Congratulations Democrats, you've just purchased yourself a war!

By Frank J. Ranelli

Bush blusters, Congress folds and the war plays on…

Democratically-controlled House and Senate leaders have confirmed their capitulation and acquiescence to Bush’s autocratic demands and have agreed to fund more, unregulated warfare in Iraq for another six months. The media, eager to please the executive at large, launched a full fledge ‘declaration of surrender’ campaign, indicting democrats with headlines such as Democrats Concede on Iraq and Democrats Retreat in Funding Showdown. The excuse put forth by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, for an abysmal show of cowardice and abdication of Congressional and Constitutional responsibility, was, “we don’t have the votes.”

“Ah shucks, Nancy, you tried! Golly gee Harry, we know, Bush is scary!” Better luck next time, when America votes you back into the minority in 2008. You weren’t quite ready for the “big leagues” were you? The Whitehouse already believes, just as they do of former President Jimmy Carter, that the Democrats are “increasingly irrelevant.”

We know it is hard facing-down a wayward Neanderthal, a maniacal megalomaniac, a law-breaking lunatic juxtaposed with a public approval rating of 28%. Being the majority is arduous work and you haven’t had any practice over the last 13 or so years. However, there is a benefit to this gutless recoil; you’ve just purchased yourself a war!

Yes, congratulations Democrats, enjoy your newly purchased war of aggression. It’s only four years-old and lots of subsidy is now available for refurbishment, revamp and renovation. She is a real ‘fixer-upper’, but hey, causalities on the American side have been “light” and taxpayers have already absorbed most of the costs associated with the “working out the bugs” process. A new coat of paint, a few extra brigades, a fresh printing of “support the troops” pretzel magnets and your are good to go!

In addition, with Bush’s promise of sustaining your minimum wage increase bill, the preceding despondent dregs at the lowest end of the wage scale can now patriotically participate in your new ‘combat acquisition’ by infusing more cash into Bush’s upside-down economy. Think of the potential promise Democrats now offer to all those that previously were unable to finance appropriately the hostilities formerly known as “Bush’s war”.

Honestly, it does not take an exemplary acumen to see why Americans over the last 25 years keep voting largely Republican – the 2006 election not withstanding – and opting for Republican presidents. Americans, as a whole, do not necessary agree with or even like the Republican Party and its intransigent ideologies of preserving the status quo. They do, however, like team players, winners and driven tenacity when times get tough. The Republican Party – in full view of every amoral, depraved, nefarious and unconscionable act they have committed – does one thing and does it well; they stick together and tend their flock. Something the current Democratic leaders have patently failed to do.

“Resolute” and “unified” are not currently part of the lexicon or landscape of the crop of democrats in Congress today. “Fractured” and “failing” are more suitable metaphors befitting an ostensibly co-equal branch of government that kowtows to a petulant president. Bush may have lost all credibility with the American people long ago, but Congress has now lost its guile; and therefore, the alliance of the American populace.