A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

State Sen. Mario Gallegos was recently honored for his efforts to help scuttle a bill that would have made voters show official identification at the polls.

Gallegos, D-Houston, had missed much of the 2007 legislative session while recovering from liver-transplant surgery. But in the waning days of the session, he brushed aside doctors' orders to attend the session's final days -- to make sure the voter ID bill didn't get through.

The liberal Web site BuzzFlash.com gave Gallegos its "Wings of Justice" award for his efforts.

"Because of the devotion of Mario Gallegos to democracy, the legislative clock ran out on the dastardly Texas Republicans," BuzzFlash said in its tribute.

Actually, as we noted in our "Wings of Justice Award" citation last week, Gallegos, at times, needed a hospital bed to recover on. It was temporarily placed next to the Texas senate chambers, until he was assured that the Republicans couldn’t pass the "Jim Crow" voter ID law that is so near and dear to Karl Rove’s plans for stealing in the election for the GOP in 2008.

You see, without the "no" vote of Gallegos, the bill would have passed – and the Republicans held off calling the bill, hoping that Gallegos would become incapacitated following his liver transplant and have to return to the hospital. Then, as is typical of the ruthless nature of Republicans, they would have called the legislation and passed the voter suppression law in the Lone Star State.

Because we also observed:

BuzzFlash has warned again and again that the Republicans are not stopping their efforts to steal the 2008 election through a variety of undemocratic methods, including the suppression of votes. Greg Palast has also weighed in on this with a great deal of corroborating evidence.

Nothing proves this theory more than the fact that the U.S. Attorneys put into place largely to concoct flimsy charges of voter fraud -- to smear minority voters and help pass new "Jim Crow" laws in states -- are still in their positions. [Karl Rove’s protégé in Little Rock has since left his position as U.S. Attorney.]

Meanwhile, states with Republican legislatures are scrambling to pass onerous voter registration and polling place "verification" requirements designed to keeps tens of thousands of Democrats from ever voting.

Meanwhile, up in Washington, D.C., the Democrats keep running around like three blind mice. They continue to tout "symbolic" votes as victories, when what they need to do is act to remove powers from the Bush cabal, not just boast about toothless roll calls.

We’ve said since we began BuzzFlash in 2000 -- and we’ll say it again -- power is achieved by wielding power, not by retreating from it.

Right now, Bush, Cheney and Rove are still running ruinous foreign and domestic policies. Despite taking over both houses of Congress, due to the will of the people, the Democrats continue to exercise their newfound power with timidity and fearful caution.

The Democratic leadership, we dare say, is afraid to act. They have become the stereotype of hesitancy and waffling that the GOP echo chamber has created about them.

You don’t get the Devil out of your house by continuously "investigating" him – and then claiming you can’t find the smoking gun, when you’ve got bodies littering the committee hearing rooms.

Why is it that the Dems walk around like they are guilty of something, when they have the goods on the Bush Administration right in front of them?

The Republicans break the law and feel no guilt; the Dem leaders observe the law and act as if they have just committed a murder.

It doesn’t make any sense. And, frankly, why should the American people have confidence that the Dems will be strong on national security when they can’t even stand up to King George and Rasputin Cheney?

Translation: Denouncing Bush’s policies means nothing. All that matters is who’s got the power and who is willing to use their power.

It’s not about fighting words; it’s about fighting until you’ve run out of ammo.

Ask Mario Gallegos. Were that we had 51 of him as Democratic senators in D.C.

Then, you might see a little bit of fear in the eyes of Bush, Cheney and Rove.

But for now, the gruesome threesome are still sitting on top of the world, hardly intimidated by a group of Democrats who won’t even serve a subpoena, let alone end a war, impeach a law-breaking, perjured attorney general, or start the wheels in motion to hold Cheney and Bush accountable for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Mario, if you’re out of your hospital bed now, we need you right quick on Capitol Hill.

The Dems up there need a gut check, before the nuclear bombs start falling on Iran.

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL