Sam Irvin and Peter Rodino, we need your lion-heartedness

Peter Rodino, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that considered articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon, died Saturday. In the early 1970s, Nixon was steadily assembling his own fascist plutocracy some 30 years before Bush II. Fortunately, crusading journalists like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and courageous Democrats like Sen. Sam Irvin and Rep. Peter Rodino stood up to Nixon and his thugs and ultimately forced his resignation.

Nearly 30 years later, we were surprised when Bush II stole the 2000 election and began his assault on the country's middle class and poor. The Republicans did it again during the 2002 midterm elections (if you don't remember what happened, take another look at the two main contests in 100% Diebold touchscreen Georgia, Sonny Perdue v. Roy Barnes and Saxby Chambliss v. Max Cleland and see how the world got suddenly turned upside down on election night).

Two years later, we thought we were braced for the 2004 presidential election, but they gave us the bum's rush again. Consequently, here we are once more, sitting on our haunches gazing longingly at the Republican-dominated political arena from the periphery, hoping for a miracle that will turn the tables on them.

Well, forget about it. Nothing good is going to happen unless Democrats make it happen. History would probably have been very different if journalists like Woodward and Bernstein and Democrats like Irvin and Rodino had been as timid and irresolute during the Watergate era as are today's media and Democratic leadership. Where are their modern day counterparts? Sadly, they are nowhere to be seen, including Woodward and Bernstein themselves, who have become just a couple of mainstream media "talking heads," afraid they won't be invited to chat with Larry King any more if they rock the boat.