In the face of falling fortunes in electoral politics, Senate Republicans have undertaken a campaign of scorched-earth obstruction that threatens to undermine a century of American moral leadership. Like little children who will take their ball home if they don't get their way, these ridiculous cowards have amassed historic record of obstruction. Last week it became a parody of itself when they attacked mothers, yes literally attacked mothers, by quashing a resolution in favor of Mother's Day.
Now, Seven Senators have put a "hold" on re-authorization of the single most life-saving aid package operating in American foreign policy today, and may doom literally millions of Africans to almost certain death. PEPFAR may be the reason why Africa is the one of the only continents where America has become MORE popular. This bill has supported the distribution of life-saving AIDS medication throughout Africa for the past five years to the tune of almost $20 Billion. Reauthorization at a $50 billion level passed overwhelmingly in the House and has the support of the Bush Administration (they need some positive legacy), but Seven Senators would rather consign millions to certain death in an apparent effort to prove to the world that America holds no moral principle above the base hoarding of power.
Bush speechwriter and policy advisor Michael Gershon put it this way:
How much do seven members of the U.S. Senate weigh?Eyeing them -- Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, Jeff Sessions, Saxby Chambliss, David Vitter, Jim Bunning, Richard Burr -- I'd guess they probably come in at about 1,300 pounds. These are the Republicans who have signed a hold letter, preventing action on the reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Now, how much do 3 million HIV/AIDS-infected people -- the treatment goal of a reauthorized PEPFAR -- weigh? This is a more difficult calculation. Adults with advanced forms of the disease can weigh about 60 pounds. Children with AIDS are like a shadow falling on a scale. Maintaining weight becomes difficult with vomiting and diarrhea, with tuberculosis and fungal infections, with cancers such as Kaposi's sarcoma and lymphoma.
Even so, you'd think that a few million of these wasting bodies would weigh more on the moral balance than seven senators. But so far, you'd be wrong.
It is the nature of the Senate that the smallest of minorities can impede the work of the majority. But it takes a conscious choice -- an act of tremendous will and pride -- for members to employ these powers against an AIDS bill with overwhelming bipartisan support.
As Senator Bill Frist recently said "People don't go to war against those who save their children's lives". Clearly Senators Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, Jeff Sessions, Saxby Chambliss, David Vitter, Jim Bunning, Richard Burr love war so much that they'll allow millions to die in order to declare war on the world.
Has there ever been a more sickening and cowardly display of short-sighted self-destruction in the history of American foreign-policy or politics? With Senators like these, there's no telling how low we may go.
Aside from the obvious moral benefits of humanitarianism, have the Senators ever considered that Africa offers great natural resources which China, for example, is scarfing up while treating the indigenous populations with respect, establishing itself as a friend of the local rulers, and effectively cutting America out of yet another source of economic power. Dumbo the elephant is dumb indeed.