You Can't Sell Out if You Never Fought The Man, Or Something

I always remember the line from SLC Punk:

"I didn't sell out, son. I bought in. Keep that in mind."

People - especially liberal white bloggers who really should know better by now - are pretty excited over the prospect of a Democratic Congress. They believe that Dems will right the wrongs of the Bush Administration and push back against some of the insane policies of the last seven years.

Or, you know, they'll make things worse. Whatever:

As you may know by now, last night the Senate, by a vote of 60-28, passed a Republican sponsored bill that was essentially written by the Bush administration, giving the President everything he wanted, including the right to issue warrantless wiretaps at the discretion of the Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, the man who never met a lie he wasn't willing to tell if it protected the President's hindquarters.

...

How little has changed, despite all the rhetoric emanating from Harry Reid. When push came to shove, the bully in the bully pulpit still got a filibuster proof number of senators to vote for one more brick in the wall cordoning us off from our constitutional rights. More proof that the Democrats are scared of their own shadows, and interested only in keeping their butts firmly planted in their pitiful, and increasingly irrelevant, Congressional offices than they are in doing the people's business.

Bush has a 28% approval rating, and yet I'm not sure if this passed because the Dems are actually afraid of Bush or whether they just want the power for themselves.

It must be tough, seeing the Republicans run roughshod over everything and then realizing you'll be expected to be held to the higher standard of the existing law. Too tough for some, apparently.

I really, really miss Billmon right about now. He was one of the best writers I've ever seen, and he had a way of putting things in a context that made sense to me. Archives can be found here and here (WARNING: ZIP FILE).