Off with their 'eads!

The Senate Republicans continue to be a collective disgrace. For some time they have held the numeric majority of the Senate, yet they continue to allow themselves to be beaten down by the likes of Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, and John Kerry -- truly a collection of feebleminded self-serving "never-was"-es as you can find.

There is a great discussion of this at Polipundit.

The lack of party unity and discipline is appalling. The very idea that 55 (R) votes translates into maybe 47 or 48 when social conservative issues are on the table is disheartening at the very least. The fish rots from the head, as the saying goes, and the Senate is no exception. Dr. Frist may very well be a wonderful person, great husband/father, topnotch surgeon, and many other things. However, he is a terrible Majority Leader. Since the beginning of his tenure in the leadership role, the good doctor has consistently spoken of "comity" and of the need to work with the Democrats. In major fights he has chosen the path of least resistance, resulting in failure and defeat on many issues that a strong Republican majority could easily have won.

One example is the repeated failure to call for the change of Senate rules and the filibuster. To begin with, the modern filibuster is not a filibuster at all; it is merely a procedural tantrum that allows minority numbers to shut down work on particular issues while allowing the Senate to conduct other business. It is a far cry from the days when Byrd stood up talking for a couple of days in the '60s. For over 3 years there have been repeated discussions of changing the Senate rules for filibustering when applied to judicial candidates, and there was (and still is) plenty of popular support for doing so. Many times Dr. Frist has had the 51 votes necessary to do so and threatened to use it. Each time he has backed down and we have been left with the recent Miers fiasco and potential future versions of this nomination.

This week the Senate Republicans went along with the Dems and revisited Vietnam, 1975. They passed a bill that calls for regular presidential updates on the war and a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq. This is retreat, plain and simple. It was done while the President is out of the country. A handful of strong patriots, including my own 2 senators from Georgia, opposed this travesty. In the end, however, the Senate Republicans chose to stand with the ideological enemy against our President, and against the will of the people they are there to serve. They chose to cave in once again, for whatever reasons, and basically gave the Dems what they have been demanding for months, ignoring the outrage from the populace.

Social Security reform is dead. Tax reform is all but dead. Border control is a nonstarter. Massive new spending, including unheard-of pork levels and new entitlements like the Prescription Drug welfare and the Farm and Highway bills, all demonstrate the utterly NONconservative viewpoint of these people. The president cannot nominate another Scalia, the oil companies are simultaneously disallowed to drill and brought forward to explain their profits (Homework: go to Dictionary.com and look up capitalism and fascism). we are poised to lose the Mortgage Interest deduction, and Nationalized Healthcare is coming.

Tell me again why we bother voting for Republicans. This sounds like the work of Socialist Democrats.

The spirit of comity and the Senatorial Club is at odds with the requirements of the job of representing constituents.

No one wants a monolithic block, and there are times when honest disagreements and debate should occur within a party. That being said, abandoning everything that conservatives stand for, time and time again, shows poor judgment of purpose and position. When the vote comes down on important issues, a majority should be able to count on that majority, especially when it comes to supporting the president.

We are at war, and it is bad enough most civilians don't really seem to be aware of it. When our national leaders stop being aware of it, we are in serious jeopardy.

It is time we cleaned house (and Senate). There is little point to having a Republican majority if they are going to be Democrats or under the thumb of Democrats. Constituents deserve better, and incumbency is a major part of this problem. We need to begin anew, at the primary level, to put new blood up in the Senate. We need conservatives, not Republicans. We need to be willing to risk allowing a Democrat to occupy a seat currently held by a RINO. The only way to galvanize a people in this country is to traumatize them. So be it.