I have been a pretty steadfast critic of the Democratic Party since this great Era of Bush the Second began lo these 6.5 years ago. I have assailed them and harangued them for this and that action (and more than a few nonactions), and generally lamented the parting of their collective ovaries and ballsacks. I tried to be fair - they were, after all, the minority party for a long time, and during Bush's reign the minorities have suffered the most, no question - but they were one infuriating party, I tell you. I know a bunch of you know waht I mean.
However...
...the Democrats won possibly the most crucial-to-win election in this country's history (in a moment I'll explain why), they did it with a true mandate - unlike Bush in '04 - and that mandate was broader than resolving America's Iraq problem, for it included holding the Bushies accountable for crime after wanton crime. As many here in Kos have said for many a month, "It's about the Democrats having subpoena power." They were right. They were dead-ass right.
We're three months into '07, and the Bush machine is suffering a cracked block, leaky gaskets...believe it, the damn thing's gonna throw a rod soon. Which is why I'm in love with the Democrats. I mean, sure, there are individual Dems that drive me batty and always will, but the party as a whole is functioning lean and mean right now, it's making (to stretch this flimsy metaphor) Bush and Cheney and Gonzales and Rove drive that fucking jalopy fast down dirt roads with uncertain, er, outcomes. It's spitting gobs of oil and rust. But Messrs. Waxman and Conyers and Leahy and Schumer (never thought I'd love Schumer) just aren't letting up, and I pray they don't, not even when the car spouts flames and they swear it's done for. No no, fellas. These are vampires you're dealing with. Stakes, hearts. (Another metaphor, Mr. Warrantless Wiretap Man; don't you fret.) Don't forget it. Take it all the way to the end. Follow Carol Lam and where she leads. What you'll find has no precedent, is very scary, but please, God, don't stop.
Now - why was last year's election the most important in the country's history? Because up to that moment (and continuing to this one) the country had at its helm (and still does) the country's most dangerous White House inhabitants. If the Democrats hadn't won in '06, it would be business as usual in terms of waiting, waiting, waiting for some leaker somewhere to leak some tidbit that maybe would get mainstream coverage and most likely wouldn't that had to do with something along the lines of torture, warrantless wiretapping, indefinite detention, extraordinary renditions, contractor scandals, etc. ("That etcetera really fucking etceteras," Reynolds said to me the other day. No shit. Indeed.) We could very well be already in a war with Iran - if the Dems hadn't gained power. Probably not, but...it's almost another world, with the power the Dems have now. The Bushies are scared. I'd say, terrified. They are in huge trouble, exponentially bigger than Nixon's. He was a second-rate insecure paranoid who wanted to be loved. Bush is truly messianic, Cheney is truly bloodthirsty, Rove is truly heartless, Gonzales is truly a cipher, the neocons are truly amoral pragmatists, and these are the people running America today. And oh, Sweet Jesus, how many skeletons do you think are in them there closets? We already know that the U.S. Attorney scandal has to do with setting up a one-party government, spread virally to all 50 states via the attorneys (and other apparatchiks, surely) and was ideologically based. We know that. That's out there. If you're intellectually dishonest, hey, that's your problem. This is where the trail of skulls leads - to something quite beyond a shadow government, or a one-party-rule government. We are talking a takeover, a very, very cleverly executed coup. Hard, but not impossible, to prove. Something that must be probed and - oh I pray - prosecuted. To the fucking hilt.
The Dems need encouragement right now, a bounty of it. They need to know we appreciate beyond words what they are doing. We have to be as quick to give them props as we are to give them the finger...true for me, anyway. They are on the brink of the rim of the edge of the hole that goes 20 miles down, from which spews a stench knock you right out. They gotta keep on going down that hole. I, for one, will be holding the rope for them.
Subpoena the living shit out of 'em!