The New York Times today reports on further evidence, as if it were needed, that the United States is a one party state in which the constitution is nothing more than a museum piece that serves roughly the same purpose as the bones of a saint. People venerate it, but it has no power in the real world.
Bowing to President Bush's demands, the House passed a mammoth package for the Pentagon on Wednesday that contains a pay raise for troops, billions of dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and some political protection for lawmakers during a tense election season....
To earn President Bush's signature rather than a veto, House and Senate negotiators dropped several provisions he opposed. They include a ban on private interrogators in U.S. military detention facilities and what would have amounted to congressional veto power over a security pact with Iraq.
Not passing it before Congress adjourns this week was not an option...
Note that, worse than caving on the issue of torture, they can't even stand up for their constitutional responsibility to okay treaties. All this, as Atrios so often reminds us, against President 24 percent approval rating.
Time to quit fooling ourselves. It's not because democrats are weak. It's because they are complicit.
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