Cindy, Please Stop The Circus

by Steve

AP photo

Democrats are just now assuming control in Congress, with a full plate of agenda items facing them, ranging from ethics and lobbying reform, reinstalling pay-as-you-go budget rules, changing our energy policy towards self-sufficient alternative sources, and fixing health care and taxes, holding hearings on Iraq, and making Congress more consumer friendly. And already Cindy Sheehan threatens to derail the Democrats before any of this can get started.

I know many of you support Sheehan and may want the Democrats to focus immediately on shutting down this war or impeaching Bush. Please, let the Democrats demonstrate they can govern and be a real counterweight to Bush, and let them fulfill the agenda they ran on, which has large public support before demanding they rush headlong into actions that will cripple the leadership before it can establish itself. Having Sheehan disrupt and shut down a House Democrats’ press conference doesn’t advance one damn thing, and does nothing to bring the war to a close any sooner. Let the hearings take place, let Bush walk the tightrope of justifying an escalation and let Henry Waxman, Joe Biden, Carl Levin, and Charles Rangel among others drag administration officials out in the open over the next 90 days to explain the last six years. Let the Democrats pass their agenda and let John Murtha hold hearings, and then watch Bush sink himself over the next three weeks on Iraq. If three months from now the Democrats have rubber-stamped an escalation and caved in, then Sheehan should storm Washington with thousands of supporters. But don’t give the Mighty Wurlitzer the material it needs to paint Democrats as crazy extremists, based on the actions of those who righteously want an end to this war but make doing so more difficult.

Please put a sock in it Cindy, at least for now.