Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

By The (liberal)Girl Next Door

How many more examples do we need that George W. Bush doesn’t give a damn about the Constitution or the American people? When he gets caught breaking the law with his domestic surveillance program, what does he do? He hustles up support from his lapdogs on the hill and gets the investigation shut down, then quickly launches efforts to change the law and tosses in a provision to make further reporting on the program a crime punishable by up to a million dollars and 15 years in jail. Isn’t open and accountable government great?

As if that wasn’t enough, it appears that Bush now feels it is within his power to sign a Budget Reconciliation Act into law regardless of whether or not both houses of Congress have passed it. I’m not a Constitutional scholar, but I’m pretty sure that’s not a power the President has. Can’t you just see him in the Oval Office, looking at a budget act that requires Medicare to provide wheelchairs for seniors for up to 36 months and snarling at his aide, “This is way too much, that’ll cost us $2 billion that would be better spent on my tax cuts. Didn’t I see another draft around here that said only 13 months? Get me that one, I’ll sign that, but I ain’t givin’ them deadbeats three years worth of free travel, what am I, a charity?”

According to Rep. Henry Waxman, a call was made to the White House before the bill was signed alerting them to the problem. Bushie boy clearly didn’t give a good god damn because he signed it anyway, in direct violation of the Constitution. I was recently given a hard time for proposing the “slippery slope theory” with regards to overreaching by this administration. If it looks like a slope, and things are passing by real fast, chances are you’re moving downhill fast. My experience as a parent has taught me that children need firm boundaries so that when they test them, they know exactly what they’re going to get. If they get away with trespassing once without punishment, they’ll do it again and again until there are consequences they don’t like. I’d say our dear leader is a spoiled child out of control and the parents are on a permanent vacation. No one will say no to him, no one will stop him, are we really surprised that he keeps pushing the envelope? The first Constitutional transgression is the hardest, the rest just glide right by.

With Bush’s approval numbers at another all time low of 33% according to the most recent Pew Research Poll, it seems the American people have had enough. The most common word used to describe Bush in this poll was “incompetent” followed closely by “idiot” and “liar”. That’s a far cry from “honest,” “good,” and “integrity” that led the list a year ago. Even Bush voters seem to be wiping the crud from their eyes, taking a second look at this loser and questioning whether they made a mistake. At this point, the only thing propping up this President is Congress. While it’s understandable that Republicans would continue to help him keep a lid on the truth, he is one of them after all, but it makes no sense for the Democrats to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. The American people are done with Bush and we’re clamoring for any opportunity to cut this disaster a little short, but it appears that we’re the only ones and clearly not the voices that matter.

With near complete support from the Democratic base, strong support from moderates and increasing support from Bush voters, there is no excuse for Democrats not to support Senator Feingold’s attempt at censure at the very least. Hell, that’s too much of a compromise already. We’ve reached the point where the only ones responsible for keeping Bush in office and allowing him to run this country into the ground are the Democrats. Unless they want to continue to be saddled with the labels “complicit,” “weak,” and “worthless,” they'd better stop earning them and start doing their job. As far as I’m concerned, there are only three Senators fulfilling their oaths of office, Russ Feingold and now Barbara Boxer and Senator Harkin who have signed on to the resolution to censure Bush. Would anyone else like to earn his or her pay? Anyone? We’re waiting.

(Cross-posted at The (liberal)Girl Next Door.)