I watched the vote go down on CSPAN in the House over the nonbinding Iraq troop redeployment (haha) measure HR 4156. This was no bipartisan love fest like the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 which offers grants to vigilantes and snitches to find out who among us is the most pissed off about our Homeland Empire. That one passed 411 to 6. HR 4156 was a real squeaker, sneaking by at the barest level 218 to 203.
Our very own Blue Dog Mike Thompson got the big debate plum, delivering the final word before the completely assembled House in advance of the vote on 4156. He was a bit nervous but got several good rounds of applause.
One of his applause winning riffs was his “rebuttal” to his opposite number, a white-haired Republican dude from Florida who scornfully attacked HR 4156 for its lack of substance – with nonbinding timelines that even so left troops and mercenaries all over Iraq. Thompson responded to great applause that if it was so innocuous why were the Republicans so hard-line about it?
Thompson’s rebuttal deserved his Party’s approval since it killed a record of four birds with one stone. Number one, he mocked the Republicans for their rigid and suicidal pro-Bush stand that WE ARE WINNING THE WAR, something that us Vietnam era activists heard every couple months for 10 years or so.
Number two, he defended the fragile egos of the Progressives who were supporting this charade by insisting that there was something after all to HR 4156, if only a tweak of Bush’s Pinocchio-sized nose.
Number three, the fact that it was he, Mike Thompson, loyal member of the Blue Dog Caucus, doing the arguing reassured his fellow canines that this tweaking wouldn’t hurt the Empire a bit, honest.
Number four, he saved face for the Party by handing the left wing anti-war Base (us) a tantalizing symbolic victory. Just wait, it promised, until the Democrats had 60 Senators and a Lieberman Liberal for President. The Democrats obviously believe they have a real mind fogger here, a Cognitive Dissonance spectacular that will bring us base types dutifully to the polls in 2008.
Thompson did manage to get my enthusiastic applause when he made the point that from the time that Congress knew it would have to withdraw troops from Vietnam until the time it actually did so 21,000 Americans soldiers died. This continues to distinguish him and Democrats like Murtha from the ChickenHawk opposition to whom The Troops are a renewable resource.
Even Speaker of the House, Nancy Betrayus, made a decent speech, referring to her Oath of Office with a sense of urgency that could have been mistaken for an intention to put Impeachment back on the Dems rotten little table. In fact, an Urban Legend has Nancy B. offering to put Impeachment on the table if she got X number of hand written notes (c/o Cindy fpr Congress, 1260 Mission Blvd/ SF CA 94103). Lots of desperate people are biting on this (I may still drop Nancy a line.)
I have to admit I haven’t been this involved in a TV vote since as a high school student I watched excitedly with my sister as JFK narrowly lost his VP bid to Estes Kefauver in 1956. In this case, with a few minutes to go, one of the 5 Republicans who had put the measure at a victorious 218, shifted to NO and as the clock ticked down the handful of Dems who hadn’t voted swelled the NOs among Dems to a big 15. But finally with about 2 minutes to go one of the Dems went into the YES column. I waited (anxiously?) for one of the Republicans to shift from YES to NO and defeat the measure. (The thrills and chills of parliamentary democracy.)
Instead of defeat however the Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Act (sic sic sic) passed barely 218 to 203 with 4 Republicans adding to the winning total and 15 Dems joining the Republican losers. These NOs included Progressives Kucinich and Pete Stark - with John Lewis sitting this one by voting Present and Julia Carson not voting. The only staunchly anti-war Republican - Ron Paul - voted NO as well - no doubt, like the Progressives, unable to stomach the cosmetic compromise of it all. 9 Blue Dogs, 3 New Democrats and 2 Democrats without a Caucus joined the Republicans (the math doesn’t quite add up because Barrow from Georgia belongs to two Caucuses –Blue Dogs and New Democrats!)
In any case, the narrow “Democratic Party victory” in passing this measure is evidence of the “power” of the left wing antiwar “base” forcing these Machiavellian heroics. Quite a feat to bring such unity to what is actually not a party but a coalition. There are really THREE distinct Democratic Parties disguised as Caucuses: the Blue Dog Republican Lite Party, the Global Zionist New Democrat Party and the Progressive Democrat American Party.
It would have been remarkable – if HR 4156 wasn’t so laughable – to see only 9 out of 46 members of the Blue Dog Republican Lite Party (the BDRLP) break ranks to come to the aid of their Empire. It wasn’t that long ago that just about half of them voted to protect the Emperor and his eavesdropping FISA violations. Another one third supported his assault on habeas corpus and affirmed his right to torture by voting for the Military Commissions Act. Larger numbers of Blue Dogs were no doubt willing to indulge themselves in a bit of uncharacteristic lese-majeste because of their realization that the Democratic Party Leadership, to which Thompson seems to have ascended, has the Progressives playing grammar school soccer while the opposition suits up for NFL level football.
All this goes a long way to explain Thompson’s otherwise unaccountable behavior as a Progressive Blue Puppy (voting with the Progs while hanging with the Dogs). His two-faced game is apparently paying off in influence in both directions. He is able meanwhile to keep providing politically (and commercially) correct pork barrel for the district as well. For our part we here at the base can continue to challenge him Monday mornings at his local offices and by working for anti-war candidates in the primary and in the election. But the careerist mentality of Thompson and his colleagues in the face of rampant fascism demand that we develop strategies of civil resistance. It’s clearly pointless to pin our hopes on the Progressives whose 70 members (including 24 crossovers from the 41 member Black Caucus) seem motivated by the same fear of The American People, so to speak, that pervades the Democratic Party leadership in general. A clean break with the system a la the Mexican Zapatistas looks more like the answer. Paul Encimer Box 162 Piercy CA 05587