Thanks, Thanks and No Thanks...

Thank you David Westrate.

I don't know you, but I thank you for your letter to the editor in Wednesday's Leader Telegram where you apologize to BP and refer to the "Orwellian" Obama administration for insisting BP fully fund the cleanup of its oil spill.  I assume you're taking orders from another Westrate (Brian - EC County Republican Chairman) who apparently isn't dumb enough to write the letter himself. Too bad. Keep it up the good work and apologize to BP as much as you can between now and Nov. 2.  Don't let your buddy Ron Johnson hold back either... please!

BTW - I find your use of the word "Orwellian" to be Orwellian.  I'm pretty sure Orwell would agree with me.

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Thank you also to Whitehall's own Newt Gingrich,

for coming to northern Wisconsin to campaign for Sean Duffy.  There was a chance that some of the voters who aren't Fox News zombies would think that Duffy was a "different kind of Republican," somebody who would be independent, moderate... you know, normal (although that is kind of hard with a Sarah Palin endorsement around your neck).  But Newt Gingrich came to town and reminded us why this year won't be like 1994 after all.  Because, in 1994, nobody knew who Newt Gingrich was.  Now we do, and the more he appears with candidates like Sean Duffy, the better.  So thank you, Newt Gingrich.

Hope you got some books sold too.

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Dear Senator Feingold,

I like you.  You've proven you can be independent when the time is right.  That's not the same thing as being independent when it's convenient.

Any time that you (or any other Democratic Senator) can't provide Democratic support for a strong bill, the bill has to be weakened in order to grab a tiny shred of Republican votes.  That's why the stimulus bill had to be watered down to the point that people don't believe it worked... because it was too small to work well.  That's why there is no public option forcing 30 million Americans will get insurance coverage from for-profit insurance companies whose first allegiance is to its shareholders, not to them. 

There's no denying that the Senate is a broken institution.  The filibuster and seniority rules have kept the Senate from being an effective body for more than 150 years (if it ever truly was).  It protected slavery as long as it could and prevented civil rights bills from become law for decades.  The Senate is not, as some describe, "a saucer that cools the burning passion of ideas that are freshly poured."  That's very poetic, but wrong. No, the Senate is simply an impediment. A place where "Hope" or "Change" can be ossified by one small mind. Now individual Senators use that as an excuse to not push harder for ideas whose times really have come. 

You say you're for tougher financial oversight, but it would NOT have been better to have no bill at all, as you say.  So I say, no thank you for your "independence" on this one, forcing the FinReg bill to be watered down.  You can attack Ron Johnson as a Wall Street tool (because he is) but now you won't be able to do so from the same high ground where 57 of your Democratic colleagues voted to pass the first good steps toward cleaning up the Republicans' big mess.

Its crap like this that illustrates why when Democrats control the White House, the Senate and the HOR they rarely get things accomplished.  LBJ must be spinning in his grave.