{Cross-posted at The Left Coaster.]
Now that the vote of "no confidence" is over in the Senate with Gonzo surviving just the cloture vote 53-38, a regrettable examination is necessary for this episode of gross incompetence. I was immensely disturbed at the proposition for this futility and noted it should not have been well-received Sunday, but basically kept my mouth shut since then, for I don’t like to undercut the work of others and I could have been wrong.
Irrespective for the moment on the aspects of leadership and timing failure for no confidence, the toothless non-binding resolution rested upon two completely incorrect propositions: that Bush and the Republicans could be shamed into heaving Gonzo, and even if they couldn’t the increased exposure would increase discontent (among who and employing what tactics unsaid) that would somehow do something to depose Gonzales.
Machiavelli is a revered, famous political scientist not because he was capable of cunning cruelty (almost anyone can do that) but because he correctly saw the reality of politics all around him (which was cunningly cruel) and did not fool himself of his reality and the state of human character around him. Kissinger and Krugman have correctly identified modern Republicans as revolutionary powers, radicals who overthrow the government internally, and Machiavelli would have instantly recognized them as such too.
Very few in the Democratic Party have. Bush, Cheney, Rove and the Republicans cannot be shamed. For them there is no rule of law, they’ve demonstrated that consistently with stolen election 2000, Guantanamo Bay, torture, and NSA/FBI spying on citizens. They kill innocent Iraqi citizens indiscriminately with lies and refuse all refugees. The legacy of corruption in the K street project and Iraq war spending is so vast comprehension may never be possible.
They are not Americans as we know them. Our laws and norms mean nothing to them, so our methods of shame and shunning are useless—how else could Gonzo still be there? In our softly fascist American system Bush and the Republicans do respond to pressure and events, but never, ever at the hands of their opponents--unless brute political power forces them to.
Non-binding votes confirm to the Republicans yet again, after all these years, that they still are not correctly perceived by their opponents, who are still weak and clueless. It emboldens them to yet more radical behavior, which leads to yet again more Democratic failure to counter, for the old rules do not apply in the environment the Democrats cannot perceive. The no confidence vote was a monumental failure of basic realism, the American political environment has been radically different since December 2000, but in all that time Democrats still cannot, in an utter disaster, change and adjust.
While Bush is in office there will be no popular citizen revolt of any kind using any tactics whatsoever to effect political change. No massive disruptive demonstrations, no general strikes, no boycotts, nothing of base citizen action will stop Bush. The American people have amply demonstrated their profound indifference and ignorance to political leadership since 2000, while most that are aware are already manifestly disgusted with Bush and Republicans. One more day of non-binding exposure on Gonzo didn’t and won’t change the severe anger and loathing Americans who pay attention feel toward Bush and the Republicans, just as it won’t change base citizen indifference. Given the risks involved, increasing awareness/anger for the public never should have been used as justification for no confidence.
Dianne Feinstein was announced as one of the co-sponsors of no confidence. Why does that sentence hang in your consciousness with no import, devoid of meaning? Because once again there is a total failure of realism in American politics.
Dianne Feinstein has been a disaster to the Democratic Party of epic proportions. She is a traitor on war, taxes, prescription drugs, and bankruptcy, just for starters. The press, for reasons only they know, completely ignores her, but that is not an excuse at for any reasonably alert Democrat to know who she is and what’s she done.
She is never to be trusted, none of her tactics should ever be considered, her advice is poison, and her foul endorsement should tell anyone half awake never to do what she proposes. Her announcement as co-sponsor was yet another green light and giggles for our Republican revolutionary powers, and the calm acceptance of her presence among Democrats doomed them yet again to failure, Senate leadership failure that had no media strategy, no netroots strategy, and no binding power, nothing at all.
Total realism and leadership failure wobbled horribly on timing: no confidence was announced as some yet mystical date in the future, then had to stumble forward after searing Democratic failure on the Iraq war. What changed after the vote? Nothing. What foundation did no confidence build for the impeachment of Gonzo? Nothing.
There, in fact, is the greatest cruelty of the 53-38 no confidence vote: seven Republican senators can already be counted on for an impeachment vote on Gonzales, a great deal of the work has already been done for something easily attainable, yet no confidence yielded only more of the same: nothing, no future Senate plans for Gonzo.
Calls to base for action for tactics that accomplish nothing and only confirm great weakness are unwise, to put it mildly. The people we have left badly need a win and need to be treated with great care; the longer we abuse them with clueless tactics the more we will lose.
That, I think, is the greatest hurt all from this futility, the thought of the base shouldering yet more inaction from their leadership in a screaming crisis. The people we have left deserved one hell of a lot better than this.