can't really blame them. Again, they've been given absolutely no reason not to.

The health care reform scam is just as unforgivable; after Hopenchange spent the entire summer last year promising to make the public option a cornerstone of his reform plan, he and the rest of his party chose to do what they always do, and punted on first down. This is going end up being at least as big of a naked grift as the bailout has been -- medical costs will be as unconscionable as ever, and corporate waste and bonuses will be unaffected. The only change will be that, instead of getting soaked when you're unlucky enough to actually have to use the system, it'll just be taken out of everyone's front end. It would have been bad enough, but at least understandable, if somehow Hopenchange and his minions had fought the good fight but still come up short. But they didn't even try. They're every bit as gutless and craven as their buffoonish opponents think they are.

The financial and health-care industries have certainly gotten what they paid for. You can't say that both parties don't do their damndest to make sure their corporate owners get a right proper return on investment. Getting value is important, as every good shopper knows, and the most important value in Washington is "once bought, stays bought".

The question has to be asked, at least rhetorically: what exactly would have been different if John McCain and Sarah Palin had been elected? Sure, the symbolism would have been substantial; it would have told the rest of the world that Americans were every bit as dumb and mean as eight years of Bush/Cheney had led them to believe. But operationally, what would have been different? Maybe a more belligerent tone with Iran, but not much more than that; our Chinese creditors would probably not find an additional American military adventure in their backyard to be all that good for business.

There was an awful lot of talk at the beginning of the year, how messages had been sent and received, how they were ready and eager to fight the stupidity that had infested the government, how Rahm Emanuel was a tough-guy back-room enforcer who doesn't take shit from nobody, how an insurmountable electoral majority was going to provide the impetus for saving this country from its past excesses, blah blah fucking blah. It worked out as these cheap promises and dickless half-measures always do. Plus ça change and all.

I don't know what the solution is; short of bringing back the guillotine, I doubt there is one. It just cannot be noted often enough how despicable all of these people truly are. They're vile, through and through. They're a goddamned disgrace. They need to go. Either vote them all out at the next opportunity, or refuse to vote at all. That's a start.