Your United States Congress:
The House overwhelmingly approved a resolution Friday in support of Iranian dissidents as that country’s top cleric warned protesters to end demonstrations.
The resolution was approved in a 405-1 vote, with two members voting present. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) was the only lawmaker opposed to the resolution. Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and David Loebsack (D-Iowa) voted present.
They simply just can not keep their mouths shut, and rather than working on issues within their authority, they waste everyone’s time with this nonsense. Additionally, the administration had to scramble the troops to water down the resolution from the one wingnut in chief Mike Pence was offering:
The White House worked with House Democrats to moderate a fire-breathing resolution circulated by Republicans to rebuke Iran for its post-election crackdown on dissent, according to an Obama aide.
The new resolution, similar to a version introduced in the Senate, “condemns the ongoing violence against demonstrators by the Government of Iran and pro-government militias, as well as the ongoing government suppression of independent electronic communication through interference with the Internet and cellphones.”
It’s expected to pass the House today.
The language, while relatively strong, is a toned-down version of the resolution pushed for by House GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.).
There was no point in offering this resolution, and I bet that Iran and the rest of the world will find any resolution about as compelling as the Bush administration found the Berkeley City Council’s vote to impeach Bush and Cheney.
Only Ron Paul voted against it.
robertdsc
Good for Paul.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Cowardly fuckers. They didn’t dare go on record as voting against the resolution. That smug, preening twat Pence was on Tweety’s show today. I had to turn off the tv before I kicked in the screen.
asiangrrlMN
Seriously? Ron Paul? Well, at least Keith Ellison only voted present. Yeah, I know, small comfort, but I take it where I can get it.
“We have all this shit to do–let’s pass a meaningless resolution!”
TenguPhule
To be fair, if we could somehow sucker Bush and Cheney to Berkeley, it would become a hell of a lot more compelling then this to them.
TenguPhule
Pelosi, you’re the majority leader.
PUT YOUR FUCKING BOOT ON THIS GUY’S NECK!
tripletee (formerly tBone)
If they really cared, they would have painted the Congress building green.
Laura W
Best damn photo choice ever.
Da Bomb
They are such Horses asses. They can’t seem to agree on healthcare plan that is viable and for everyone in this flippin country.
But let’s decide to stick our noses where they don’t belong! Yeah… we have such great spineless and shitty congresscritters.
Comrade Stuck
Another battle in congress’s neverending war for best 30 second ad.
Death By Mosquito Truck
If they really cared theyda sung the Iranian national anthem on the steps of the Capitol.
Cat Lady
I CAN HAZ NEWTRON BOM NOW PLZ?
PurpleGirl
John Adams (no date given):
In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.
Leelee for Obama
I agree with Laura about the photo. I want to send him chocolate, or beer…or both! Damnit, these idiots in Congress are more annoying than my very estranged husband. Why can’t they just STFU? Was it a “sense of” resolution, because they always make me crazy-we all know Congress has too little sense to spare any!
Comrade Stuck
@TenguPhule
A Stiletto Pump might make the point.
gnomedad
Obama / Paul 2012!
jrg
How many of them know that this will be used to hurt the resistance over there? How many of them are weighing that against the ads their opponents will run against them next year?
Next time I hear a wingnut railing about Pelosi, I might just join in. Gutless. Totally gutless.
John
And how, exactly, do you know that it will be used to hurt the resistance? The resolution is pretty moderate, and more or less repeats what Obama has already said. I don’t think it’s an especially big deal.
dmsilev
“Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” – Mark Twain
-dms
bvac
It’s times like this that I thank god John McCain is not president.
JenJen
This from an “we’re all about ACTION!” institution where at least 40% of its members were, not all that long ago, slamming Senator Obama for his meaningless words and empty “hopey-changey” rhetoric.
Huh.
@Laura W: Word.
Death By Mosquito Truck
Why does Ron Paul hate theocracy?
jrg
If it does make a difference, do you think it will be positive? If it won’t make a difference then what’s the point?
Elie
Weak, craven — and that’s the Democrats!
I shake my head in disgust…
We are going to have to politically hurt more than a few of these people and possibly do other creative stuff to get healthcare reform passed…
Beneath contempt — the Democrats at least should know how wrong this is….
Lola
Ron Paul had some high praise for Obama’s handling of Iran, too. For once Paul made sense.
Chuck Butcher
I suppose that passing this thing was better than having a big public debate about Pense’s mess. Sometimes a bad alternative beats a worse one.
That certainly doesn’t address how much better it would have been for the idiots to butt out in this case, but they couldn’t help themselves…
The Populist
Uhhh John, whenever we say anything questioning the mullahs over there they milk it to rile up the pro-government wack jobs.
It is in our best interests to keep quiet, issue cautious support and let this play out.
JenJen
Meanwhile, Howard Kurtz is not pleased with the food & beverage offerings at Nerd Prom 2 this evening:
Awww.
YellowJournalism
I wonder how many times a day he has to do that? If he gets a permanent indent on his face, we know we’re screwed.
The Populist
Honestly, I am done with it all. The Dems are wimps. I thought that MAYBE they’d get things done and tell the GOP to fuck off. Nope. Hopes dashed.
I still like Obama but he is trying my patience with this fear of pissing off the all but destroyed right wing crap. Hopes dashed some more.
I understand the right are a-holes who don’t give two SHITS about America but c’mon. The Dems need to nut up or I firmly believe the right will get back some seats and make things even more frustrating :(
Comrade Stuck
@Lola:
Unfortunately, when he’s not making sense he’s insane.
Laura W
@JenJen: Crudités cost, JenJen.
So Josh Marshall was on Colbert two nights ago?
Finally getting around to the week.
Ash
I wonder how many times a day exactly Obama facepalms. It’s probably an unhealthy amount.
Martin
Did Congress happen to also appropriate any money to buy U.S. flags and kerosene for the Iranian hardliners? Might as well have…
mey
@gnomedad:
I’d vote that ticket.
john b
this really doesn’t seem like a big deal. a house resolution doesn’t have the same force as a video of the president saying something. also, this resolution says almost the exact same thing that obama has already said multiple times.
Dreggas
that image so needs the spaceballs quote “I knew it, I’m surrounded by assholes!”
JenJen
@Laura W:Spendy, indeed! Ana Marie Cox points to this, calling it a v v v v bad sign.
I really need a break from reading this Twitter crap, because it’s as if everything Digby ever said about The Village comes true before your eyes, over and over and over. I mean, I knew that already, but I think I liked it better when all we had was their writing, and we weren’t privy to their social media cocktail chatter.
Puts the last few legislatively depressing days in context, it really does.
Stevenovitch
Paul was just voting along the lines of his rigid ideology. He will always vote against anything that contravenes his isolationist wank fest. This time it happened to land him on the right side but I don’t see why he should get any credit for it.
Comrade Stuck
@Ash:
i wonder if he mutters to himself “I’m such a fucking idiot for wanting this job”
JL
@The Populist: Somehow I can see Obama hitting his head with the palm of his hand looking like The Thinker and saying WTF. While folks are standing in unemployment lines and without health insurance they have to appease the whackos. Good Job guys!
Violet
Ron Paul stands up for his principles. I don’t always agree with him, but my hat’s off to him for walking his talk. It’s refreshing.
Pelosi…ugh. Useless. Where are the pols of old, like LBJ who could strongarm people with a lean? Today’s crop of politicians seem much more interested in either having affairs and meddling where they don’t belong than actually doing the people’s business.
calipygian
Pence does know that the aim of the protesters is to protest against what they think is the betrayal of the values of the Islamic Revolution, right?
That Musavi was the Prime Minister in the 80s who sent Hezbollah to attack the Beirut embasy, killing 240 Marines, right?
I can’t wait for the Democrat to run against Pence and his support of the values of the Islamic Revolution.
Laura W
@JenJen:
Who’s gonna intervene for who here, JenJen? hmmmm?
A woman of your depth and intellect finds value in the mutterings of a woman who considers THIS a share-worthy cat photo?
Good Lord, JenJen. SNAP OUT OF IT!
John Cole
This resolution is either pointless or potentially damaging. Take your pick.
And if we are so thin-skinned and insecure that we need to make statements about how we support Democracy, maybe we should look at our behaviors and wonder why we think we need to keep making these statements. John Ensign talked quite a bit about family values, you know.
Delia
Where are you, Pete DeFazio?
When Ron Paul’s not ranting about the gold standard or the Fed he makes sense. At least he’s his own kind of fool and not anybody else’s. Which is more than you can say for the rest of the outfit.
J. Michael Neal
I’m thinking a pair of high heeled cavalry boots would suit Pelosi quite well.
J. Michael Neal
@asiangrrlMN: I need an answer to my question in the open thread! Or I’ll . . .
[I’m auditioning.]
b-psycho
@Stevenovitch: What exactly is wrong, in principle, with not getting involved in matters that have nothing to do with the security of the U.S.?
Seriously, what makes that particular stance a wankfest?
stevelaudig
Pence is the gold standard [or turd standard] for stupid. Always has been, always will been. Unteachable.
Svensker
@Stevenovitch:
Paul’s isolationism is the best thing about him. Would that the rest of the government felt the same way.
Tonal Crow
I see nothing wrong with the resolution as writ, and I wish that Obama had been as forceful about the repression of dissent. The resolution (and Obama) says/said nothing about the election itself, which is appropriate until we know more about the nature and extent of the cheating.
If you want to talk about Democratic capitulation, there are thousands of more-substantive instances of that. Most recently, what about taking single-payer off the table, then watering down the public option, and finally offering to take *it* off the table, too?
BombIranForChrist
Next up, Congress will hold week-long hearings on Steroids in Baseball while the economy burns and people die from lack of health insurance.
kthxbye.
Comrade Dread
Non-interventionism is the better term. He’s pro-trade and pro-diplomacy, but against military action (unless we’re attacked) and against foreign aid, IIRC.
Been a while since I frequented his follower’s blogs.
Decent guy and more principled than most Congressmen. If he just ditched the gold standard rhetoric and took a strong stand against the fringe racist jackholes who support him, I’d like him more.
Martin
Not sure if anyone but the supreme leader has the power to do that, to be honest.
John Cole
What does it accomplish, exactly, other than to give Khamenei something to wave around?
Nothing. It was a total waste of time.
JL
@BombIranForChrist: and you have a problem with that? Under Bush he would have Clemens, Sosa and ARod at the White House talking about family values. President Obama doesn’t have the time to swoon over steroid users.
Wow, spell check lets Clemens and Sosa through but still not Obama. wow.. just wow Maybe he needs to present his birth certificate with a raised seal to the spelling folks. just wow.
burnspbesq
@John:
Because Khamenei and Nejad are going to use this to depict the protestors as stooges of the Great Satan. Which gives them carte blanche to turn the Basij loose.
Any blood that flows in the streets of Tehran tomorrow is on Mike Pence’s hands.
Mnemosyne
@Comrade Dread:
It would be good if he dropped the “abortion is murder” rhetoric, too. Until then, no sale.
Digital Amish
I looked at that photo and I could see the thought bubble- “Michelle, pack up the kids, we’re movin’ to France. Fuck these yahoos!”
Tonal Crow
@John Cole:
I expect my representatives to stand up for liberty, even when it’s purely symbolic. The real problem is that that’s pretty much the *only* time that they stand up for it. As for Khamenei waving things around, this adds less than an atom’s thickness to his phonebook of grievances — real and imagined — against the U.S.
You wanna talk total wastes of time? What about allowing the GOP *any* say at all on the healthcare bills?
Mnemosyne
Apropos of nothing, Ron Paul was how I knew Obama was going to win in November. My wingnut neighbor who had Bush/Cheney signs up the wazoo in 2004 put up a Ron Paul sign during the Republican primaries and never took it down. Never replaced it with a McCain/Palin or even added one. It was just Ron Paul all the way to November.
When you lose the California wingnuts, you’re toast.
Dulcie
@Digital Amish: I said to friends right before the inaguration that I wouldn’t blame him if he changed his mind. We knew he was inheriting a silo of shit, but no one knew how big or toxic said silo was going to be.
JL
@Mnemosyne: Apropos of nothing also, I live in GA and now see more Obama stickers on cars than McCain. I still see the occasional Bush sticker though. (no McCain)
Tonal Crow
@burnspbesq:
He’s been gearing up to do that for a week, and — as a tyrant — he needs no excuses for tyrannical behavior. Pence is a huge ass who should be wrapped in a pink burka, emblazoned with 76 separate insults to Allah and 76 more to Muhammad, and airdropped into South Waziristan. But it’s Khamenei and his goons who’re shedding the blood in Iran, not Pence’s resolution.
Genine
I really, really, really, really dislike congress right now. Between this and their taking a public option for health care off the table, I think they’re nothing but a bunch of tools.
Don’t even get me started on some Supreme Court decisions this week… Yeesh!
dslak
@John Cole: Whether Khamanei has something to wave around seems immaterial at this point. Today, he accused Obama (although, tellingly, not by name) of saying that he wanted people to march in the streets and overthrow the government. I’m sure he also could have printed out those comments on a sheet and waved it around, if he had felt it necessary.
Midnight Marauder
@Tonal Crow:
When someone is already using you as a prominent scapegoat, and has been doing so for decades, why would you ever give them ANY ammunition to further use against you? If Khameni is just going to make shit up about the US anyway, then what good does it do to play right into his hands?
And more importantly, the whole thing was a giant goddamn waste of time.
grimc
Not sure about that, either, but lots of people don’t understand that Moussavi is a reformer (whatever that means) by Iranian standards. I’ve even heard that he himself isn’t a reformer, but counts the Iranian left as part of his constituency. More would stay the same than would actually change. Which pretty much makes him Iran’s Obama.
Tonal Crow
@Midnight Marauder:
There’s another side to this, which is that the resolution might, in some small way, hearten the Iranian resistance. I certainly appreciate it when some foreign official discusses, say, how GOPed up our War on Drugs (or our healthcare system) is. As for this resolution making the dictators more dictatorial, I don’t see it. They have all the excuses they need to shed all the blood they want.
Awesom0
How long do you reckon it will take before we descend into Freedom Fry-levels of idiocy?
Anyone care to start a pool?
Never mind…I guess that’s the entire point of this post.
J. Michael Neal
@Tonal Crow: Of course, the people actually in the Iranian resistance keep saying that they don’t want support from the US government. Individual Americans, yes, but not the government.
Steeplejack
@Laura W:
Okay, I was all prepared to ease in and say you’re being too hard on yourself, but, in fact, that is not a share-worthy cat photo. Damn.
Napoleon
@John Cole:
Look what we are dealing with, morons who stick support the troops stickers on their SUVs and thing moronic resolutions do something. It is easy to make fun of Congress, but the problem is with the American people, and you need look no farther then this thread.
Stevenovitch
@b-psycho:
Ideological rigidness is bullshit. It is easily 90% of what makes most republicans catastrophically bad leaders. If you want to go ahead and argue that there will never be a case when isolationism is not only a bad choice, but a criminally evil choice then I don’t think I have much more to say to you.
PeopleAreNoDamnGood
@bvac:
You know who thanks God every day that McCain is not president?
John McCain.
Tonal Crow
@Napoleon: This “moronic resolution[]” might be just the thing that persuades an immigration judge to grant an Iranian dissident’s asylum claim that she might otherwise deny. Sure, Pence is an ass, Congress is a steaming pile of troll-shit, and the American people have learned simultaneously to love symbols and to hate the substance they symbolize. But sometimes a symbolic act is appropriate. And — on balance — I think that this one is.
Napoleon
@Tonal Crow:
Are you George Packer?
Get off your high horse, we are not the center of the universe.
tammanycall
@dslak:
He didn’t say Obama’s name because the president has been restrained in his language. In the same speech he criticized the U.S. for Waco (???). He’s reaching, and he knows it.
Tonal Crow
@Napoleon:
No, I’m Don Rumsfeld. Get a grip; you are not the center of the universe.
dslak
@tammanycall: That may be part of it. The other part may be that Obama is popular with average Iranians. The Waco criticism was meant to demonstrate that even the US does not respect human rights, although I can’t see why he didn’t just refer to Abu Ghraib to make the same point.
b-psycho
@Stevenovitch: Non-intervention doesn’t = pacifism. Obviously a legitimate defensive situation is acceptable.
Nice job ignoring half of the question, tho’…
Little Dreamer
Was Congress out to lunch when Obama made that speech about how we had inserted ourselves in their elections once and it was wrong and we shouldn’t ever do it again?
Oh, I get it, this is Republicans making Obama look like a hypocrite and Democrats going along for the ride, as usual.
Yeah, shouldda known.
If the people truly want democracy, I want it for them, but we can’t do it, they have to do it themselves. We have no place to be screwing with another of their elections.
Laura W
@Steeplejack: Whoa there. I’ve never seen you confused on this blog (that I recall), whereas I am
frequentlyusually confused on this blog.You did not think that was MY crappy cat photo did you? I was linking to Ms. Cox’s crappy cat photo. I do not share crappy cat photos. That is what the delete functions on the camera, and iPhoto, are for, to the best of my understanding.
All my cat photos rock.
Proof.
AhabTRuler
They heard him, they just don’t care. What, like 75% of Congress has no problem with foreign adventurism as long as it doesn’t threaten their reëlection.
Mnemosyne
@Stevenovitch:
Since we’re talking about a situation that’s occurring right now and not a hypothetical, please present your case explaining why isolationism is not appropriate in this particular instance.
PeopleAreNoDamnGood
@Little Dreamer:
Congress does this nonsense for only one reason: To posture to the voters back home. There isn’t one person in congress who cares what the vote means to anyone overseas.
Congress is about theater.
Little Dreamer
@AhabTRuler:
Well if they want a protracted war with Iran now, they may not have a congressional seat to get reelected to (I mean, I’m sure they won’t want that seat if the position only pays minimum wage, if that, and forget the benefits, those are gone)…. oh and don’t forget the special tomato slam treatment they’ll get from their constituents (of course, not just tomatoes, all sorts of vegetables, fruits, leftover dinners, spit, slime…).
Little Dreamer
@PeopleAreNoDamnGood:
Nancy Pelosi voting on a resolution that goes against what Barack Obama said just a few days ago would garner a very strongly worded letter with a big F.Y. at the end of it if I were her constituent.
gex
@asiangrrlMN: Now, now, don’t go too easy on them. We’re lucky if it is meaningless gesture. We pray it isn’t a “get tons of Iranians slaughtered now that they can crackdown on an “American supported” uprising” gesture.
gex
@jrg: My worst interpretation is that there are enough in Congress who want to destabilize Iran in order to give us or Israel a pretext for military action. I hope I am being overly cynical.
ellie
What the hell?
Little Dreamer
@gex:
Unforunately, you’re not alone in that feeling.
Wasn’t so long ago we were hearing “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran”.
Republicans would LOVE to bankrupt this country completely and totally draw us into that conflict (it’s the bathtub of Grover Norquist’s dreams).
burnspbesq
@Awesom0:
Can I have “three days ago” in your pool?
D-Chance.
@Comrade Dread:
Exactly. It’s not isolationism as much as it’s “mind our own damn business”.
asiangrrlMN
@gex: I never thought of that. Damn. Unfortunately, it makes sense.
Steeplejack
@Laura W:
A thousand pardons. I must have been confused because it was still
daylightbefore midnight when I posted. Much too early for me to be engaging in repartee.You still should have given that cat a skritch in the blueberry video. She was begging for it.
drumwolf
Republicans have already proved that they’re stubbornly determined to follow their most ignorant, bellicose and sanctimonious instincts even when it’s counterproductive to their own long-term electoral interests (like when they piss off Latinos and moderates). If they’re that willing to disregard their own best interests, then they sure as hell are not going to be any more considerate about the best interests of Iranian protesters.
As for the Dems who caved in and went along, saying that Democratic lawmakers are spineless cowards is kinda like saying the sky is blue or water is wet.