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to that Son of a Bush |
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By Jack Nichols
Shortly after ballot counts for each state had begun, an uncooperative congressman rose from his seat and brought into prominence the fact that there was not a quorum present. He was South Florida's 20th District Representative Peter Deutsch (D). As the first to protest, the congressman expressed his dismay at how this “illegitimate” transition in the presidency was being allowed to proceed in such a blasé fashion. It fell to Vice-president Gore to wield his gavel, bringing to a halt the anguish experienced by Congress members who clearly perceived George W. Bush as having accomplished a brazen seizure of power, making him the undeserving occupant of the highest office in the land. One after another, prominent congressmen and congresswomen came forward to object to these ballot-counting proceedings, to call for their abolition and for an all-out investigation into Florida's voting machine failures. One after another, they used words such as “fraud”, “illegitimate” and “voter disenfranchisement.” Each time Vice-president Gore asked these representatives if they'd secured from any U.S. senator a written agreement to such a debate, the protesters had to admit—one by one-- that no senator had offered to join them in the co-signing. “I think it's a shame in America,” Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (Illinois-D) told the assembled dignitaries, “that no senator has come forth.” Gore, strangely, was warmly applauded by Republicans when he gently reprimanded Rep. Maxine Waters as she said in disgust that she simply didn't care if it was required of her to summon a co-signing senator. “But the rules do care,” replied Gore to the sounds of GOP approval.
“We have a great spot where our Bushit protest been OK'd, right at Third and Pennsylvania Avenue, near the Capitol,” Kunst told GayToday enthusiastically. He plans, with others in his organization, to wave an orange and black protest banner along Washington, D.C.'s thronged streets. Kunst expressed his outrage that Democratic party bigwigs appear to be caving in to GOP demands for a brand of “nicey, nicey” cooperation in the U.S. Congress. He charges that the Democratic leadership, “much to its own detriment, is being far too nice right now.”. “The Republicans—when things were reversed-- were never so kind as the Democrats are being now,” he fumed, “Why are the top banana Democrats doing this trip? Do they think it'll help them win elections in 2002? They're wrong. ” He says that senators and others will pay politically for ignoring Bush's illegitimacy. “They're traitors,” he growled. What currently seems to annoy the long-time gay activist most about these “traitors”, however, is both the corporate-owned media's and the Democratic Party's single-minded focus on Bush's far-right-wing cabinet appointments which, Kunst says, are simply corporate-sponsored “diversionary tactics.” “The real issue for our focus, the only issue right now should be George W. Bush himself. He's illegitimate as our non-President, and the Democratic Party—I say-- should be thoroughly thrashed for its refusal to listen to the angry voices of thousands of disenfranchised voters. We at Oral Majority are not going to stop saying this: “The real issue, the main issue, is the President-select himself, and not just all his freaky fascist conservative cabinet appointees.” Kunst expressed great admiration for those dozen-plus members of the U.S. Congress who stood up to powerfully-positioned Democrats, heaping scorn on the senators' silence while America suffers what otherwise qualifies as a bloodless, seldom-acknowledged coup d'etat. “The Black Caucus was there on the ramparts,” he said, “but where in the hell was Barney Frank and where were the out gay and lesbian politicians? They should have been there objecting too!” “The Black Caucus walked out as a group during the illegal count,” he continued with relish, “and now they've become real heroes to me. They're the real democrats, the real Americans. They didn't sit on their hands, silent in the face of this disgraceful takeover by fascism's corporate goons and they damn-well deserve—every one of them-- our utmost thanks. Thank g-d too that there are still some straightforward patriots left.” The real significance of the Saturday Congressional Rebellion, according to some who witnessed it on C-Span, was that it gave outright high-level legitimacy to a mass movement that's growing rapidly in many areas, namely a movement that's determined, as Kunst says, to “oppose that Son of the Bush and his nutty ministers at court, exposing them as the sinister invaders they are, evil wanna-be lords and nobles, trampling without any apologies across Democracy's sacred turf.” |
Rep. Peter Deutsch has been one of the few Democrats to question the legitimacy of the next Bush presidency 