So why this:
An amendment that would prevent the government from working with contractors who denied victims of assault the right to bring their case to court is in danger of being watered down or stripped entirely from a larger defense appropriations bill.Nice to see that Sen. Inouye is so concerned about protecting the rights of Department of Defense contractors over women who get stuffed into shipping containers and gang-raped by contract workers. Nice to see that large campaign contributions work to gut a 68-30 vote.
Multiple sources have told the Huffington Post that Sen. Dan Inouye, a longtime Democrat from Hawaii, is considering removing or altering the provision, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and passed by the Senate several weeks ago.
The Senate is filled with fucking sleazeballs and Pro-Rape Inouye is very high up on the list.
John Cole is right: With Democrats like Inouye, who needs the GOP?
The last two elections were about electing Democrats instead of Republicans. When electing progressives becomes the priority, things might change. Some of us protested these priorities, to little avail. We aren't there yet, not by a long shot.
ReplyDeleteI second Cujo. Those elections weren't strictly about throwing out the bums, but getting rid of the worst bums. And had that not happened, we wouldn't be seeing Franken's bill at all. In fact, the entire political landscape would be different right now had Republicans retained control of Congress, even if Obama had won. In fact, that's such a nightmare scenario that I don't even like thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteBut we're still going to be stuck with longtime Dems who have forgotten why they're there (if they ever knew), as well as those beholden to bad interests. But in our modern era, even a bad Democrat is still preferable to just about any Republican I can think of, so we really can't complain too much. Even conservative Democrats are about even with the most liberal of Republicans (ie, Snowe). So that's the way to think about this.
And the main thing is to remember the longterm game. Anytime a Republican beats a Democrat, the political landscape shifts to the right and we're told that Dems are too liberal to win. So it behooves us to show how easy it is for any Democrat to win, as incumbents are more likely to be supported in districts that are considered hard for us to win. Remember, the whole reason the Blue Dogs are allowed to get away with what they do is because they're in Republican states and we're told to give them leeway. The fewer of these districts that exist, the easier it is for us to get liberals in office.
That's why it's always better to support the Democrat, even if they suck. Elections have a more lasting impact than just the political session that occurs after them. And if Republicans had control of Congress, we wouldn't be talking about this bill getting watered down; we'd be talking about impeachment proceedings on Obama. John Cole was wrong: Like it or not, we STILL need Democrats like Inouye.
BTW, if I had to bet, I'd bet against this bill being changed significantly. Any chance you'd like to make a friendly blog wager?
Let me point out, guys, that the Franken amendment won on a 68-30 vote, a clear supermajority. This isn't about just Democrats, quite a few Republicans voted for it. And the ones who did not are being excoriated back home as being "pro-rape".
ReplyDeleteBut Inouye is going to kill it because his asshole buddies and big campaign contributors want him to kill it.
There is no shame in the Senate.
I think a lot of politicians in both houses are sadistic bastards who hate women and want to control them by any means necessary.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of legal rape by means of a loophole like arbitration probably turns them on so much they risked exposing their horrible characters by voting against Franken's bill.
I think the woman who was gang raped should have shot them all.
Arbitrate THAT, you sexist bastards.