In order to respond to the well-intentioned but flawed efforts of some front pagers and prominent diarists who have written finger-wagging epistles deploring "name calling", I’m setting some other activism aside and redeploying to the recent diary list on Daily Kos despite deep disgust and abiding contempt for the banning of Cindy Sheehan advocacy. If elected, she would vote with Democrats on nearly every issue, if not every single one, so targeting her with this rule prohibiting advocacy of Independent candidates appears to be a concerted effort by the hierarchy here to protect Pelosi.
But this is not a diary about Cindy, she’ll be able crash Pelosi’s gates without any help from me. This is a diary about IDIOCY. I’m told this is a reality-based community, so in the interests of reality, I feel compelled to point out that there IS such a thing as idiocy. It is real. It exists in this world. This isn’t just my opinion, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language confirms the existence of idiocy. This prestigious source defines idiocy as "extreme folly or stupidity" and warns that idiocy can be identified as "a foolish or stupid utterance or deed."
Nancy Pelosi taking Impeachment off the table was extremely foolish and stupid. When asked about Impeachment in her notorious 60 Minutes appearance, she should have said the Constitution, the oaths every Democrat took to preserve, protect, and defend it, and the facts determined by committee investigations would determine whether Impeachment was necessary.
Pelosi didn’t say that. She blurted out that Impeachment was off the table. Long before the 110th Congress even convened, she assured this criminal president and vice-president that they would be immune from Impeachment.
THAT. WAS. IDIOCY.
I’ve been accused many times of insulting people here. Well compared to Nancy Pelosi, I’m a paragon of politeness. That spectacle on 60 Minutes was an insult to the Constitution and to American democracy itself. It was an insult to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings killed in Bush and Cheney’s bloody occupation of Iraq. It was an insult to the Founding Fathers who mandated separation of powers, equal branches of government, and stipulated in our Constitution that Impeachment was the necessary remedy for dealing with crises inflicted by a renegade chief executive.
Taking Impeachment off the table was grossly irresponsible. It was extremely foolish and stupid. It was IDIOCY.
If any anti-Impeachers here are feeling the urge at this point to troll-rate me, I suggest they troll-rate the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language instead. Meanwhile, let’s examine Pelosi’s idiocy in further detail, shall we? She’s said she wants Democrats in the House of Representatives to focus on ending the war in Iraq. Apparently, she intends to accomplish this by passing withdrawal legislation.
How’s that been working out?
As we’ve all seen, passing Iraq legislation in the House has been absolutely useless because Republicans in the Senate can and will block it. The one time Iraq legislation got to Bush’s desk, he voted it in 1.3 microseconds. He has vowed to veto any Iraq legislation that attempts to limit in any way the immense but imaginary Commander Guy powers he claims to have. He has said again and again that he will veto, veto, veto.
This fiasco of an occupation is not going to end as long as Bush and Cheney are in office. Even if by some miracle enough Republicans abandon Bush by October or November, or by next March or April or May, or by the time pigs fly on the 4th of July and Congress stuns us all by cutting funding and mustering bi-partisan majorities to override a veto, this occupation still won’t end. Surrogates such as Rice have warned that Bush will continue to fund the occupation anyway by diverting other budgeted funds to pay for this Neocon bloodbath.
In other words, we’ll see a recc list diary by the Pope denying he’s a primate before we’ll ever see Democrats end this occupation through legislation. It’s not going to happen.
If this is a reality-based community, pointing out Pelosi’s idiocy regarding Impeachment cannot justifiably be condemned as name-calling, it’s a dictionary-supported description backed up by factual analysis. Pelosi and Democrats and anti-Impeachers here ARE being idiots about Impeachment. I explained why a few weeks ago. I’ve just explained why again.
People here can resent it, they can be offended, they can parade around my diary threads like the Church Lady and do their moral superiority dances all they want, it’s not going to silence me. They can troll-rate me, they can call me vile and disgusting, they can email each other and flock to my diary threads like flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz to jabber condemnations of me in orchestrated unison.
Fine.
I don’t post here so we can all hold hands around the campfire and sing Kumbaya in 125,000 part harmony. I post here because we’ve been through seven years of hell and there is more hell on the way if Bush and Cheney are not Impeached. I’m posting here because despite being proud of Harry Reid and Senate Democrats for finally taking a stand and forcing Republicans to actually filibuster, they STILL do not seem to understand, and neither do most Democrats in the House, that removing Bush and Cheney from office is the only way they are ever going to get any meaningful legislation passed and end this occupation.
Despite accusations, I don’t consider my opinions to be "holy writ." But I do consider the Constitution to be HOLY WRIT. In the context of American democracy, it IS holy writ, it is the foundational scripture of our entire system of government, and was for more than two centuries until Bush and Cheney tore it up and told us to all go fuck ourselves. Our Constitution needs defending now more than it ever has before, and progressives and Democrats who will not support Impeachment are not part of the solution we so desperately need, they are part of the problem.
I’ve been told Democrats in Congress are honorable men and women doing their best under very difficult conditions. That’s true of many of them, but it’s also true that there is such a thing as being honorable and being extremely foolish and stupid at the same time. We’ve been eyewitnesses to the honorable foolishness and stupidity of Democrats ever since they abandoned Al Gore during the Florida recount in 2000.
Tragically, that was just a preview of coming attractions. It was extreme folly to vote for the USA Patriot Act without even reading the fucking thing. It was extreme folly to hand a lying shithead like George W. Bush authorization to attack Iraq. It was extreme folly to ignore the warnings of electronic voting machine experts that tens of millions of "votes" would be "counted" in November 2004 on thousands of machines and central tabulators owned and programmed by right wing companies. It was extreme folly to vote to extend the USA Patriot Act, to vote for the Military Commissions Act, to not filibuster Roberts, to not filibuster Alito, to confirm Gonzo the torturer as Attorney General, and to waste seven months trading subpoenas for hundreds of "I don’t recalls". Taking turns kissing Joe Lieberman’s treacherous ass hasn’t been the best idea they’ve ever had either.
This has been idiocy. It’s long past time this idiocy is acknowledged for what it is. Idiocy is idiocy, and sugar-coating it with euphemisms is not something people in a reality-based community should be engaging in. The consequences of this rampant idiocy in Washington D. C. have been horrific, so a lot of people here need to grow the fuck up and quit wringing their hands in consternation just because someone here uses harsh language to describe the people responsible for this monumental clusterfuck that used to be the government of the United States of America.
I’ve said it before, I’m saying it now, and I’m going to keep saying it. There IS such a thing as idiocy. Bush, Cheney, and Republicans have been wallowing in it for years, so have far too many Democrats, so has most of the corporate media, and so have the 40 percent of the American people who STILL think Saddam was involved in 9/11. It is not name-calling to describe these people as idiots, it is a diagnostic reality based on their documented actions, documented policy decisions, and documented statements.
The most damning confirmation of the idiocy so pervasive in our federal government is the carnage in Iraq. Half a million innocent men, women and children are extremely dead because of the extreme folly and stupidity of these politicians. Five-hundred billion dollars have been extremely wasted, America is held in extreme contempt by most of the world, our Constitution has been extremely trashed, our U.S. attorneys have been extremely purged, our Army and National Guard are being extremely destroyed, our middle class is being extremely robbed, our economy is being extremely exploited so the top few thousand families in this country can extremely enrich themselves, and global warming is being extremely intensified because it’s good for the New York Stock Exchange.
So . . . I have to ask whether the people in Washington who are directly responsible for all of this can be referred to as criminals, idiots, and planet-destroying fucking bastards yet. Do any of you front pagers or diarists who are so concerned about people like me who use such destructively harsh language here on Kos have any more sermons to offer? I hope not. There are far more serious matters you should be focusing on. I’ve been told I’m vile and disgusting, but I’m not responsible for even one of these destructive catastrophes, yet I’ve been lectured to speak respectfully about the people who ARE directly responsible.
Call me an ingrate, but I just haven’t been able to summon much admiration for statesmanship so inspiring and productive that it’s gotten half a million people killed in only 8 Friedman Units. Condemn me as a profane "name caller", but staring World War III in the face because the Senate voted 97-0 to condemn Iran for "acts of war" looks an awful lot like fucking idiocy to me. Dismiss me as a wild-eyed alarmist, but I consider the possible extinction of life on earth within a few generations to be rather alarming.
Gosh, I just can’t seem to remember why I’m supposed to respect these politicians. Maybe one of you anti-Impeachers or savvy front pagers can explain how that works, you know everything there is to know about this complicated political stuff. I’m just a vile, disgusting name caller, so any assistance you could provide just might enlighten me enough so I can learn how to appreciate idiocy, it seems to be an acquired taste, like eating raw fish in one of those fancy sushi restaurants.
Are we a reality-based community or a euphemism-based community? Are we going to acknowledge and condemn both Republican and Democratic idiocy when we see it, or are we going to slap lipstick on OUR pigs and just pretend they’re principled defenders of the Constitution so we can "win" in 2008.
Mock me as a blind idealist if you want. Call me a progressive unity-destroying purist, but I think we should hold Democrats to the standards the Constitution requires of them. Contrary to some claims I’ve heard, there IS such a thing as a black and white issue. After seven years of lethal Neocon aggression in Iraq and democracy destroying crimes, Impeachment is as black and white an issue as we’re ever going to see.
If we don’t keep demanding Impeachment loudly and angrily, Democrats will never Impeach Bush and Cheney, and if they do not Impeach, Iran will be attacked and not much is going to matter after that other than trying to survive, because the shit is going to hit the fan all over this planet.