We have all known for sometime that this administration will say anything to gain or keep it’s abusive grip on power, but this is too much. Jim VandeHei at Politico.com is reporting that the administration has spent most of this weekend begging GOP Senators to oppose any resolution condeming the troop surge in Iraq. The article sites that administration has come to the realization that if Senators vote the way they spoke to the President this weekend, he could easily have 70 votes against him and his new, new, new strategy in Iraq.

Military commanders are entering the fray now by telling Senators, that the plan has a chance to work in Iraq, but only if Congress is seen as supporting the plan:

 On a more substantive level, White House officials are arguing that U.S. commanders are confident the escalation will work, but only if Iraqis and world leaders understand the plan has congressional backing. The White House has sent signals that it would stomach a resolution establishing firm deadlines and accountability requirements as long as it does not outright condemn the surge, congressional sources said.

 Um…since when do world leaders and Iraqis watch American politics for their queues on how to support or fight against U.S. military action? Did we have a flood of responsible nations coming to our side in 2003 when Congress voted to go to war? To assert that the world needs to hear Congress support this President and his seventh plan to save Iraq is absurd. Once again, this administration will say anything to get what it wants. The people in Iraq made up their minds years ago on opposing peace and seeking the ethnic cleansing Saddam had long denied them and we were the suckers who went in and opened the flood-gates of civil war. Insurgents, or whatever we wish to call them this week, are planning today for dealing with our troop surge, and don’t give a damn about Congressional support or opposition to the plan. In fact, I would imagine that the anti-U.S. elements in Iraq are on the same side of this debate as George W. Bush.

President Bush today told reporters that he is “the decision-maker” on the plan to increase the number of troops in Iraq, and that he urges Congress to seriously think about their opposition to a plan that hasn’t been put into practice yet.

It may very well be the most telling statement about the divide between W and reality that we have ever seen. Clearly Mr. Bush is the “decision-maker”, as it was he who decided to enter into this war. It was he who decided not to enter the war with sufficient numbers of troops to begin with, and it was he who decided to pay little attention to the infrastructure requirements in restoring order qucikly after entering the country. It was he who also decided on the six different “post-War” strategies that have all ultimately failed.

And so it is crystal clear that W is “the decision-maker”, and the truth is that had he made decent decisions to begin with, Congress would not be opposing his “decision” today. I almost felt sorry for the guy during his state of the union address Tuesday night. There he was, like a whipped puppy, looking as if he just woke up after a long binge and realizing all of the transgressions he had committed while under the influence. Had he finally reached the point of repent? Was he finally taking responsibility for all of his mistakes? Was he going to turn over a new leaf? At times it seemed like we just might see a new W.

But, alas, it was all for show. Today he is reminding us that the emperor truly has no clothes, and no sense for that matter. Instead of making a generous statement about acknowleding the conflict with Congress, or striking a conciliatory note that signals some understanding of the opposition to the plan, he puffs up his chest like a fighting cock and proclaims “I AM THE DECISION-MAKER”.

That’s the sort of talk that brings it all back to reality. This guy is an arrogant, out-of-control, spoiled rotten brat that is living in some fantasy world where he is the terminator, and ultimately we will do what he says, simply because he says to, and not based on any sound judgement. 

2006 proved to be quite an exciting year as we saw that the average American voter just might “get it” after all. I am cautiously optimistic about 2007 as we anxiously await the changing of the guard in the House and Senate in Washington.

Rest assured that our work here is not done, and that we can always do more to help those that cannot help themselves, and to ensure that the basic civil rights of ALL of our citizens are protected under the Constitution created by our founders. This means that watching all of our lawmakers, Republican and Democrat, is a priority and that we should call BS when we see it no matter the party affiliation.

Anyone who believes that John McCain will maintain his stance of opposition to the President’s detainee legislative proposal to the very end is absolutely fooling themselves. This man has more desire to replace Bush in 2009 than anyother candidate, Republican or otherwise, and showing any sign of opposition to the President’s one single strength (fighting terriorism) is asking for trouble from the Republican base.

In the end, McCain and Company will fall in line and deliver to the GOP a victory and give America another moral black eye, simply because the devils (Karl Rove and George Bush) know that the soft spot for any politician is his ego and need for more power.

The Washington Post has an excellent editorial on this very topic today:

Substantively, the legislative battle will shape what limits the administration will face on its anti-terrorism policies in the final two years of Bush’s term. Politically, McCain’s willingness once again to confront Bush raises questions about how he will position himself toward the Republican Party’s conservative base, which he has aggressively cultivated over the past year as he pursues the presidency.

In a reprise of criticism showered on McCain during his 2000 campaign, some prominent conservatives are branding him a disloyal Republican and an unreliable conservative because of his assertiveness on the detainee issue.

Gee, that sounds a lot like “you are either with us or against us”.

In the meantime, Democrats have remained virtually silent on this issue, simply because they are hedging their bets that this is a wedge issue for the GOP and that by remaining on the edge of the debate they are less likely to serve as a unifying object within the GOP. Smart thinking for the Dems, but I hope they are prepared to lead with a cohesive message when this crap legislation passes.

From AMERICAblog comes word tonight of a shift in Rick Santorum’s line of thinking with regard to women in the workplace. In his 2005 book “It Takes a Family” Santorum hinted that working mothers were at the root of the decline in American values over the last five decades.

Yet, when questioned about that stance at a recent political banquet Santorum explains his position through claiming that women were forced to into the workplace thanks, in part, to the American family struggling to pay higher income taxes.

Wow! That is an interesting take on the social implications of high taxes. So the way to strengthening American values would be through a course of reduced taxes for the working class, investment by the federal government in alternative fuels thus applying price preasures on gas prices thereby helping Americans stretch their dollars, passing a new minimum wage bill to help those who cannot keep up with inflation, and budgetary restraint when it comes to spending our future generations into insurmountable debt? The problem is Rick Santorum and George Bush have never supported any of those ideas, instead opting to reduce taxes for the wealthiest among their constituents and never giving serious consideration to any other piece of legislation that would actually benefit the working class.

So why does Rick Santorum hate working women? It’s simple, really. He doesn’t hate working women, he hates the working class.

On Friday we learned that the school district in Rick Santorum’s neighborhood had been ordered to pay school tution for home schooling of Santorum’s children, even though they clearly live in Virgnia and not Pennsylvania.

Today, Tim Russert pressed Santorum to discuss where he presently lives. In typical Santorum style, he scrunches his face, shrugs his shoulders and acts as though it was a stupid question. And while I agree that it is not a question about his ethics (or lack thereof), or about his lock-step voting record with W, it is an important question since Santorum made it an issue in the 1994 election questioning why his Democratic opponent spent so much time outisde or Pennsylvania.

Catch the Santorum response here:

Everyday it becomes increasingly clear to me that the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are run like some druken frat house.

As is being reported on a number of sites, the Senate was prepared to vote a piece of legislation that would create a database of government spending that is open to all citizens to help determine where all of the pork barrel spending goes.

The night before the legislation was to be voted on by the entire Senate, a Senator placed a “secret hold” on the bill that prevents it from reaching the floor for a vote. A witch hunt, the likes of which have not been seen in some time, is now underway in the blogsphere to determine who this secret Senator is. TPMmuckracker has a tally sheet underway.

 Thus far, my favorite comment from a Senator’s office came from Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R- GA):

Saxby Chambliss’ office gave me a, “No senator would answer that question, I mean, come on, it’s a secret.” I replied that “Johnny Isakson’s office gave an on the record ‘No’; is Senator Chambliss willing to state publicly that he is not the mystery senator?” The answer was a “No, he will not state either he is or is not.” I stated my displeasure at his wishy-washiness, thanked the staffer, and hung up.

Since when did a democratically elected body have the right to say “it’s a secret”? And if this is a normal function within the rules of the Senate, why haven’t Democrats used this tactic on every piece of trash legislation that the GOP has put forth in the last ten years?!