01.18.05
The Last Democrat
Feinstein tends to get all the press for some reason, but Senator Barbara Boxer is the one politician in office today for whom I’m truly proud to have voted (especially now that State Assemblyman Darryl Steinberg has been ousted by term limits). Why? Check out her recent exchange with Condoleeza Rice. An excerpt:
Here’s the point. You and I could sit here and go back and forth and present our arguments, and maybe somebody watching a debate would pick one or the other, depending on their own views. But I’m not interested in that. I’m interested in the facts. So when I ask you these questions, I’m going to show you your words, not my words.
And, if I might say, again you said you’re aware of the stakes in Iraq; we sent our beautiful people—and thank you, thank you so much for your comments about them—to defend freedom. You sent them in there because of weapons of mass destruction. Later, the mission changed when there were none. I have your quotes on it. I have the president’s quotes on it.
And everybody admits it but you that that was the reason for the war. And then, once we’re in there, now it moves to a different mission, which is great. We all want to give democracy and freedom everywhere we can possibly do it. But let’s not rewrite history. It’s too soon to do that.
If what Boxer says makes sense to you, she’s got a petition you can sign and a PAC you can donate to. Will it make a difference? Directly, probably not. Rice will be appointed Secretary of State regardless. In the long run, however, it might just help reduce the number of invertebrate Democrats crawling through Congress, and that’s a worthwhile goal as far as I’m concerned.
(Via Metafilter.)
MichaelD Said:
January 20, 2005 at 12:59 pm
I have tried to avoid today’s “coronation” but to no avail. It seems to creep in everywhere. The fact that protesters are keep in “safe areas” out of the site of the press and the motorcade hasn’t stopped them (thankfully) but it certainly has reached a level where I have to wonder what our “freedom” means anymore. I know we had many of the same things under other presidents of both major parties, but the level of “protection” in this event is certainly unparalleled.
It is nice that someone is trying to make the administration account for the war and our loss of international support. Ms Rice is taking the brunt of that as I feel she should – but she certainly isn’t the only one in the administration who is at fault. The problem is we won’t really get a chance to change even the tone of the debate for at least two years and maybe not even then. It looks like a long road ahead…