i don’t care what anyone says, the senate all-nighter tonite is a silly attention-getting stunt.
cnn is on as i type, and senator durbin is being interviewed about the impending all-nighter planned in the senate tonite to debate an iraq pull-out. the news dude just asked, “isn’t this really a stunt?”
the senator responded: “is it a stunt when a soldier stays up all night? no, it’s not; and there are many soldiers in iraq who have to stay up all night.”
dude. pulleeeeze. don’t treat us like such idiots. a soldier being required to stay up all night, and a senator rolling in cots (have you seen the news? it’s hilarious!) to choose to stay up all night (and you better believe these all-night senators will be recovering comfortably in the days to come for their wonderful service to country) are NOT the same thing. don’t EVEN try to equate yourself with a soldier forced to stay up all night in a war zone.
i’m all for senate having the conversations they need to have. just don’t treat us like children and say this isn’t a stunt.
i sincerely wish there were more “stunts” like this, things that attempt to break the insane frame that the Bush Regime has placed around this sad use of violence & power
last week, a handful of right-wing Senators prevented the passage of an amendment sponsored that would have required soldiers to be given more rest at home after being deployed overseas. During the vote, one senator disingenuously claimed that if the bill passed, it would be “the greatest politicization of military action in the history of the country.”
in my book, THAT is a stunt, and a disgusting one at that
The more
‘stunts” they perform, the less they infringe on freedom.
What a joke our government has become. Both sides of the aisle have become media whores just looking for high quality sound bites.
They all load so many amendments onto the bills that of course the bill will not be liked by one of the parties.
Marko, I agree that this is “stunt” but a very necessary “stunt”. I believe that any votes deserves to get an up or down vote. This Administration is a joke in its dealings as well as the Republicans who stand with them. We sent a message (those of us who voted for the Dems.) that we wanted an end to this debacle. Personally, as a constituent, I was FURIOUS that they did not send President Bush back the bill that he vetoed months ago. This war has gone on long enough and it is high time that the Democrats did something…anything…to show that they were serious about their promise to end this war. Oh yeah, did you write a blog when the republicans pulled this same stunt back in ’03? http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/07/17/cq_3104.html
amen, ray, amen
in the universe of “stunts”, this one is disturbing:
Today, the Bush administration announced that it has arrested the “highest-ranking Iraqi leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.” The announcement comes just one day after the release of the National Intelligence Estimate. Interestingly, as the WSJ notes, “the capture took place two weeks ago but was not announced until today.”
bob, you know me; ray, you don’t. just because i didn’t post about the repubbies doing this in 03 doesn’t mean i’m supporting them — careful what you imply. first, i did not have a blog in 03. second, i only posted on this one because i happened to have cnn on in a hotel when senator durbin was talking about it, and his quote comparing the senate staying up all night to a soldier staying up all night caught me as absurd.
bob, of course the capture took place before the information was released. if you were going to interogate a prisoner for information why would you release that he was captured before you could even act on any information you might get from him.
ray, you would like an “end to this debacle” but you do not mention how to end this. packing up and going home is not an answer – this will lead to genocide. like it or not we are in this mess and we have a responsibilty to somehow stabilize the situation before we leave. i do not have an answer that would solve the situation – but i do not want to see genocide either. this is not to support the president or the republicans – i am all for bring our troops home as soon as i know that their leaving won’t lead to mass murder. i find it amusing that so many people just want to cut our losses and run with out a care in the world for the iraqi people – we (yes i said “we” because a solid majority of congress voted for this war at one point) – we put them in this situation we can’t just leave them worse than they were before we got there.
marko, i can actually understand your reaction.
absurd can be defined as the quality or condition of existing in a meaningless and irrational world – the political universe has seemed awfully irrational these last 6 years, so any thing that snaps people’s heads back from the numbing news is great in my book
I am no fan of sen durbin (or majority leader reid, for that matter), but I actually admired the performance art of their all-nighter – sorta like the 30 hr famine concept, which in no way is really like being hungry, yet can re-set the frame for some folks
It’s not a real all nighter unless they play sardines and get stuck in the organ pipes.