Cowardly Democrats

Sen. Feingold has introduced legislation to censure the president over the domestic spying operations he authorized, in violation of the Constitution and the law. Really there should be impeachment. But that's out of the question. Republicans won't do their jobs because, well, they're Republicans and feel obligated to support their man in the White House, regardless of his crimes. The Democrats are just cowards, so terrified of doing anything that might alienate voters that they do nothing, and in so doing alienate voters who have the crazy idea that members of government should actually do their jobs and that parties should actually stand for something.

One of my earliest posts talked about the failure of Congress to simply do its job. Our system of government relies on the assumption that they will, and if Congress abdicates its responsibilities, the system breaks down. This is a perfect example, as was the anti-torture bill the president signed earlier this year. There the president, in signing a bill into law preventing him from torturing prisoners, explained that he, in fact, had no intention of actually complying with the law. Anyone want to bet that when he violates that law, Congress will do something other than keep its collective mouth shut?

In both the spying and torture cases, the president knows no one has the cajones to stand up to him, so he flagrantly disregards the law to do whatever he wants. As long as the throws that magic word "terrorism" in front of it, no one will stop him. The system is designed to handle such a situation, but only if the members of Congress do their jobs, which is too much to ask of this group.

I like the title of this Brewtown Politico post: Note to Democrats in Congress: grow a pair. I sure wish somebody would. Some will say Bush already has. OK, I sure wish somebody competent would.