No, no, no, no! Or to put it another way, uh-uh, no!by KenI could have sworn we had this discussion the other day. Remember, after you promised I'd had my "last chance to become a card-carrying Democrat"? "Presumably as of midnight I'm in the clear!" I wrote. "Even if that was Pacific Time, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was, I'm still good. Free! Free at last!" As I wrote, "I never expressed any interest that I'm aware of in becoming a card-carrying Democrat," but I was prepared to let bygones be bygones -- on the understanding that this "card-carrying Democrat" business was really and truly over.Now comes this "one more chance" business," and I'm throwing my penalty flag.I expect you're pretty busy people, you DNC folks. Why, it must take you untold hours to dream up all those horrible fund-raising e-mails you dump into our mailboxes, even though none of the people I know believe you care about any of the things that matter to us, with the possible exception that those Republicans are sure a horror show, aren't they? But we don't consider that much of a basis for political kinship.Like I was saying, I imagine you're busy folks, so it seems quite likely that you haven't read our colleague Noah's Saturday post:Noah was steamed about the Senate vote to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline,
a project that would seize private property from American-citizen landowners through the heartland of our country. Many landowners have turned down offers of very large six-figure sums of money from oil interests to allow the companies to build the pipeline across their property and over the nation's largest aquifer. Think about that. What could go wrong?Oil companies and their bought-and-paid-for minions in Congress -- who, unlike real Americans, never saw even a single dollar, let alone six figures, they wouldn't gladly pocket -- tell us that carting the world's dirtiest, Canadian oil through the pipeline will be safe and that carting it by train is not always safe. On Thursday, the $enate voted to approve the pipeline, by a margin of 62 to 36, ignoring the fact that three pipelines have burst in the past two weeks.
What Noah was most steamed about was the inclusion among the 62 "yea" votes of nine Democrats. The Keystone Nine, you'll recall, are Senators Bennet (Colorado), Carper (Delaware), Casey (Pennsylvania), Donnelly (Indiana), Heitkamp (North Dakota), Manchin (West Virginia, site of the most recent of those three pipelines that have burst in recent weeks), McCaskill (Missouri), Tester (Montana), and Warner (Virginia). As Noah pointed out, this voting bloc puts the pipelinistas within vote-counting range of a veto-overridable Senate majority.I expect the DNC doesn't consider it its place to comment on the "Democratic values" exemplified by the Keystone Nine. Which is just one reason why the DNC and I don't have much to talk about.
POINT OF ORDER, PLEASE, DNCThis card you've been talking about -- you remember, the one that was to make each responding sap a "card-carrying member of the Democratic Party." That was the deal, wasn't it?) Now I don't happen to be in the market for such a card, but looking at this sample, may I note that I don't see any mention anywhere on it of any "Democratic Party." I guess in some shorthandish way the idea is that the "Democratic National Committee" is authorized to bestow membership in the party. But I went to college, and graduated, and I don't see any such story here.
A MOMENT IN THE COUNTDOWN FROZEN IN TIMEAm I getting through here, DNC? That would surprise me. Nevertheless, I thought I'd ask.#
