So much for Senate Democrats having the opportunity to bring up a 'no confidence' vote on beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The Senate, voted 53-38 today in favor of a motion to bring the 'no confidence' resolution to full debate. 60 votes were required. Thus, there will be no vote.
The GOP, following RNC talking points, have banded together to use this as an opportunity to target Democrats as ineffectual and have accused them of merely playing politics.
The L.A. Times describes the strategy as follows:
"The policymaking Senate Republican Conference began circulating a series of talking points Friday urging Republicans to vote against the no-confidence resolution.
"'This is a political stunt, a waste of time that distracts from more important Senate business, and is offensive to basic constitutional principles,' according to a copy of the GOP talking points obtained by the Los Angeles Times."
Since, the Democrats remain incapable of spinning these stories, this strategy of blaming the Democrats appears to be working.
In the aftermath of this story, we have been treated to endless sound bites from George Bush, Tony Snow, Trent Lott and the lockstep GOP robots talking about the meaninglessness of a 'no confidence' vote and how the Democrats are merely playing politics.
To a degree, they are right. What is with the Democrat's timid approach in dealing with the GOP?
It may not pass, but if the Democrats really want to send a message they would have tried to set in motion an impeachment proceeding against Mr. Gonzales. Maybe it would fail, but there is no that way the GOP could say that the Dems were merely introducing legislation that had no teeth.
As the GOP games continue and the Democrats allow themselves to be portrayed as weaklings, it is high time that Dems rolled up their sleeves.
What have they got to lose?
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