06-01-01
GOODBYE, SPOILED BRATS! HELLO, MAJORITY FRINGE!


Let's play a brief little game of 'what if'.

What if Zell Miller, the so-called Democrat from Georgia, had decided to leave the Democratic party a month or so ago and become an Independent? And further, what if the Democrats had been in control of the Senate by a hair, and Miller's defection threw control over to the Republicans? Let's pretend! And let's think about the reactions we would have seen from various high-profile Republicans and Democrats.

Tom Daschle, ever the gentleman, would no doubt have expressed regret. He would have candidly admitted that losing control of the Senate was a blow for Democrats, but would also have admitted that Miller simply didn't share the Democrats' beliefs and had probably made the right choice by leaving. A few other Democrats might have sniped at Miller a bit, and their comments would have been featured on all the talk shows as evidence of the dishonorable, nasty and hateful attitude of liberals. Trent Lott would have condemned anyone who made personal attacks on Miller's character, perhaps saying "It's a sad day when a man is attacked for being true to his conscience." Ari Fleischer would have told reporters that Miller was leaving the Democratic party because he, like Bush, wanted there to be a 'new tone' in Washington, and that his switch was evidence of Bush's skill at reaching out across the aisle.

And the rank-and-file Democrats? Oh, we'd've been angry over losing control of the Senate, sure; but there would also have been a widespread sense of 'good riddance'. Why worry over losing a Democrat who always marches in lockstep with the Republicans? Perhaps a few Democrats would have complained that the voters in Georgia voted for a Democrat -- such comments would have been ridiculed by the right-wingers, who would emphatically state that people vote for the person, not the party, and Democrats should quit being such crybabies.

Of course, Miller isn't going to leave the Democratic Party (and frankly, I think that's a pity - he has my blessing to leave whenever he wants, and he can take Feinstein with him), and it's highly unlikely that any other Democratic Senator will either. And we don't have to play 'let's pretend' to talk about Democrats having control of the Senate, because thanks to Jim Jeffords, we DO have control of the Senate.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Okay, I'll admit it - I've been gloating a bit. And perhaps that's not a terribly mature thing to do (though it's an awful lot of fun). But, you know, the right-wingers got exactly what they deserved - if you act like a nasty little brat, you shouldn't expect others to keep sharing your sandbox. Jeffords turned out to be true to his principles and did the right thing, and now that we've got control of the Senate there's less of a chance that Bush will be able to push through his extreme right-wing agenda that the American people never wanted in the first place.

OF COURSE I'm gloating.

And while my gloating may not be terribly mature, it's sure as hell more mature than the unbelievably petulant, spiteful, nasty and childish temper tantrums that the Republicans have been having over the past week. I don't believe I've EVER seen a group of adults act more like a passel of spoiled brats.

Am I surprised? No, of course not, because I've known all along what right-wingers are like. But just because their actions don't surprise me doesn't mean that I'm not disgusted by them.

According to USA Today, Jeffords is now receiving death threats. Well, what did anyone expect? With Trent Lott accusing Jeffords of staging a 'coup of one' (Hey, Trent buddy - in case you forgot, we already HAD a coup in this country, and you were part of it, so quit squealing) and right-wing pundits calling Jeffords everything from a traitor to a coward, of COURSE the freaks are going to start popping out of the woodwork. Remember, these are the kind of extremists who, like Bush, think that they should take their handguns to churches and amusement parks, and believe that being a Christian means heaping vitriolic hatred on anyone who doesn't agree with you.

It's almost funny to watch the mad scrambling of the Bushies as they try to figure out how to spin Jeffords' defection. They'll say anything to avoid taking the blame themselves, and god forbid anyone should be allowed to believe for even a second that Jeffords left because he could no longer support a party that has strayed so far from its roots. But they haven't yet managed to nail down one concrete reason that they can all agree on (because Jeffords is a closet Communist? immature? unethical? cowardly?), primarily because most of them are too busy wailing and pulling at their hair and sniveling about how unfair the world is.

They insist that Jeffords' switch is 'different' because it's caused them to lose control of the Senate. When they're able to stop blubbering for a few seconds, they put on their 'moral outrage' hat and say that no politican of character would ever switch parties when doing so would shift control. This excuse is typical right-wing, lamebrain rationalizing. Jeffords left the Republican party because he can't stomach their right-wing extremist agenda; it's a matter of principle. Since he IS a man of principle, how could any rational person think that he would put his principles and personal convictions aside just so the party THAT HE DOES NOT AGREE WITH would stay in power?

Though he may never admit it, Jeffords knows - as do we all, even the lying hypocrites in the Republican party - that the American people do not support Bush's agenda. He knows that the people of Vermont are largely Independent. He knows that Bush has no mandate, and that the policies currently being rammed through by the Republicans do not represent the wishes of the people. And I'll bet that he's also savvy enough to know that by leaving the Republican party at this time, he just might be able to avoid the backlash that's going to affect all Republicans who were in office at the time of the coup.

I don't know that I'd call Jim Jeffords a hero - after all, he's simply doing the right thing, and it's a sad state of affairs if we bestow the title of hero on people simply for doing the right thing. If he speaks out against the stolen election, then he'll be a hero.

But there is a title that he's earned for sure, and it's not one of the titles that the whiny little brats in the Republican party have been trying to give him. Jeffords isn't a traitor, or a coward, or an immoral person...but because he has stood up publicly to say that he opposes Bush, Jim Jeffords - whether he knows it or not - is now one of the 'fringe people'.

Welcome aboard, Jim. It's nice to be in the majority, isn't it?


~Rose




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