moving backwards...

All morning, as I've read articles about gas prices closing gas stations, the lead-in to the House vote on the new bill, sans timetable, Russ's criticism of his peers, yet more of the Alberto Gonzalez epic: I've had to wonder: where did November '06 go?

What happened to the changes that they were supposed to be enacting with our majority? When did they turn in their teeth and bow their heads to Bush? We'll see how Hil-dog (I love that name) and Obama end up voting, but Biden jumped right in to "support the troops." DK said that he'd vote against it, because he won't issue the blank check to Bush. I have to admire that. The same way I have to admire Feingold for his thought that "the desire for political comfort won out over real action" when his co-Dems caved.

Why are these people allowing the President to hold our troops hostage? How is it that he is allowed to do this? In this unwinnable occupation that slowly bleeds American lives and dollars, destroying the lives of thousands of people and families, on both sides of the world, why are we shutting down the voices of the majority who want us out? If we're going to fight a "War on Terror" shouldn't we take a good look at the terrorist in the highest seat of power? Rather than give him carte blanche, we should be tightening his leash.

It's my hope that Feingold and Kucinich, despite the fact that one isn't running and the other won't get an actual party nomination, will somehow cast enough of a shadow that the frontrunners have to answer some of these questions. Maybe the ethical value of Feingold will rub off somehow, somewhere. For every effort he makes, whether it's the Clean Water Act, Campaign finance reform, or health care, he makes me wonder why we can't see this sort of Senator everywhere, and why we can't get a candidate of the same fiber for Presidency.