I'm still seething!!
It is unclear to me how we ended up losing this fight on S-CHIP health insurance for poor kids.
Bush somehow actually managed to keep almost all of his Republican support together in the House, using the mantle of "spending" just before he asks for 200 Billion MORE dollars to fight a very unpopular war...and at the same time making the Democrats look like they are totally ineffective weenies because we can't make a case for 25 billion additional dollars to save sick American children.
I am sure the Democrats will come back with a very similar compromise bill and get almost everything we wanted but in eyes of the public we will have looked weak and impotent again. Is anyone else getting sick and tired of being embarrassed by the spineless leadership in this party?
And this is against Bush, the most unpopular President of all time.
In the first 6 years of his administration Bush spent like a drunken sailor and never vetoed a single spending bill sent to him by Republicans but we couldn't manage to put enough pressure on the GOP House members to convince them to back a bill to help sick poor children???
How did we ever let him get away with claiming to be fiscally responsible??
BUSH??
I couldn't believe it but they actually spun this as Bush being Conservative in his approach to spending all of a sudden and it became a rallying cry for Conservatives.
Bush a conservative spender???? OH SPARE ME PLEASE!!
Where was the outrage and the screaming of "Hypocrite" from our leadership??? It was pretty luke-warm if you ask me. They wanted the issue for an election "gotcha" so they really didn't fight very hard in my opinion.
Even with public support for S-CHIP at an incredibly high number we just couldn't make the case effectively enough to move the issue.
Why?? Lack of LEADERSHIP is why!
This is a miserable spectacle which sadly makes me re-think my support for the Democratic Leadership in the House completely and the Senate mostly. I have tried to be patient and understanding, I have diaries to that effect here...but I just can't take this bullshit anymore!
Lets dump Pelosi and get someone in there that can lead!
What has she really done lately?
She's great at acting like your "Aunt Shirley" trying to be everyone's friend or looking Grand-motherly but when the heat is on she looks so scared she might put a few 2008 elections in jeopardy it's comical.
How could she be so milk-toast on almost everything except Armenian Genocide??? And I believe she actually backed down on that one too.
In other words we need someone to get their head out of their ass and be a real leader.
Take some risks.
Who cares about being in the majority if this is what it looks like??
I know I should be over it by now, get on with things...but I just couldn't be more disappointed in our Democratic Leaders.
No vision, no bold ideas, no balls!!!
Reid isn't much better in the Senate either...we actually ended up with a Pro-life Senate leader trying to pander to the Conservative Right and religious voters and that has gotten us nowhere with any of them.
Reid's a Mormon with an inspiring story of humble beginnings but that's not what we need, we need a fire-brand to rev-up and rally the troops to our cause..instead we get a bureaucrat and not even a really effective one at that.
America is pissed off, tired of bullshit and ready to respond to the call... and would follow a real leader if we offered them one!!
I would never become a Republican and will probably always vote Democratic but I can no longer give morale, political or financial support to this bunch of weenies.
Until they show some balls, I am done defending them.
I have been wrong about them in the past, asking people to hold on, trying to give the time to act...that time is now past.
Losing health care for poor sick American children to a war-mongering demagogue is un-acceptable and the last straw!
This one was the turning point for me.