Congress and Cowardice

We have a Congress full of cowards. Without fail, when the issue of the war against Terrorism comes to their attention, the action of both chambers is to do the expedient; promise support for the troops, but do little to follow through, especially on any action which might actually move the matter towards victory. The Democrats sit on their hands when the President proposes that we win the war; they want to impeach him for doing his job, whatever excuse they pin on it. But the Republicans who applauded the notions of ‘victory’ and ridding the world of Islamofascism are no better, hypocrites who refuse any personal hardship and quail at the thought of doing what is right rather than what makes a good sound byte. What passes for “leadership” in either party bears a striking similarity in appearance, odor, and character to what passes from a Cholera victim. And this, God help us, is the nature of that body which will direct the nation’s course, and by extension the world, for the next 23 months.

The Democrats praise General Petraeus as they send him off to Iraq, even as they mock and insult the plan he helped create for dealing with the war there.

John McCain wants to run for President on his ‘pro-war’ credentials, yet he is meeting with other Senators to discuss legislation which would cut the knees out from our deployed troops.

Nancy Pelosi says she wouldn’t consider cutting off funding for the troops, even as she makes constant public statements which trash their efforts and press for abandonment of Iraq.

Tom Tancredo pretends to be a patriotic American, yet he deliberately attacked President Bush and the priorities of the Republican Party, simply because he failed to hijack the agenda in favor of his personal will.

Jim Webb engaged in a little hate-fest of lies this week, as his “response” to the President’s State of the Union address did little more than tear words out of context, and cherry-pick support to claim that we were losing and should basically give up and run away.

Chuck Hagel and Olympia Snowe, well, they basically shrugged off the last of their dignity and defected to the Dark Side. I figure they will start yelling ”Allahu Akhbar” during dull moments on the Senate floor.

You get the idea. There’s not a one of them with a spine. What passes for "backbone” in Congress is not checking the NY Times every morning to find out what the media expects them to say and do. I heard Hugh Hewitt say yesterday that a few of them “get it right”, but I cannot agree. Those few who do seem to understand the needs of the nation and the crisis we face, still do little to rebuke their shameful colleagues and demand responsible service from them. If a man attacked your wife, you should do more than remark that you would yourself not act as he has; you should defend her and beat the miscreant into a bloody pulp. So it is here, that the nation itself is in dire circumstance, and those who have not attempted to join in on the rape, neither do anything to stop it. A proper defender of the troops and the nation will yell, denounce, and obstruct the pursuit of defeat and abandonment, yet not one Representative or Senator has risen to his feet on this point. Some, to be sure, have made measured statements, when the cameras are on and they think they can impress their hometown voters with a little empty rhetoric, but if you check their actual submitted bills, co-sponsorship, or voting record on the decisions which might accomplish more than a political action, you find a wasteland.

It is well past time, for Americans of determination who desire accountability to make plain to Congress that the present condition of cowardice must cease. The miscreants turned out in the 2006 elections did not lose because they supported the war, or because of any one issue, but because they did not take clear stands in alignment with either principle or their voters, to a degree even worse than the ones left in office. They do not answer calls or mail from the voters, they do not respond to any press except softball interviews from known supporters, and they will not stand alone on principle. None of them.

What can the ordinary man do? Well, for starters we can send a louder message. There is a pledge circulating now, to remind certain Senators that we are, in fact, in a deadly serious war, and that they have made a commitment we expect – indeed demand, them to keep. Sign it and push for it.

After that, the principle for diligent voters, whether Republican or Democrat or Independent of any party, must be to hold the official accountable, completely, for both what he says and does, and for what he ignores. Otherwise, we should prove ourselves as cowardly as these liars and crooks now in office.