A Tale of Two Obstructionists

Remember the guy on the right?

He's not in the Senate anymore. He lost his seat to a standard-issue Republican thug after Republicans portrayed him as the "chief obstructionist" to our idiot president's agenda.

In those days, "obstructionist" was a bad word. For some reason, the Democrats had a tough time convincing the voters of South Dakota that obstructing a C- minus student with his finger on the button and his mind on the bar was a good thing. Hence, Mr. Dashcle went back to South Dakota.

See the prick guy on the left? He's still in the Senate, despite his very public disgrace after revealing his preference for segregationist candidate and fellow racist Strom Thurmond in the 1948 presidential election. (He must be thrilled with Thursday's Supreme Court decision. But I digress.)

These days, "obstructionist" is a good word in some circles. Witness how the racist (and now mercifully) minority leader, who made a career of labeling Daschle an "obstructionist" feels about the word today:

“[T]he strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail. So far it’s working for us.”

And it is, by thwarting the Democratic congress' agenda and dragging congressional approval below George W. Bush levels. (This is overall approval, btw. The public still prefers Democrats to run congress, for obvious reasons).

"Obstructionist" needs to become a bad word again. Why? Because the majority of the country disapproves of the Republican party's agenda and because the obstructionist Republican minority in the Senate is impeding the ability of the country to move forward and away from that agenda. The Democrats' leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, seems to need this made crystal clear for him, and this petition, which asks Reid to stand up to Republican obstructionists, is one way to do that.

So please sign it. Then maybe one day soon, we can send that repugnant minority back to Trent Lott's rebuilt porch, where they can sit in their rocking chairs and reminisce about the days when women and black people knew their place, but, curiously, Strom Thurmond's pecker knew no bigotry.

/via Digby