The Washington Post lead editorial today is entitled, "Return to Stalemate." Basically, what we have is a Republican-controlled Congress that has been an utter, complete, unmitigated failure. That's bad enough, but it's even worse considering that the country is "at war," according to none other than our fearless leader, George W. Bush. For the Republican Congress to accomplish nothing while our brave men and women are off fighting in Iraq is disgraceful, obviously, and cause for tossing 'em out on their lazy behinds. Just 62 more days, and we'll have our chance. Anyway, the Republican Congress is baaaaaaack now, after a 5-week summer vacation from...uh, doing nothing! Pretty pathetic, I know, but that's what you get with people like George "Wounded Sea Slug" Allen, Tom "Davis" DeLay, Frank Wolf "in sheep's clothing," Jo Ann "Candy Cane" Davis, Thelma "Cheney" Drake, Virgil "MZM Scandal" Goode, and Eric "Abramoff" Cantor in charge.
So, now that this fine group of Republican Congresscritters is back in Washington, what do we have to look forward to? According to the Washignton Post:
[Congress has] scheduled just 19 working days between now and the November election. Not a lot of time to accomplish much, but with this Congress there's little danger of that in any event. Indeed, two of the supposed must-do items on the congressional agenda -- lobbying reform and immigration -- have all but disappeared. Republican leaders must be gambling that voters are too forgetful to remember about the first, and too dumb to know who to blame for inaction on the second.
Let's get this straight; the Republican Congress has done nothing on a) lobbying reform in the year of Jack Abramoff and other lobbying-related scandals (see Tom "DeLay" Davis, Virgil "MZM" Goode); and b) immmigration, at a time when the public is practically screaming for action on this issue. Wow, that's impressive. About as impressive as this bunch has been on the budget deficit, education, energy, the environment, health care, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, stem cells, and a million other issues. Heckuva job, guys. Heckuva job. I will close by citing the Washington Post's possibly prophetic final words:
Leaders may think that window dressing will be enough to mollify their constituents. We hope that voters will not be so quickly fooled or easily distracted.
Just 62 more days, and we can do something about the "do nothing" Congress. I can't wait.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
Historians have already rendered their judgement that Bush is among the worst presidents ever. (See "The Worst President in History? One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush" by Sean Wilentz Rolling Stone 04/21/2006
http://www.rollingst... and "Historians vs. George W. Bush" by Robert S. McElvaine History News Network 12/05/2005 http://hnn.us/articl...)