There are a whole host of issues where Democrats have shown their true colors… and there’s nothing progressive about them. Bailouts for billionaires, comparing gay marriage to incest/pedophilia, supporting mountaintop removal, continuing the Bush war on civil liberties, the list could go on. However, I think nothing could shock the progressive conscience more than the recent war funding vote, where the Democratic leadership (both White House and Congressional) strong-armed freshman congresspeople into voting for war funding, with the threat of removing party support for their re-election.

Another salient point is that 51 House Democrats voted against war funding when the bill was sure to pass, but when it came up again and could have been defeated by just 39 Democrats voting No, only 32 did so. These were not just vulnerable freshmen playing follow-the-leader to save their seats; many are veteran Democrats who pretended to be anti-war to please their constituents, but sided with the war machine when the chips were down.

Hat tip to David Swanson for keeping score.
“These Congress members voted No for show when it didn’t matter, and voted Yes to fund wars when it came to crunch time: Yvette Clarke, Steve Cohen, Jim Cooper, Jerry Costello, Barney Frank, Luis Gutierrez, Jay Inslee, Steve Kagen, Edward Markey, Doris Matsui, Jim McDermott, George Miller, Grace Napolitano, Richard Neal (MA), James Oberstar, Jan Schakowsky, Mike Thompson, Edolphus Towns, Nydia Velázquez, and Anthony Weiner. And John Lewis, for one reason or another, did not vote.”

Too often, even intelligent people judge the Democrats by their nice words, not by their actions. As you said, Jonathan, we need to hold their feet to the fire and prove to the skeptics that the Green Party is America’s only national progressive party.

Oh Bummer
http://obamboozled.blogspot.com/