David Swanson: Senators Quietly Oppose Escalation

This MyDD blog entry and this Politico article describe this PDF showing the results of a poll of all 100 U.S. Senators. It asks how they voted on the war in 2002, whether they regret that vote, whether they support escalating the war, and whether they support ending the war by a certain date. This fairly well cuts through the courageous debate over whether to have a debate over whether to meaninglessly dissent from Bush's escalation plans for a war that most Americans want ended.

The first thing that stands out is that Senators Byrd and Cardin, rather than saying that Yes they support ending the occupation by a certain date, both wrote in the word "Immediate." That's 2 Senators for ending the thing. 98 to go.

If you look at Democrats who voted Yes on the war, 11 of them regret having done so. Cantwell wrote in "No Comment," apparently unable to determine whether or not she regrets slaughtering 655,000 people on the basis of lies. Dorgan also had no comment, and also had no comment on whether he ever wants to end the war. Reid - the guy who's supposedly "leading" - had the same responses as Dorgan. Lincoln had no comment on anything except having voted for the war.

Hillary Clinton's response is worse, however. She voted for the war, does not regret it, and does not support ending it by a certain date. She does oppose the escalation, which fairly well displays the worthlessness of opposition to the escalation. Lieberman had the same responses as Clinton, except that he supports the escalation. Both Nelsons also do not regret having supported the war and have no interest in ending it. Schumer does not regret backing the war and has no comment on ending it. Quite an opposition party, eh?

But there is a bright side: 11 Dems and 3 Republicans said they regretted having voted for this war, and 22 Dems and 1 Independent said they support setting a certain date to end the ongoing genocide or - in the case of 2 Dems - ending it immediately. Another 11 Senators did not say No to setting a date, but rather replied with "undecided" or "no comment."

The responses on the escalation, or "surge", are interesting as well. 48 Dems, 1 Independent, and 10 Republicans oppose the escalation, while a bunch more indicated "conditionally" or "no comment," etc. That's a MAJORITY of Senators on record as opposing something that our monarch has already done without asking their approval, but something that they can't seem to even get straight on debating whether to debate.

We owe a debt to the Politico. Maybe we should let that publication run the Senate. Maybe the usefulness of this sort of survey will inspire the Senate to pass the bill allowing card-check organizing and the labor movement will be reborn out of the ashes of incompetence and militarism.

One can hope.

ENDS

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