OK, Then, YOU Tell US

Since November 8, 2006, bloggers in left wwwLand have been telling you elected Democrats how you should use your success at the polls to defeat Cheney-Bush foreign policy, most especially how you should force a change in direction on Iraq. Some of you have listened. Some of you have pretended to listen. And some of you have thumbed your noses at us. But that sneering is OK, because we’ve had some harsh things to say about you, too. You’ve made us hot, and not in a good way.

Like last May 24 when you, in the word of a former Kossack, played crumplestiltskin in the first minute of the second round over supplemental funding for Iraq. Money that you knew would, in part, pay for a "surge" policy that many of you claimed you objected to. Last May you said yes to an unencumbered supplemental and no to a specific date for completing redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq. In other words, you joined Republicans to smack a great big APPROVAL stamp on Stay the Course, although the policy isn’t actually called that any longer.

Yesterday, you did it again when you KOed Feingold-Reid. You could just as well have said to Mister Bush: "Sir, you’ve got us by the short hairs so we’re going to give you free rein on Iraq." And, of course, you also had to add insult to injury and prove your bona fides as a loyal and patriotic rule-player by joining in a hypocrisy-laden smack-down of those who dared challenge the president’s spokesman. Because you’ve bought the paralyzing lie that a general in uniform is the military and must never be disrespected.

OK. I didn’t expect you to agree with California Congressman Pete Stark, who said:

"I commend MoveOn for their ad and for speaking truth to power. ... Up is not down, the earth is not flat, and the surge is not working. General Petreaus betrayed his own reputation by standing with George Bush in opposition to the timely withdrawal of all of our brave men and women from Iraq. I thank MoveOn for their patriotic ad and
call on Petreaus to help Bush end a war the President should have never started."

But I did think that maybe, just maybe, you could muster the willpower not to fall for a tried-and-true GOP distraction tactic. To at least say that the whole debate was a waste of time. Then I remembered, you don’t listen to left wwwLand. Because you pretty much think that not only do we have a screw loose, but that we’re just as unpatriotic as the people who dared to forcefully suggest that an "ass-kissing little chickenshit" U.S. general might not be providing the straight scoop.

OK. I’m not going to argue with you about it anymore. That’s not why I’m here today. For a moment, no more fevered advice from me about what you ought to do to try to change Cheney-Bush policy in Iraq. My lips are sealed. I’m going to disconnect my keyboard. And I’m just going to listen.

You tell me. All you Democrats who voted against Reid-Feingold twice, or the McGovern Amendment, all you who voted for the unencumbered supplemental – you tell me. What do you recommend be done to change U.S. Iraq policy?

Not what you are going do when there is a Democratic president in 2009. Or what you would do  if you were president. I know that story. It’s a story many of us desperately hang onto, hoping that any skepticism we have about it will prove unfounded. Don’t repeat that story.

What I want to hear is what you think should be done right now. Because you’ve told me what you think shouldn’t be done. Congress shouldn’t tell Mister Bush: "Meet this redeployment timetable and we’ll give you the money to carry it out. Otherwise, cash register closed." And I know what you think shouldn’t be said. Those of us who are sick of five years of administration exaggerations, fabrications, bullshit and bloodletting shouldn’t insult high officials even as they continue the same old, same old.

OK. I get it. So tell us. What should be tried to get us off the dime? What do you think can be tried? What are willing to try? What are you going to try?

Or, if you prefer, just out with it. Tell us that nothing can be done now; therefore, for the next 16 months you’re not even going to try. We’re adults. We can take it. And while you’ve already given us a pretty good idea of what’s in store, it would be good to have confirmed what your strategy will be for the next 16 months. We’d just like to know if you’re going to spend your time collecting re-election money and voting to enable Mister Bush while another 1200 or so Americans die in Iraq and thousands come home wounded in body and spirit. We’d like to know if you’re going to do anything but yap while tens of thousands more Iraqis die or are maimed and hundreds of thousands more go into exile.

Just tell us now if this is your plan. That way we can get started on our plans for you.