In 2003, Bully Boy took the world, not just the US, into a war against Iraq under false premises, falsehoods and out and out lies. None of his 'truths' has lived up to the hype. It was his illegal, pre-emptive, war of choice.
In November 2006, Democrats were put in to power. They currently control the House and Senate.
Yesterday, in DC, at least a half million people gathered demanding Congress take action on Iraq.
Currently the Iraq war is Bully Boy's war. He started it, he lied, he refuses to face reality that US troops breed the resentment and fuel the resistance. He refuses to face the reality that, in polls, Iraqis say they want all foreign troops out. He refuses to notice that Iraqis not of the resistance but supporting it in polls state that they feel the US is attempting to plunder their natural resources.
He had his stunt landing, he had his stuffed crotch strut across a carrier. He had his photo op with a plastic turkey. He's had his "I don't belive you can win it" versus his "We will win the war on terror." He's had one laughable moment (often cheereded on -- led by the mainstream press -- in real time) after another.
The war in Iraq is no joke but it has been his war.
That all changed when the Democrats took control of both houses.
They now have the power to lead. They actually had that power before -- to lead as an opposition party. Now they have the power to lead as the party in control.
If they do nothing, the war becomes their illegal war as well. If they do not make an effort to end it, they are allowing it to continue, putting them in partnership with the Bully Boy.
Symbolic, toothless measures qualifies as doing nothing.
Tuesday, Russ Feingold will hold a hearing to determine does the Congress have the power to stop funding the illegal war? (They do.) Remembering how few Democrats would join his call for censure of Bully Boy over illegal, warrantless wire tapping of American citizens, we're not expecting a tidal wave of support in Congress for Feingold's actions.
But Congress better grasp quickly that the people are watching. The people, their bosses. The ones who hired them and the ones who can fire them. The Democratic Party, if it refuses to utilize the power the people granted them, may find that "symbolic" actions work both ways. For instance, a 2008 pollster may hear, "Well I'm voting for the Democratic ticket symoblically." Meaning? "I'm not going to the polls."
When you do nothing, you betray the public trust. When you take no action you demonstrate to voters that there's no point in voting for you.
The laughable Harry Reid is talking tough about a symbolic measure, promising that if Republicans aren't into symbolism, it will hurt them in the 2008 elections. Democrats might better worry about how disgusted Americans are becoming with this nonsense as they continue to discover that the referendum is nothing more than a lunch time poll, that it does not bind the Bully Boy to act on anything -- it merely says "We are opposed. Do what you want, but we're oppposed."
In DC yesterday and across the country, citizens stood up to repeat the message they sent in the November elections: Bring the troops home. If Democrats still can't hear that message in DC, they may quickly find themselves with plenty of time to listen to crickets chirping, to dogs howling at the moon, to anything that happens in their former home towns that they may end up being returned to for good as citizens say, "You can act the fool, but you won't play me for one."
It's Bully Boy's war . . . up until the Democrats demonstrate that they're not prepared to end it. At that point, it becomes their war.