Supporting (?) the troops

As HuffPo's Bob Geiger put it today:

We didn't need any further proof that Congressional Republicans really don't give a damn about the troops or their families but we just got it in the United States Senate anyway.

Just moments ago, Senate Republicans succeeded in a filibuster in which they refused to end debate on Virginia Democrat Jim Webb's S. 2012, which would have placed strict limits on National Guard and reserve deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as mandating more downtime at home before active-duty combat troops are returned to battle.

The vote was 56-41 to end debate, with 60 votes needed to move to a full, up-or-down vote on the Webb measure. Once again, the GOP has been successful at destroying another Democratic attempt at helping service members and their families caught in the buzzsaw of the Bush administration's lies and incompetence.

"We have an amendment before us that is critical for the strength of our military and the well-being of our troops. Regardless of where we stand on the war, I would hope that we stand as one in our commitment to keeping our military the strongest in the world," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) before the vote. "We should all agree that we can't sustain that strength if our men and women in uniform aren't given the protection and care they need. That's not a Democratic talking point or a Republican talking point - it's just common sense."

Apparently not to Republicans, who have now drawn yet another line in the sand -- this one saying that, in addition to not caring about keeping America's troops in Iraq forever, they don't even care if they have to go back four or five times with insufficient training, rest and time with their families.

I've just finished writing the following to all 40 Republicans that stabbed our military in the back (Lieberman, quite frankly, isn't worth the effort), and urge you to do the same:

Senator,

With your defeat today (by hypocritical, obstructionist filibuster, no less!) of the Webb-Hagel Amendment, you and your peers in the Republican Party have reached a new level of shame. Given the long list of egregious decisions made by elected officials of your ilk over the past 7 years, I'd have thought it impossible that your Party could sink any lower.

When coupled with the recent commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence (which I'm sure you vigorously supported); the continued stonewalling of Congress by your beloved Leader in the federal prosecutor firing investigation; and the testimony of our outgoing Surgeon General that this administration has regularly suppressed accurate (i.e. scientifically supported) health information, it has become clear that your party now stands for the worst in political and human behavior.

It is my fervent hope that the Republican Party pays heavily at the voting booth for its track record of obfuscation, greed, international belligerence, secrecy, illegality, treason against our Constitution, and out-and-out two-faced lying. These are traits that you yourself have had no small part in enabling, excusing, and covering up during your lockstep support of an out-of-control White House.

You and your Grand Old Party have come to represent "values" that include torture, fearmongering, cronyism, gross incompetence, illegal domestic spying, homophobia, and the denial of women's privacy rights. Your overt attempts to turn America into a secretive religious theocracy at perpetual war turn the stomachs of true Americans.

You and your Conservative co-conspirators deserve to literally be spat upon in our streets for the ways in which you have made our nation a global pariah, and your relentless campaign to turn us against one another for self-serving political gain. What you have done to my country has made it virtually unrecognizable.

And for that - and for today's shameful betrayal of our men and women in uniform - you deserve your own private corner in Purgatory.

Proudly and patriotically Liberal,

BobP

The list of Senatorial obstructionists is here. Senate contact info is here. Feel free to cut and paste.