Not a moment longer

I guess that "apoplectic rage" is the phrase that would best describe my reaction to this story by Murray Waas from yesterday's National Journal (via HuffPo). Mr. Waas writes:

Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, cautioned other White House aides in the summer of 2003 that Bush's 2004 re-election prospects would be severely damaged if it was publicly disclosed that he had been personally warned that a key rationale for going to war had been challenged within the administration. Rove expressed his concerns shortly after an informal review of classified government records by then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley determined that Bush had been specifically advised that claims he later made in his 2003 State of the Union address -- that Iraq was procuring high-strength aluminum tubes to build a nuclear weapon -- might not be true, according to government records and interviews.

Answer me this, America: How can we allow this man and his entire band of cronies to continue in their positions of power for even one more day? How can we allow this President and his inner circle to escape accountability for their demonstrably insidious, pre-determined, fabricated plan to start this war for even a moment longer?!

If these proven liars, manipulators, warmongers are not removed from office - or, at the very least, censured - despite the overwhelming evidence that they have misled us at every turn, then how will we explain to the next generation, whose leaders and soldiers and ordinary citizens will still be dealing with the consequences of this Administration's megalomania, that we stood by and did nothing? That we simply waited for Bush's term to run its course, 'cause it was better "political strategy for the midterm elections"? That we couldn't find the time or energy to write a letter, send an e-mail, make a phone call, attend a meeting, knock on a neighborhood door, do whatever was in our power to demand an early end to this 5-year nightmare?

It could not be any more clear by now that our democracy is in the clutches of individuals who will blithely bend the truth, obscure the facts, and ignore the law to do whatever they damn well feel entitled to do - even when that means sacrificing the lives of thousands of callously duped American sons and daughters, and committing the entire nation to a financially ruinous war with no practical end in sight. And, sorry, but anyone who continues to disagree with that assessment is simply being willfully ignorant, and traitorous to the true idea called "America."

As I've repeated ad nauseum, the issue at hand has nothing to do with Party affiliation. It has to do with integrity. It has to do with job competence. It has to do with being able to trust the word of those in positions of decision-making power. So be a registered Republican if you want. Just ask yourself if that label is defined as "blind loyalty to proven hypocrites and liars in the face of widely known facts." I'm willing to bet that that's not what you signed on for.

So why are you so obediently silent, even now?

The timidity and poll-watching of the Democrats is even more inexplicable - and disgusting. If ever there was a time to take a stand, this is it. The removal of this Administration is the one key step without which there's no real point in dreaming of economic, social, or foreign policy change. This must be the central motivating force at the core of any Democratic policy, platform, or party message. Not because it's a winning ad campaign, but because it's the right thing to do.

Yet, even on the wrist-slap topic of censure, Dems are cowering in the wings.

The moment for patience and forgiveness and "I hope he'll do better" is over. Bush and Co. must go, and go now. Elected officials like Russ Feingold and John Conyers deserve the support of every patriotic American, Left or Right. Our grand democratic experiment is under attack from within, and it's up to us to rise and defend it - or to figure out now precisely how we'll explain to our children and grandchildren why we just couldn't be bothered.