A Vote of No Confidence
Today the Democrats are pretending to do something about the Gonzalez mess: they are holding a symbolic vote of no confidence in the attorney general.
The Pweznit has already said he’ll ignore it. It’s doubtful that the vote will even come to the floor, but all over left blogistan, well-meaning folks are encouraging you and me to call in and ask our senators to vote “no confidence”.
Why? Why bother? This is just another dog and pony show to make it look like the Democrats, who were elected on promises to rein in Commander Cuckoo Bananas and end his Bucket of Blood in Iraq, are doing something. They’re not: just like the supplemental war funding vote which allowed the Democrats to hand Bush a blank check while decrying the war, this vote of no confidence does nothing. It’s a waste of time and money. It’s purely symbolic.
“Well,” someone may argue, “it’s all they’ve got. They don’t have the votes to impeach Gonzales.”
If that’s the case, why not impeach him anyway since it’s just as doomed as this meaningless “no confidence” bullshit? If the Democrats pushed an actual impeachment that lost they’d at least be pushing something that has consequences if it does pass.
Aravosis at Americablog is reporting that Arlen Specter will vote “no confidence” on Gonzo. OF COURSE HE WILL: THERE ARE NO CONSEQUENCES FROM THE VOTE IF IT PASSES. Nothing. Bupkes. Zilch. If it was an actual impeachment, you could expect Specter to toe the line.
The pointlessness of this is so mind boggling, I’m going to channel Yoda. “Do or do not. There is no ‘try’”. Just stop, stop, STOP being such a bunch of wussies.
UPDATE: The vote failed. Just like it was meant to do.
